Wyoming wildflower/alpine?

[Middleton]

When viewing the Townsendia in the trough in Genera, Species, I scrambled to find a photo I’d taken September 1st 2008 in the Big Horns.  At the time I wondered if the pretty blue flowers were a Townsendia species or Erigeron species.  Not a great photo as it was the end of season and not much was in bloom plus the old digital camera!

[Lori S.]

Looks like an aster (pardon me -  I mean one of the plants formerly known as "aster"  ) to me, but let's see what the experts say!

[Todd Boland]

I agree it's an 'Aster' of some sort.

[Middleton]

Thank you Lori and Todd.

Another photo with what I think is a Penstemon species in the middle of three or four different alpines in late bloom or spent bloom.  Wish I had concentrated also on the white blooms at the top of the photo. Perhaps a violet?
Sharon

[Kelaidis]

It's a bit brash of me, but I would guess your aster is Aster foliaceus, which is very widespread and certainly looks like what you show. It is usually a darker violet color, however. But the foliage and rhizomatous habit and altitude would seem to fit.

Your "penstemon", however, looks an awful lot like Valeriana edulis, and extremely widespread thingum on montane, subalpine and alpine meadows throughout the Rockies that has such interesting foliage and habit and grace that when the greeny white flowers open invariably disappoints. Perhaps that's why someone ate it (edulis?). My experience eating wildflowers is that most are not very tasty.

[Middleton]

Thanks for the IDs Panayoti.
Obvoiusly I'm a 'newbie' at plant identification of western plants.
The last two photos were taken in a slightly higher location. Again only foliage as it is end of bloom season Aug 31.

[Lori S.]

The first one (red-leafed plant) looks like plantain, Plantago major.  Never mind. 

The second looks like Telesonix spp., possibly T. heucheriformis... ?  (A wild guess, as I have never seen it or T. jamesii.)

Telesonix jamesii is on the back cover of the last Rock Garden Quarterly (winter 2010).

[McGregor]

I think the first one is probably a Micranthes sp. (ex Saxifraga) possibly M. rhomboidea and the second may well be Telesonix heucheriformis (if you distinguish that from T. jamesii which many people do not) but it's difficult to get a clear enough image of the open capsules (just fails to be clear enough when I zoom in) to be more certain.

[Lori S.]

Wish I had concentrated also on the white blooms at the top of the photo. Perhaps a violet?
Sharon

Re. your second photo, the leaf shape/plant form don't suggest "violet" to me, but I couldn't say what it is.

[Kelaidis]

You definitely have Telesonix heucheriformis in the second picture. I know it well, Horatio! The seed looks just about ready to harvest.


If you compare it to my pictures of T. jamesii (the GOOD one!) you can see quite a few interesting differences in the way the foliage is carried, and the stoutness of the stem. What your picture doesn't show is the strange violet-purplish rather off putting flowers.