Celebrating Wildflowers
Hike leader booklet
Shrubs
Mountain Maple
(Acer glabrum)
Maple Family: Aceraceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws, forest and
woodland
Description: A large shrub or small
tree with gray bark. Its young twigs
are smooth and dark red; its winter
buds are bright red. The leaves are
palmately 3 to 5 lobed, sharply
toothed. Its small, chartreuse-colored
flowers are fragrant. Always grow as
several trunks in a clump. Fruits are
twin-winged.
General: Leaves turn vivid red in
autumn. Montana Indians used the
wood for arrow shafts. Deer, elk,
moose and mountain sheep browse
the sweet foliage and twigs. The
young shoots and leaves and the seeds
are edible.
Western Serviceberry
(Amelanchier alnifolia)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws
Description: Is a shrub or small tree, up
to 20 feet tall. Flowers are white with
five rounded petals and five sepals, and
appear before the leaves. They are borne
in multiple clusters at the ends of
branches and appear in early spring. The
leaves are round toothed above the
middle. The dark blue to purple berries
ripen generally in July. Bark reddishbrown, grayish when older, branchlets
hairy.
General: Native people considered this
plant an important berry crop, plentiful
enough to store for winter use. Lewis
and Clark mentioned that some
Serviceberry loaves weighed as much as
10 or 15 pounds. Its stems were also used
for arrow shafts. Bear, grouse, and other
species eat the berries.
Silver Sagebrush
(Artemisia cana)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: Silver-gray to yellowish
shrub 1-3 feet tall. Has turpentine-like
odor. Stems branch freely to form
rounded bushes, older stems have
dark brown, fibrous bark. Leaves silkyhaired, long, narrow, with pointed tips.
Flower heads yellowish in narrow,
leafy clusters 5-12 inches long. The
leafy appearance of the upper stem
tends to obscure the small flowers.
General: Silver Sagebrush is the most
common large sage found on Mount
Helena. It is well adapted to fire and
resprouts from surviving buds found
on horizontal stems below the surface.
Rabbitbrush
(Chrysothamnus nauseosus)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Dry slopes in the valleys,
foothills and montane forests
Description: A shrub usually from 1-3
feet tall. Twigs covered with dense,
white, feltlike hair. Leaves narrow less
than 2.5 inches long. Flowers are rayless
heads with 5 yellow disk flowers per
head.
General: There are six specimens of
rabbitbrush in the Lewis and Clark
Herbarium – more than any other
species. An original label in Lewis’ hand
reads “No. 32, specimens of aromatic
plants on which the
antelope feeds.” During the rubber
shortage of World War II, scientists
became interested in the latex and found
that a high-quality rubber could be
produced, but not in high quantities
needed at that time,
nevertheless, the name rubber
rabbitbrush stuck.
Common Juniper
(Juniperus communis)
Cypress Family: Cupressaceae
Habitat: Forest and woodland
Description: Low spreading shrub,
never more than 2-3 feet in height,
often spreading up to 6 feet. The
sharp-pointed leaves are green with
a white line on the upper surface.
The round berries are blue when
ripe.
General: A circumpolar species,
found over the whole northern
hemisphere. It is commonly used in
landscaping.
Rocky Mountain Juniper
(Juniperus scopulorum)
Cypress Family: Cupressaceae
Habitat: Forest and woodland
Description: Is a tree or shrub,
sometimes reaching 50 feet in height,
and much branched at the base. The
leaves are scale-like, somewhat glandular
and arranged in twos. The fleshy, bluish
cones are about a quarter inch in
diameter, and mature the second year.
General: As incense, juniper ranks as one
of the most important in Montana.
Indians placed these leaves on fire to
produce a sacred, purifying smoke in
many religious ceremonies. Juniper
provided native people with a vast
storehouse of cures for common ailments
such as colds, fevers, and pneumonia. Its
wood was considered to make an
excellent bow.
