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- The spring blooms have mostly been replaced by summer flowers along the Gem Lake Trail.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)
[…] Rocky Mt. Wildflowers: Gem Lake 6/29/13 (naturalhistorywanderings.com) […]
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By: Rocky Mountain Wildflowers: Ouzel Falls In Wild Basin 6/23/13 | Natural History Wanderings on June 30, 2013
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