Rio Blanco Ranch

Yellow Salsigy

Tragopogon dubius

General: Biennial (sometimes annual) herb, nearly hairless but cottony-hairy when young, often with a whitish cast, with milky sap; stems leafy, 30-100 cm tall, enlarged below flowerhead; from taproots.

Leaves: Alternate, grass-like, linear, gradually tapered from base to tip, 5-30 cm long, clasping stem.

Flowerheads: Lemon-yellow, about 5-6 cm across, with ray florets only; involucral bracts about 13 in 1 row, slender, gradually tapered, extending out past ray florets; solitary; May to July.

Fruits: Slender, minutely spiny achenes, 25-35 mm long, gradually tapered to a long beak; pappus of tawny, feathery, bristles at tip of beak (appearing stalked), forming large (up to 10 cm), ball-like heads (like giant dandelion seed heads).

Alpine Paintbrush

C. rhexifolia

Also known as subalpine or rosy paintbrush, can be difficult to distinguish from scarlet paintbrush, but usually its flower clusters are not scarlet. Instead, they are crimson, rose, purple, pink, or even 2-toned. Some of this variation may be the result of hybridization with other species, such as western yellow paintbrush. Alpine paintbrush grows in subalpine to alpine meadows from BC and Alberta to Colorado.

Scarlet Paintbrush

Castilleja miniata

General: Perennial herb; stems erect to ascending, 20-60 cm tall, 1-several; from woody rootstocks.
Leaves: Alternate, linear to lance-shaped, 5-7 cm long, 3-nerved, usually toothless, but upper leaves sometimes 3-lobed.
Flowers: Bright red to scarlet, with red, showy, toothed bracts hiding the true flowers; flowers tubular, greenish, red-edged, 2-lipped with a small broad lower lip and a long, slender upper lip over 1/2 as long as the flower tube, 2-3.5 cm long; many flowers in dense spikes; June to August.
Fruits: Capsules, with many net-veined seeds.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

General: Aromatic, perennial herb; stems erect, leafy, 10-80 cm tall; from spreading rhizomes.

Leaves: Alternate, fern-like, 2-3 times pinnately divided into fine segments that are 1-2 mm wide, 3-10 cm long; only lower leaves stalked.

Flowerheads: White (sometimes pinkish), about 5 mm across, with about 5 white ray florets and 10-30 yellowish disc florets; involucre of several rows of dark-edged bracts; many flowerheads in flat-topped, corymb-like clusters 2-10 cm across; May to September.

Fruits: Hairless, flattened achenes; pappus lacking.