Mock Orange
(Philadelphus lewisii)
Hydrangea Family: Hydrangeaceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws
Description: This is an erect shrub, up to
9 feet tall and densely branched. On
older stems the reddish-brown bark
cracks open at a right angle to the stem
and eventually falls away in small pieces,
revealing the gray bark underneath. The
leaves are in pairs,
opposite each other on the stems. Each
flower has 4 petals, many stamens, 4
styles, and a sweet, orange blossom
aroma. The fruit is a hard capsule that
remains on the shrub through the winter.
General: Is the state flower of Idaho,
where it is often called Syringa. In 1814,
it was named in honor of Meriwether
Lewis, from specimens that Lewis
collected in 1806.
Chokecherry
(Prunus virginiana)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Prefers damp ground and
fairly rich soil. Often found in exposed
locations.
Description: Heavy crooked shrubs to
small trees. Abundance of dark green
leaves and drooping pencils of flowers
or berries. Rough, grayish-brown bark.
Leaves sharply pointed and finely sawtoothed. White flowers with dense,
cylindrical clusters near ends of the
limbs. Dark berries in masses.
General: Berries are very puckery to
the taste. Some Native Americans
blend them with meat to make an
important food called pemmican. The
bruised bark gives off a pungent smell.
Bitterbrush
(Purshia tridentata)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Dry slopes in the valleys,
foothills and montane forests
Description: Shrub with a spreading
structure of stiff, awkward branches. The
wedge-shaped leaves are green on the
upper surface and appear gray-green
beneath. The leaves are so tiny that the
outline of the limbs is quite distinctive.
Flowers are yellow and fragrant. The
shrub flowers early, while the leaves are
just starting to emerge.
General: Although it is bitter, this shrub
provides an extremely important food
source for deer, especially in winter.
Bitterbrush also goes by the common
names antelope brush or antelope
bitterbrush. Lewis and Clark collected
this plant on July 6, 1806 in western
Montana.
Skunk-bush Sumac
(Rhus trilobata)
Sumac Family: Anacardiaceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws
Description: A much-branched dense,
rounded shrub, 2-5 feet high. Leaves
compound with 3 leaflets, middle
leaflet largest. Tiny yellow-green
flowers appear before leaves in
crowded catkin-like clusters and are
followed by flattened velvety, red or
orange berries. Light brown bark.
General: This shrub is also called
“Lemonade Bush.” Its berries have an
acid flavor and have been used to
make a substitute for lemonade.
Given its name because of its strong
odor. Also known as Three-leaf Sumac.
Golden Current
(Ribes aureum)
Gooseberry Family: Grossulariaceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws
Description: Shrub of medium height,
up to 6 feet with yellow, spicy-fragrant,
tubular flowers. Short petals often
tipped with red, leaves wedge-shaped
and 3-lobed. Stems smooth without
spines. Fruit a small, round, black or
red-brown berry.
General: This shrub is browsed by
game animals, and the berries furnish
food for small mammals and birds.
Wax Current
(Ribes cereum)
Gooseberry Family: Grossulariaceae
Habitat: Tall shrub draws
Description: Low, rather sticky-hairy
shrub from 2-5 feet tall. Leaves small,
round or oval in outline and ordinarily
quite hairy and sticky to the touch.
Flowers white and sometimes tinged
with pink. The flowers are tubular and
occur in small clusters of two or three
from short, stubby side branches.
Fruit orange-red, edible but rather
bitter.
General: Also known as Western Red
Currant. As a rule of thumb,
gooseberry bushes bear thorns and
currants go unarmed.
Wild Rose
(Rosa arkansana or
Rosa woodsii)
Rose Family: Roseaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, tall shrub
draws
Description: Shrubs with prickly or
bristly, usually upright stems. Flowers are
pink but may fade to white, or petals may
be streaked with darker pink and are in a
cluster of 2-3 blooms. Wild Rose flowers
are much flatter when open than those of
the Wood’s Rose, which are distinctly
saucer-shaped and usually a deeper pink.
