For the past three weeks, Forest Health Coordinator Neil Mortimer and I have spent two of our five workdays each week out along Monitor Pass to collect one-year post fuels treatment data in aspen stands. Although we are past the peak of wildflower blooms now that it is the end of August, Neil and I have still gotten to see various beautiful flowers.
The Wyoming paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia) is by far the most eye-catching flower at this time of year (or maybe even throughout the entire year) in the sagebrush steppe habitat due to the exquisite yellow-green flowers that are usually hidden by the bright pinkish-red bracts that comprise a majority of the plant. In contrast to the most eye-catching flower, thorny skeletonweed (Pleiacanthis spinosus) is easily overlooked, but it is a special species to me and always catches my eye because I have two specimens in my yard, and they have returned and bloomed each year that I have lived in Alpine County.
