Natural History Wanderings

The Wildflowers of Rocky Mountain National Park  blog has a new wildflower report for Gem Lake. Below are the highlights. See many photos that are part of the posting and older reports at:  Wildflowers of Rocky Mountain National Park.

• The spring blooms have mostly been replaced by summer flowers along the Gem Lake Trail.  Among the many flowering plants were these:
• Heart-Leaf Arnica (Arnica cordifolia) prefers the shade of conifer trees
• Northern Bedstraw (Galium boreale) stems were once used in mattresses
• There are many garden cultivars of Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata)
• Blanket Flower (Gaillardia aristata) rays and disks can be various combinations of orange, yellow, and red
• Shrubby Cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides floribunda) is a woody shrub with an abundance of one-inch-wide yellow flowers; a version of this shrub is widely cultivated
• The five-petaled yellow “cinquefoil” flowers of Shrubby Cinquefoil (Pentaphylloides floribunda)
• There was an abundance of Spreading Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium) on the lower portion of the trail
• Dotted Saxifrage (Saxifraga austromontana) was found near the top of the trail; moss-like mounds of foliage are topped with small white flowers that are artfully dotted in red, orange, and yellow
• Also toward the top of the trail were clumps of Silvery Cinquefoil (Potentilla hippiana)
• This tall violet-flowered Penstemon is probably Beardless Sidebells Penstemon (Penstemon virgatus) which is particularly common in the montane region around Estes Park
• Wild Rose (Rosa woodsii) is common on many of the trail in the park.
• Yellow star-shaped Stonecrop (Sedum lanceolatum) flowers colored the sunny gravelly patches along the trail
• An unknown petite Ragwort (Senecio sp) was tucked against a fallen log just off the main trail
• Wyoming Paintbrush (Castilleja linariaefolia) is recognized by the reddish-orange bracts and very narrow linear leaves
• Miner’s Candle (Cryptantha virgata), a prickly-hairy plant with white flowers along the unbranched stalk, is common on dry slopes of the trail
• Sulfur Flowers (Eriogonum umbellatum) are just beginning to open their green-yellow sulfur-colored blossoms
• The only location in the park for Rock Saxifrage (Telesonix jamesii) is in rock crevices along the Gem Lake trail
• The Rock Saxifrage (Telesonix jamesii) is a uniquely beautiful and rare plant

Related articles

• Rocky Mts: Twin Sisters Wildflower Report 6/19/13 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)
• Rocky Mountain Wildflowers: Ouzel Falls In Wild Basin 6/23/13 (naturalhistorywanderings.com)