Leaves are medium green, pinnately
compound, with 9-11 leaflets that are
smooth and shiny. The fleshy “apple-like”
fruit is called the rosehip.
General: Wood’s Rose is the state flower
of North Dakota. Roses have been used
for food and medicine. The hips are high
in vitamin C and make a good syrup or
jelly. The flowers and leaves make a tea.
Gray Horsebrush
(Tetradymia canescens)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: Thickly branched shrub
up to 2 feet tall with white, felty
foliage. Leaves are long, narrow, or
with broad tips, densely white, feltcovered, bunched at stem joints.
Flowers are yellow, about 4 to a head,
surrounded by four or five bracts at
the flower base. Heads are in compact
somewhat flat-topped clusters at the
ends of stems. Seed-like fruits are
smooth or thinly hairy, each with tuft
of grayish bristles at tip.
General: Also called Spineless
Horsebrush. All parts of the plant are
poisonous.
Grasses
Bluebunch Wheatgrass
(Elymus spicata)
Grass Family: Gramineae
Habitat: South facing slopes and other
dry areas in forest regions
Description: A native, cool-season,
drought-tolerant, perennial bunchgrass.
This grass grows in large, erect bunches
from 2 to 3 feet tall. It has numerous,
rather lax, flat leaves situated along the
length of the stems. The seed heads are
narrow, 3 to 6 inches long. The spikelets
are solitary at the points of a zigzag
rachis. Each spikelet is 3 to 6 flowered,
with the seeds tipped by a characteristic,
rough, divergent awn. There are 4 to 12
seed heads per plant. It has an extensive,
deep, fibrous root system.
General: Bluebunch wheatgrass was
designated the official state grass of
Montana in 1973. It provides good forage
for elk and deer.
Idaho Fescue
(Festuca idahoensis)
Grass Family: Gramineae
Habitat: Open woods, rocky slopes of the
mountains and foothills
Description: Idaho fescue is a coolseason, densely tufted, perennial
bunchgrass. The characteristic bluishgreen leaves are tightly inrolled and
rough to the touch. The narrow panicle is
3 to 8 inches long, with branches
ascending or appressed, somewhat
spreading during pollination. The
spikelets are five- to seven-flowered, with
awns up to ¼ inch long. This species is
shade tolerant, and often functions as an
understory plant; however, it also occurs
on exposed sites as a dominant plant.
General: Idaho fescue is considered a key
indicator of the condition and trend of
native forage stands. First noted by the
Lewis and Clark Expedition, June 10,
1806, on the Weippe Prairie, Idaho.
Forbs
Yarrow
(Achillea millefolium)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, cliff and
rock outcrops, tall shrub draws, forests
and woodlands
Description: A flat-topped to somewhat
rounded blossom, typifies yarrow.
Ordinarily white or sooty-colored, the
flowers occasionally show pink or even
yellow shades. This plant averages 1 to 3
feet in height. The leaves have a fern-like
appearance. Soft, woolly hairs coat the
foliage.
General: Yarrow is a “medicinal wonder.”
It has been used to stop bleeding from
wounds and cuts, as a poultice on burns,
boils and open sores, to treat fevers and
colds, and alleviate toothaches. Many
call this plant “Chipmunk’s Tail” because
the leaves bear a resemblance to the tail
of a chipmunk.
Small-leaf Pussytoes
(Antennaria parvifolia)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Dry forest openings, plains
Description: From a small, grayish
basal rosette rises an erect, sparselyleaved flower stalk with cluster of
small, rayless, whitish flower heads.
Leaves are long, equally hairy on both
sides: those in rosettes lanceolate but
are obviously broader near the top,
those on the flower stalk are much
narrower. The fruit is seed-like, with 5
white bristles at top.
General: The clusters of small, soft,
whitish to pink flower heads resemble
a cat’s paw. Pussytoes seedlings are
quick to volunteer in open areas. This
is a suitable ground cover for sunny,
barren areas.
