Spring Flowers

I've been seeing April flowers for a few weeks now, but it's only in the last few days that I've found some that I haven't yet featured on this blog. Before I go into those new species, I thought it might be nice to have a quick review of what's blooming in April in the central Great Basin.

First up is desert biscuitroot (Lomatium foeniculaceum). It's yellow flowers really stand out. It's cousin Nevada biscuitroot (Lomatium nevadense) with white flowers is really common now.

I've seen a couple different cryptanthas, including this compact one, James' cryptantha (Cryptantha cinerea).

The Astragalus is really brightening up hillsides. We have 26 different kinds in this area, and I'm struggling with identification (especially since I can't find any photos for a couple of them and am going to have to better my knowledge of the botanical descriptions). I think this is Newberry's milkvetch (Astragalus newberryi).

A close up of the pretty flower and hairy leaves.

A similar looking flower, but with tendrils coming off the leaves is American Vetch (Vicia americana). Amazingly, it's almost done blooming even though it's snowing today.

The yellow round flowers and waxy leaves of creeping barberry (Oregon grape) (Mahonia repens) are dotting the sagebrush areas.

I only saw one longleaf phlox (Phlox longifolia) as I traversed the sagebrush area. Soon there will be a lot more.

The close up revealed the crinkly edges of the petals.

There have been lots of non-natives out, like common dandelions (Taraxacum officinale), blue mustard (Chorispora tenella) and the yellow bur buttercup (Ceratocephela testiculata), that makes a nasty little spike as the plant dries out.

This is a pleasing little plant, Chambers' twinpod (Physaria chambersii). There are several other Physaria species in the area that I need to key out.

A close up of the twinpod.

Okay, I've got photos and will start putting up photos (almost) every day beginning next week. I'm looking forward to getting closer to photographing every plant in the Snake Range area flora (see link at top right of page if you want to see the flora).