Wildflower Walks

Nodding onion
Allium cernuum
Description: Cluster of 25 to 40 small white or pink flowers, with stamens longer than petals or sepals, that hangs from a bent stalk 6 to 18 inches tall with grasslike leaves growing from the base. Found in dry to moist valleys, open hills and ridges. Blooms mid-June to early August. (“Peterson Field [...]

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The Clark Fork Chapter of the Montana Native Plant Society has a couple of outings planned this month.
This Saturday, the group will go in search of Steer’s Head, a cousin of Bleeding Heart, in the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area. U.S. Forest Service ecologist Mike Young will lead the eight-mile round-trip trek from the main Rattlesnake [...]

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Wild licorice
Glycyrrhiza lepidota
Description: Greenish-white flowers 1/2-inch long form dense clusters on a shrub 1 to 3 feet tall. Leaves are made up of 11 to 19 lance-shaped leaflets up to 1 inch long. Blooms from June to early August. Grows in patches on cultivated land and in prairies, river bottoms and moist mountain draws. (“Peterson [...]

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Canada violet
Viola canadensis
Description: Nearly 1-inch-wide flower has five white petals that are yellow at the base and purplish on the back; lower three petals have purple lines at the base, and outer petals are hairy at the base. Stands 4 to 16 inches tall with 1- to 3-inch heart-shaped leaves. Blooms May to June in [...]

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Pointed mariposa lily
Calochortus apiculatus

Description: Flowers have three sepals and three yellowish-white, oval-shaped petals that are hairy and pointed, and have purple dots at the base. Grows atop a 6- to 12-inch stem with a narrow leaf at the base and leafy bracts near the top. Found in dry, open or shaded forests in foothills and [...]

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Wild lily-of-the-valley
Smilacina stellata

Description: Six-pointed star-shaped white flowers one-quarter inch across growing from end of 1- to 2-foot stem with slender, folded leaves. Found in wet soil in open and shaded areas along streams and on mountains. Blooms May to July. (Peterson Field Guides – Rocky Mountain Wildflowers, by John J. Craighead, Frank C. Craighead Jr. [...]

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