Holboell’s Rockcress
(Arabis holboellii)
Mustard Family: Cruciferae
Habitat: Dry slopes and foothills into the
lower mountains
Description: This plant is biennial or
perennial from a tough, persistent base
bearing slender taproots. There are
usually only one to three stems. Plants
are covered with short, appressed hairs.
Individual plants can be up to three feet
tall, but are usually less than 20 inches
tall. Ten to 50 light purplish-to-pink
flowers about ¼-inch long are crowded
along the upper half of the stem. At
maturity, flowers form narrow pods
(siliques) about two inches long that
bend downwards. Each pod holds several
dozen tiny seeds.
General: All rockcresses are edible, with
the typical sharp flavor of the mustard
family. The tender leaves and flowers are
usually added to salads and sandwiches
for flavor.
Fringed Sagewort
(Artemisia frigida)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: An aromatic herb, the silvergray, finely cut foliage is the most
noticeable feature of this plant. Grows in
tufts 4-8 inches tall. Small, yellow,
nodding flower heads bloom in August.
The many-divided, soft and silky leaves
are clustered near the ground.
General: Native people called this plant
“Women’s Sage.” Women would make a
tea to correct menstrual irregularity. The
early settlers used this plant to make a
bitter tea which was believed to be a
tonic and a remedy for mountain fever
(typhoid). Plants have a pungent sage
odor and were also used as a smudge for
protection from mosquitoes.
Prairie Sagewort
(Artemisia ludoviciana)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grasslands and shrubland
Description: Most often noticed for its
silvery-white to greenish foliage and
stems that are covered with a dense
mat of woolly hairs. Leaves, usually
linear, bear a spike with clusters of
small, yellow disk flowers in late
summer.
General: Native people called this
plant “Man Sage.” It was used in
religious ceremonies. They believed
this plant had the power to drive away
bad spirits. The species name,
ludoviciana, means “of Louisiana” but
refers to the vast Louisiana Territory
rather than to the state.
Pasqueflower
(Anemone patens)
Buttercup Family: Ranunculaceae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: Flowers are pale blue or
mauve, occasionally white or light
yellow. The sepals, five to seven, are
colored and petals are absent. Leaves
are gray-green, basal, stalked, and
much divided. They appear after the
flowers fade. The fruit is a large group
of feathery achenes on a lengthened
flower stalk.
General: Was used as medicine by
many tribes. Blackfeet women boiled
the plant and drank tea to speed
delivery in childbirth. The Blackfeet
also bound the crushed pasqueflower
leaves on some injuries as a
counterirritant.
Arrowleaf Balsamroot
(Balsamorhiza sagittata)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Dry, low elevation forest and
open grassland in deep sandy soil
Description: A clump of large, velvety,
olive-green leaves with a pale green,
woolly look to both sides of
arrowhead-shaped leaves. A dozen or
so large, yellow, sunflower-like flowers
on leafless stems. Often forms dense,
spectacular populations.
General: One of the most colorful
plants of the sagebrush ecosystem. In
spring, the many species of
Balsamroot brighten the landscape
with yellow. Native people ate the rich,
oily seeds, and the deep-growing roots
were eaten raw or were toasted.
Wyoming Kittentails
(Besseya wyomingensis)
Figwort Family: Scrophulariaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, forest
and woodland
Description: This plant lacks petals,
but the dense cylindrical flower heads
bristle with dark red stamens. A
perennial, 3-10 inches tall, the leaves
are gray-hairy and often reddishtinged, the lance-shaped basal leaves
½ to 1 inch long, the stem leaves
smaller.
General: The genus Besseya was
named in honor of Charles Edwin
Bessey, an eminent botanist from the
University of Nebraska.
Harebell
(Campanula rotundifolia)
Campanula Family: Campanulaceae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: This plant has numerous
blue or somewhat lavender, bellshaped (5 lobed) and nodding flowers
on thread-like stems. This plant ranges
from 4-12 inches tall, with narrow
leaves. Grows in clumps.
