White flowered Douglasia montana

Submitted by Brian_W on

Greetings,

Douglasia montana is one of the most common plants in western Montana. It grows from the highest elevation, down to the valleys. Pretty much any rocky area will have numerous examples of this plant. Several years ago I found a small plant with white flowers. Last summer while collecting seed from this plant I found numerous seedlings that also had white flowers. Please see attached photos:

The main plant:

A small seedling:

The typical pink flowered form growing on a limestone cliff:

Comments

Submitted by cohan on Thu, 01/03/2013 - 11:41

Great to see these, and interesting to know it's that widespread. It xeems to be in calcareous rocks in habitat? Do you know if it's necessary to duplicate that in the garden?

Submitted by Brian_W on Sat, 01/05/2013 - 16:26

Greetings,

I find D. montana growing in limestone, shale, and granite based substrates.  A few months ago, I found some growing in clay soil in a very dry area.  They were growing among cacti and Eriogonum ovalifolium. 

Brian

Submitted by Hoy on Sun, 01/06/2013 - 01:00

Both the white and the pink forms are beautiful! Seems this species has a wide ecological amplitude so it shouldn't be too difficult in the garden?

Submitted by Weiser on Sun, 01/06/2013 - 07:11

It's always fun to spot color variants in a wild population. I'm glad you were able to collect seed. I often have a difficult time relocating a specific plant later in the season unless I mark the spot. I stack small rock cairns or circle the plant with a ring of stone as a marker and that seems to work most of the time.
Do you use GPS coordinates to relocate them?

Submitted by Brian_W on Sun, 01/06/2013 - 07:19

Hoy,

You should try the plant.  I send seed to England every season and they have good luck with it. 

John,

I use GPS and rocks or a stick to mark the spot. 

Submitted by Hoy on Sun, 01/06/2013 - 12:10

Brian_W wrote:

Hoy,

You should try the plant.  I send seed to England every season and they have good luck with it. 

John,

I use GPS and rocks or a stick to mark the spot. 

I would love to try it if I get the chance!

If I want to remember exactly where a plant grows I do take a couple of pictures, one closeup and one at a distance ;)

Submitted by Boland on Fri, 01/11/2013 - 16:54

Do they grow in the Bearstooth of Bighorns?  If so, I didn't see them there last July.  It is one of the plants I'd love to see in the wild.

Submitted by Anne Spiegel on Sat, 01/12/2013 - 09:09

They certainly grow in the Big Horns (saw them always in limestone), but can't remember if I saw them on the Beartooth.  In my garden, it is one of the very first things to bloom.  I grow it in the crevice garden (soil about 7.8)

Submitted by Brian_W on Sat, 01/12/2013 - 11:23

Yes, they grow in both the Beartooth and BigHorn mtns.  In the high elevations of the Beartooths, they grow in granite and often bloom when the surrounding landscape is still covered with snow.  Out of the thousands of plants I've seen, only the ones in the photos had pure white flowers.

Brian