mdpurdy's Favorites

mountain rocktansy, Sphaeromeria cana, California, White Mountains, Cottonwood Basin, Granite Meadow, Fishlake Valley drainage, elevation 3025 m (9925 ft).

Another rock outcrop species found with the Jamesia posted earlier, this species is endemic to the Great Basin mountains of Nevada and adjacent southeast Oregon and eastern California, including the southern Sierra Nevada and northern Mojave Desert, up to about 3600 meters (12000 feet) elevation. The species is a calcifuge, liking granite crevices best, but found on other rock types as long as they have no significant carbonate content.

In 1984 I had to backpack to some pretty remote granite outcrops to document this species in the White Mountains for the first time, and thought I had some unnamed sagebrush species until Mary Dedecker set me straight. It has since proven to be fairly frequent in the White Mountains, but is a late-flowering species, and when not in flower it looks exactly like sagebrush from a short distance, so had gone unnoticed here for a century.

The similarity to sagebrush is no accident, as recent DNA studies have shown that the 9 species of Sphaeromeria originated from within Artemisia. For those who want to lump an ever bigger Artemisia, the name Artemisia albicans is available for this species.

Uploaded from my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/

May be outside plot, but vegetative plant of same species in plot: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179726212

Appears to be the same species as plants seen one day earlier and a few miles east which were tentatively keyed to P. parvulus from photos.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179060173

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/179060160

Steep, crumbling hillslope along US550 consisting of sedimentary, gypsum-rich bedrock in various degrees of weathering. Some unique plants and quite a few mat or rosette forming.

@aspidoscelis small, accessible population along 550

Rusby primrose was flowering abundantly during a drought year in the Magdalena Mountains at upper elevations in the understory of Doug fir and limber pine. This site lies along the trail just below and to the north of the summit of South Baldy, Magdalena Mountains, Socorro County, New Mexico.

Poison Canyon stickseed, Hackelia brevicula, California, White Mountains, Cottonwood Basin, Poison Creek, Fishlake Valley drainage, elevation 2960 m (9710 ft).

This rare species is endemic to the White Mountains, almost entirely in Mono County, California, but getting into the northeast edge of Inyo County, California, and possibly the west edge of Esmeralda County, Nevada. Within this very limited geographic range, it is further confined to a zone mainly of higher montane and subalpine elevations between 2650 and 3150 meters (8700-10300 feet). Within this zone, however, it is locally common in mountain sagebrush, aspen woodland, riparian edges, and other habitats. Quite frankly it's hard to understand how it can be so rare, with its barbed, easily detached seeds that I pick out of my clothing whenever I hike through the area. (Maybe I should stop picking them out? ;-).

The common name, Poison Canyon stickseed, comes from the canyon where this image was taken. The type specimen was collected here (and later named) by Willis Lynn Jepson in 1917.

Uploaded from my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/

mountain bitterbrush, Purshia tridentata, unnamed high-elevation variant, White Mountains, elevation 3215 m (10545 ft).

This bitterbrush form is found at higher elevations in (at least) the southwestern portion of the species range, has often been called Purshia glandulosa, and has been a source of confusion between the two species. This form seems to intergrade only with Purshia tridentata, with which it shares flat and relatively thin (though mostly smaller) primary leaves with only narrowly inrolled margins. It gets confused with P. glandulosa because of its tendency toward primary leaves glabrous above with margins often ciliate-glandular, and glands more frequent on the hypanthia and peduncles, as seen clearly on this plant.

Purshia glandulosa, on the other hand, appears to be a completely distinct species centered around the Mojave Desert, and characterized by primary leaves strongly thickened and inrolled most of their width, and with upper leaf surfaces always glabrous and glutinous. It appears to flower later where it grows in proximity to P. tridentata, and intermediates have not been found so far.

Field observations are ongoing to determine whether mountain bitterbrush warrants a formal scientific name as a variety of Purshia tridentata.

Examples and comparisons:
www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/15125367974
www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/16653752647
www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/16835202736
www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/16859906822
www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/16208690804

Uploaded from my Flickr site: https://www.flickr.com/photos/127605180@N04/

Staminate and pistillate shrubs are particularly evident this time of year with each catkin type bearing flowers at full anthesis, or nearly so. The glabrous reddish twigs and leaves equally green above and below are diagnostic of Booth's willow. This site lies in the North Bowl of the Bridger Bowl ski area, Gallatin Range, Gallatin County, Montana.

Booth's willow is a native shrub to 5 m tall and common along streams and lakes and generally in wetland areas from low to high elevations in western and south-central Montana. A shrub with a rounded canopy, twigs that are glabrous and yellowish, and leaves equally green on both surfaces are diagnostic of this species. Booth's willow is similar to yellow willow, Salix eriocephala (Salix lutea), except that the leaves are equally green on both surfaces in Booth's willow whereas the leaves are distinctly lighter green (glaucous) on the lower surface of the leaves of yellow willow.

Artemisia, maybe A. rothrockii, maybe A. spiciformis. Youngest foliage seems glandular-sticky, but inflorescences are all dry with flowers gone from the heads. Edge of meadow near Dana Fork Tuolumne River, just south of the Mono Pass Trail, Yosemite National Park, Tuolumne County, CA, elev. 9590 ft.

Abundant in sandy flats of Bishop Pass area. Fruit hairs don't seem to match with subumbellata, but most other characters do. My best guess, and I can't fit it in any other Draba box. Comments and alternative IDs welcome! Note: located and photographed this species in an unsuccessful attempt to relocate a historical Draba sierrae record from this same location.