General: Harebell is the true Scottish
“Bluebell.”
Yellow Paintbrush
(Castilleja lutescens)
Figwort Family: Scrophulariaceae
Habitat: Dry slopes and open coniferous
forests in the grasslands of the steppe
and montane zones
Description: A perennial forb with
clustered stems that are erect, stout, and
often branched above. They are 1 – 2 ft
tall, sometimes purplish and have leaves
that are linear. Although the flowers are
rather small and non-showy, they are
associated with numerous colorful bractlike leaves that function as an attractant.
General: An interesting adaptation of
paintbrushes is that they are able to
parasitize the roots of associated plants,
especially sagebrush. From the host
plant, the paintbrush derives both water
and organic materials, thus increasing its
tolerance to dry conditions and its
ecological range.
Field Chickweed
(Cerastium arvense)
Pink Family: Caryophyllaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, and tall
shrub draws
Description: Flowers snowy-white,
almost ½ inch across, with 5 deeply
cleft petals and five sepals. Plants are
up to 12 inches tall. Stems tend to
spread or lean. Leaves are narrow,
small, velvety and gray-green in color.
This plant is often found in large
patches.
General: Also known as Mouse-ear
Chickweed. It is often the most
abundant white flower on open fields
and dry meadows in spring and early
summer.
Wavyleaf Thistle
(Cirsium undulatum)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Dry, open sites in plains,
foothills, and montane forests
Description: Has large, showy, rosepurple flower heads that may be over
2 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall.
Leaves and stems are whitish gray
because of a covering of woolly hairs.
Sharp yellow spines project from the
leaves and sides of the flower heads
and wavy leaf margins.
General: The thick roots were cooked
by several tribes of North America.
Thistledown is relished by birds for
food and nest linings. This plant
should not be confused with the
noxious Canada thistle.
Miner’s Candle
(Cryptantha celosioides)
Borage Family: Boraginaceae
Habitat: Dry slopes and foothills into
the lower mountains
Description: A spike of white, openfaced flowers, crowds the upper
portion of a stem, hence the common
name. The basal leaves broaden at
the tip into spatula or oar shapes. A
few smaller, narrow leaves attach
along the stem. Dense white hairs,
straight and somewhat stiff to silky,
cover the leaves, stems and sepals.
General: Plants usually flower 1-2
years and then die. There are no
known economic uses of this plant.
Little Larkspur
(Delphinium bicolor)
Buttercup Family: Ranunculaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, forest
and woodland
Description: Flowers have dark blue
as the prominent color due to five
petal-like sepals. The four petals are
blue to creamy white and somewhat
hairy. The four petals are much
smaller than the sepals. The flowers
are spurred. The flower stalks are long
and hairy. Leaves are palmately
compound and deeply parted into
slender leaflets.
General: Is also known as Montana
Larkspur and Low Larkspur.
Slimpod Shooting Star
(Dodecatheon conjugens)
Primrose Family: Primulaceae
Habitat: Grasslands, montane to near
treeline
Description: A perennial forb. Leaves are
all basal. Flowers are magenta to
lavender, swept backwards and united at
the base by two yellow rings. Dark
stamens and style cling together to form
a spear-like point.
General: Flowers are said to smell like
root beer. Such an unusual flower
requires a special technique for
pollination. A bumblebee grasps the
yellow band while hanging upside down.
It then gives a quick buzz of its wings that
shakes pollen out of the flower’s anthers
and onto its abdomen. When the bee
visits the next shooting star, the thin
stigma protruding from the tube is placed
perfectly to receive the pollen.
Cut-leaved Fleabane
(Erigeron compositus)
Composite Family: Compositae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, forest,
and woodland
Description: This is a little tufted plant
with stems 2-6 inches tall. Rays are
usually white but may be bluish or
purple. Leaves mostly basal, once or
twice 3-parted into narrow, blunt
lobes. The very small stem leaves are
entire.
