This sub-alpine and alpine plant is elegant cinquefoil (Potentilla concinna), also called alpine cinquefoil. It grows in western and northern North America and is part of the Rose family (Rosaceae).
Leaves are very hairy with gray underneath.
This cute little yellow-flowered plant is Ross' avens (Geum rossii var. turbinatum), part of the Rose Family (Rosaceae). It looks somewhat similar to cinquefoil, but the leaves are more divided. Another distinguishing characteristic are the relatively long styles. It grows in sub-alpine and alpine areas throughout the western U.S.
Occasionally the plants grow singly, but often they grow in big groups.
For more info on Ross' avens, click here.
Until recently, this alpine plant was called Potentilla nivea, but it's recently been separated and now bears the name Holmgren's cinquefoil (Potentilla holmgrenii). It only occurs on three mountain ranges in Nevada and Utah: the Schell, Snake, and Deep Creek ranges. The plant is gray and grows in mats.
Flowers are yellow and look like a typical cinquefoil flower.
We found very few flowers at the beginning of August.
This flower was covered with insects (anyone know what they are?).
This member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) is Norwegian cinquefoil (Potentilla norvegica), also called rough cinquefoil. It's widespread throughout the U.S., but in our area is only found on the shores of one lake at about 9,600 feet.
Leaflets are in threes, and stems are hairy. Another distinguishing characteristic is that the green calyx lobes behind the petals are slightly longer than the petals.
This high elevation Potentilla is sheep cinquefoil (Potentilla ovina var. ovina), part of the Rose Family (Rosaceae). It has deeply divided leaflets that are green above and gray below, and very hairy. The plant creeps along the ground and grows in parts of western North America. The name "sheep" is due to the type specimen, found on Sheep Mountain in British Columbia.
For more info about sheep cinquefoil, click here.
This attractive flowering shrub is antelope bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae). It can look very similar to cliff rose (Purshia stansburiana), but antelope bitterbrush has three-lobed leaves while cliff rose has five-lobed leaves.
For more information about antelope bitterbrush, click here.
A shrub or small tree, chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) is often found in moister areas. Right now it has racemes of small white flowers that will turn into fruits that can be used for jellies and jams.
These white fruits will turn darker as they age--the darker they are, the sweeter they are. Chokecherry is found across most of the U.S.
This beautiful bush growing in limestone areas is desert sweet (Chamaebatiaria millefolium), more commonly called fern bush. It's a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) and is native to the western United States.
The flowers look like most other rose-family flowers, with five petals. The leaves are quite fern looking, with many leaflets (hence the species name millefolium).
This large plant growing next to a stream was a little bit of a mystery at first, because it had already flowered and only had strange looking fruits on it. The leaves were large and split in three leaflets. A little searching showed it was a member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) called largeleaf avens (Geum macrophyllum). It's native to western and northern North America.
Flowers appear in June and July, but by August only the seed is left.
Unless you get lucky and catch a few petals still clinging on!
This pretty yellow flower growing on a small shrub immediately appears to be part of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) with its flower parts in fives. It is called shrubby cinquefoil or bush cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa), previously called Potentilla fruticosa and Pentaphylloides fruticosa. It is easy to distinguish from other potentillas because it is the only woody one.
The colorful shrub usually grows above 6,000 feet in moist places.
The only native rose in this area is Woods' Rose (Rosa woodsii), also called wild rose. It is often found along lower elevation streams and moist sites. The pretty pink flowers become red rose hips later in the summer, a good source of vitamin C.
This member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) is Slender Cinquefoil, also called five-fingered cinquefoil and Northwest cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis). Although there are several different cinquefoils growing in this area, this one is fairly easy to distinguish.
As one of its common names suggests, it has leaves that are palmately divided into five sections. The margins are serrated as is common with Potentillas. This is also one of the taller cinquefoils, growing up to three feet. The stems are often reddish.
The yellow flowers of this member of the Rose Family (Rosaceae) attracted my attention next to a spring. Then I groaned. It appeared to be a Potentilla, and there are 14 known Potentilla species in this area. 
I started down the key and was amazed when the first entry defined this species. The plants are stoloniferous (having stems that go sideways along the ground) and the flowers are in the axils of the leaves that are on the stolons (the flowers come out of the same spot as the leaves). Lo and behold, something easy to identify! This is silverweed cinquefoil, also called common silverweed or just silverweed (Argentina anserina). Despite the inclusion of "weed" in the common name, it is native to western and northern North America. And if you're wondering what happened to the Potentilla genus name, it was changed to Argentina in the 1990s. Argenta means silver, and fine hairs on the bottomside of the leaves make them look silvery.
This flower looks completely yellow, but under ultraviolet light, it changes to white and red. Check it out here. Some insects have UV vision, so this bull's-eye pattern helps them direct their efforts.