General: A very large genus that is
confused with asters. Erigerons
usually bloom in spring and early
summer, asters in late summer and
fall. Many Erigerons have only one
head to each stem, and most have
fewer than five (most asters have
several to many heads).
Howard’s Alpine
Forget-me-not
(Eritrichium howardii)
Borage Family: Boraginaceae
Habitat: Cliff and rock outcrops
Description: A cushion plant with
fragrant, brilliantly blue, yellow-eyed
flowers. Its stems rise from compact
rosettes of tiny, silver-hairy leaves.
General: A member of the Borage
family, this lovely plant likes limestone
hills and ridges east of the Continental
Divide. The name Eritrichium comes
from the Greek, and means “woolly.”
Wild Strawberry
(Fragaria virginiana)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Openings and open forest to
timberline
Description: Perennial, low-growing
herb. Thin leaves with 3 leaflets and
small white flowers with 5-7 petals.
Fruit is a small, red strawberry.
Delicious!
General: Native Americans used
strawberry leaves for tea and to make
anti-diarrhea medicines. The berries
are only eaten fresh since they are too
juicy to dry like other berries.
Yellowbell
(Fritillaria pudicua)
Lily Family: Liliaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, forest
and woodland
Description: A single, golden-yellow,
bell-shaped flower hangs downward or
sidewise from a bent stalk. It begins
blooming in March and the flower
soon fades to red or purple. The
slender, blunt-tipped leaves, often two
or three in number, measure from 2-4
inches in length. Plants are 3-8 inches
in height.
General: The bulb-like underground
corms were a minor portion of the
native people’s vegetable diet in
Montana. Wild animals such as bears,
gophers, and ground squirrels avidly
dig for these corms. The fruity pods
are also edible.
Prairie Smoke
(Geum triflorum)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, forest
and woodland
Description: Has finely dissected
leaves and nodding flowers, usually 3
on a stalk, the whole inflorescence is
rose-colored. The calyx lobes overlap
to form a sort of urn, from which
whitish or pale yellow petals protrude
slightly. The fruit becomes puffs of
long, feathery plumes that are carried
on the wind.
General: In the Rose family. Also
known as “Three-flowered Avens” and
“Old Man’s Whiskers.” The latter
name due to the feathery plumes of
the fruit.
Bitterroot
(Lewisia rediviva)
Purslane Family: Portulacaceae
Habitat: Dry open foothills, montane and
subalpine sites
Description: Low perennial herb,
inconspicuous until the beautiful flower
appears in early summer. Each flower has
numerous petals, stamens, and styles.
The petals vary from nearly white to deep
rose. The succulent leaves are small,
club-shaped, and inconspicuous.
General: The fleshiness of bitterroot
reflects a water-storing adaptation, which
parallels that of cacti and other desert
succulents. The roots can survive
extreme dehydration. A staple food for
many Native American tribes. A 50 lb.
bag of roots was
considered enough to sustain a person
through winter. This plant was an
important trade item; a bag of bitterroot
could be traded for a good horse. This is
Montana’s state flower.
Gromwell
(Lithospermum ruderale)
Borage Family: Boraginaceae
Habitat: Dry slopes, plains and shrub-steppe,
up to mid-elevation in the mountains
Description: A perennial forb with several
ascending stems. Its stems and prominently
ribbed leaves appear grayish-green from their
coating of fine hairs. The nutlets (seeds) are
bony hard. Leaves are narrowly lanceshaped. Flowers are light yellow.
General: The generic term, Lithospermum,
comes from two Greek words meaning
“stone” and “seed.” Our plant’s species
name, ruderale, means “waste-place” or
“dump” in Latin. Native Americans gave the
name “puccoon” to a related plant that
grows in the eastern United States. Captain
John Smith wrote about this plant in 1612:
“Pocones is a small roote that groweth in the
mountains, which being dryed and beate in
powder turneth red” and used by Indians to
paint their skin. The roots of the Columbia
puccoon contain a yellow dye that was used
by Native Americans in that region.
Nine-leaf Lomatium
(Lomatium triternatum)
Parsley Family: Umbelliferae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, tall
shrub draws, cliff and rock outcrops
Description: Pale yellow flowers are
arranged in compound umbels. The
compound leaves are often in sets of 3
leaflets each and are very narrow.
Flowering stalk and leaves are covered
with fine hair.
General: The Blackfeet made a tea
from the roots of this plant and the
rose, to relieve sore throats and
coughs. Long distance runners would
chew the fruit to avoid side aches.
Leafy Musineon
(Musineon divaricatum)
Parsely Family: Umbelliferae
Habitat: Grassland, shrubland, cliff
and rocky outcrops
Description: Flowers are powderyyellow with five petals and sepals, and
are supported by linear bractlets. The
flowers are borne in a compound
umbel. Leaves are basal, doubly
pinnate. Leaflets are oblong, bright
green and smooth. Growth habit is
erect, but low-growing and spreading.
Flower heads are not usually more
than 4 inches tall and the leaflets are
beneath them.
General: Leafy Musineon is in the
Parsley family that contains many
edible plants, but also some deadly
poisonous ones.
Prickly Pear
(Opuntia polyacantha)
Cactus Family: Cactaceae
Habitat: On arid plains, canyons,
benches and foothills on gentle slopes
Description: Fleshy forb, 4-12 inches tall.
A shallow, extensive lateral root system
forms rounded clumps and spreads into
mats. Stems are fleshy, strongly
flattened, and jointed into obovate
segments. Straight spines up to 2 inches
long cover the stem (only slightly
barbed). Leaves are fleshy with tawny
bristles. Flowers appear waxy, yellow
(often reddish tinged). Fruit is pearshaped berry (brown or tan). Plant gets
its common name from the prickly fruit.
General: Antelope and mountain sheep
graze the pods. Seeds and fruit are eaten
by rabbits, ground squirrels, wood rats,
chipmunks and mice. Native Americans
ate the pods raw, dried and used them in
stews or soups and boiled in a tea as a
remedy for diarrhea.
Hood’s Phlox
(Phlox hoodii)
Phlox Family: Palemoniaceae
Habitat: Grassland, shrub land, forest,
and woodland
Description: Early flowering dense
cushion plant. The 5-petaled flowers are
white to pale violet. Flowers grow directly
attached to the short main stems of the
plant and form whitish patches on the
ground. Leaves are gray-green in color
and are awl-shaped.
General: Also known as Carpet Phlox and
Moss Phlox. Growth habit is short and
tufted, not much more than an inch
above the ground. After the flowers fade,
the leaves and stem form an
inconspicuous part of the ground cover.
The plant is named for Robert Hood,
midshipman on Sir John Franklin’s
expedition of 1819-22.
Early Cinquefoil
(Potentilla concinna)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: This is a low, silvery plant
with 5 leaflets. The leaflets are green
above, white below. The flowers have 5
separate, heart-shaped petals, which are
yellow and have an orange spot at the
base. The 5 sepals are united into a calyx
that resembles a 5-pointed star. Five
extra, narrower bractlets alternate with
the main calyx lobes to give the calyx a
10-lobed appearance.
General: The old common name for this
genus, Cinquefoil, which in French means
5-leaf, was originally applied to a
European species that has 5 leaflets.
Among the large number of American
species, most have more than 5 leaflets,
so the name is inappropriate for the
genus as a whole.
Sagebrush Buttercup
(Ranunculus glaberrimus)
Buttercup Family: Ranunculaceae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: The waxy, shiny yellow
cups have 5, or as many as 8, petals.
Many yellow stamens encircle a
mound of greenish-yellow pistils in the
center of the blossom. Five shorter
sepals beneath the petals bear a
purplish tinge. The round or oval,
fleshy leaf blades may be either simple
or 3-lobed and both kinds often occur
on the same plant.
General: A small pocket at the base of
each petal holds nectar for bees and
other pollinating insects.
Scarlet Globemallow
(Sphaeralcea coccinea)
Mallow Family: Malvaceae
Habitat: Dry, often disturbed open
plains, foothills, and montane sites
Description: Low-spreading perennial
herb, grayish with dense, star-shaped
hairs. Leaves alternate cut into 3-5
wedge-shaped segments arranged like
fingers on a hand. Flowers are orange
to brick red.
General: Roots of this plant were
chewed and then laid on sores and
wounds to aid healing and stop
bleeding. Whole plants were used to
make a sweet-tasting tea.
Birchleaf Spiraea
(Spiraea betulifolia)
Rose Family: Rosaceae
Habitat: Dry, open, mountain forests.
Bunchgrass and Ponderosa Pine
ecosystems mostly east of the
Continental Divide.
Description: Under 2 feet tall with
slender stems. Leaves are rounded
like a birch leaf and coarsely toothed
along upper two thirds. Dense, flattopped crown of small, white flowers
occasionally tinged pink. Commonly
found with Douglas-fir and Lodgepole
Pine.
General: Birchleaf Spiraea is also
called Meadowsweet and is used by
herbalists to relieve pain and reduce
fever and inflammation.
Yellow Prairie Violet
(Viola nuttallii)
Violet Family: Violaceae
Habitat: Grassland and shrubland
Description: Small, bright yellow, 5petaled flowers. The petals may be
veined with purple or the upper ones
tinged with red on the back. Leaves
are lance-shaped. Plants are 4-8 inches
tall.
General: This plant is also called
Nuttall’s Violet, named for Thomas
Nuttall, a naturalist of the early 19th
century. His interests were in both
birds and plants. He was professor of
botany at Harvard and collected plants
in the western U.S.
Trees
Limber Pine
(Pinus flexilis)
Pine Family: Pinaceae
Habitat: Forest and woodland
Description: The bark is light gray on
young trunks and branches, but much
darker on old trunks. The needles are
dark green, usually 5 in a cluster, and
more bluish than those of the
Ponderosa Pine. The cylindrical cones
are often very pitchy. Each scale is
rounded, with a pale border.
General: Limber Pine got its Latin
name from its flexible branches. At
timberline and other windy sites, they
become gnarled and twisted. The
trunk may separate into several main,
upward-reaching branches. They
become mature at about 300 years.
Ponderosa Pine
(Pinus ponderosa)
Pine Family: Pinaceae
Habitat: Valley bottoms to mountain
slopes in dry, well-drained soils
Description: Its straight trunk is topped
by a large mass of heavy branches with
tufts of bushy needles. Has the longest
needles of any evergreen in our area: 6-9
inches in bunches of 3. The bark is flaky,
terra cotta red bark, and furrowed like
jigsaw pieces. Its cones are roundish,
shiny, and light brown.
General: Common in low, forested
portions of Montana between 1,5003,000 feet elevation. Isolated
occurrences in dry, gravely places west of
the Cascades. Ponderosa Pine has a
flammable chemical in its needles. Quick
ground fires do not harm the tree but do
destroy competing vegetation.
Douglas Fir
(Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Pine Family: Pinaceae
Habitat: From extremely dry, low elevation
sites to moist montane sites
Description: Large, evergreen tree with
thick, ridged and rough brown bark. Needles
spirally arranged with one groove on upper
surface and two white bands of stomata on
lower surface. Cones hang down green at
flowering, turning reddish brown to gray,
with bracts prominently three-forked (look
for the “mice” hiding in the cone – the bracts
are their hind feet and tails).
General: Under natural conditions, Douglasfir establishes primarily after forest fires. The
trees have very thick bark that allows them
to withstand moderate surface fires. The soft
inner bark was used for survival food. Young
twigs and needles can be used as a substitute
for coffee or tea. Fragrant Douglas-fir
boughs were often used for bedding. The
pliable roots have been used to weave
baskets. Rotted wood from old logs was
burned slowly to smoke hides , and the bark
was used in tanning.