Lithophragma parviflora

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Characteristics

Interesting Facts

Prairie Star

Idaho’s Native Flowers

Alicia Gfeller

May 26, 2000

Table of Contents• Starflower• Trillium• False Solomonsonseal• Common Camas• Western Serviceberry• Dogtooth Violet

– Idaho variety

• Yellowbell• Violet (Blue)• Missionbells• Spring Beauty

• Sticky Geranium• Grass Widow• Prairie Smoke• Alpine Shooting Star• Dwarf Waterleaf• Mountain Bluebell• Clematis• Kinnikinnick• Fairy-slipper• Sagebrush Buttercup• Spring Whitlowgrass

Lithophragma parviflorumCharacteristics:Leaves: ½-1 ¼ wide, roundish,

deeply cleft into 3-5 sections, less deeply divided into narrow lobes.

Stems: slender, brown, height to 20”Color: white or pale pinkHabitat: prairies, among sagebrush,

and open forests at lower elevations.

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months March to June.

Those species of this flower that grow in the woods are called Woodland Star.

Starflower

Trillium ovatumCharacteristics:Leaves: 2-8” wide, petals in 3’s,

ovate, pink or reddish with age.

Stems: height of 4-16”, leafless, short stalk

Color: whiteHabitat: along stream banks

and on the floor of open or deep woods, from low to height elevations

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months February to June.This plant is also called a

Western Wake Robin.

Trillium

Smilacina racemosaCharacteristics:Leaves: 2 ½-8” long, ovate,

clasping stems at base Stems: height of 1-3’,non-

branching, long, thin, leafy stem, tipped with a branched dense cluster of many tiny white flowers

Color: white to ivoryHabitat: moist woods from near

sea level to moderate mountain elevations.

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to July.The plant produces red berries.

False Solomonsonseal

Camassia quamash

Characteristics:Leaves: up to 2’ long, narrow,

grass-like near baseStems: height of 12-20”Color: light to deep blue-violetHabitat: moist meadows

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months April to June.These flowers are known to

color an entire meadow blue-violet.

Common Camas

Amelanchier alnifoliaCharacteristics:Leaves: ¾-1 ½” long oval,

teeth on edges, hairless or sparsely-haired when cold

Stems: height of 4-30”Color: whiteHabitat: slopes, canyons, open

coniferous woods, form low to high elevations.

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months April to July.The plant produces a purplish,

juicy fruit.Western Serviceberry

Erythronium grandiflorumCharacteristics:Leaves: 4-8” long, gradually

tapered to a broad stalkStems: height of 6-12”Color: pale to golden yellow

flowersHabitat: sagebrush slopes and

mountain forest openings, often near melting snow.

Interesting Facts:

Root can be boiled or dried for winter storage.

The bulbs, leaves, and seedpods are edible.

Dogtooth Violet

Erythronium idahoense

Fritillaria pudica

Characteristics:Leaves: 2-8” long, 2 or

several borne near the middle of stem

Stems: height of 4-12”Color: yellowHabitat: grasslands, among

sagebrush, and in open coniferous woods.

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to June.The narrow yellow bell

becomes rusty red with age.Yellowbell

Viola aduncaCharacteristics:Leaves: blades are ½-1 ¼” long

on stalks, dark green, thick, ovate or heart shaped, tufts at base, scalloped on edges.

Stems: height of up to 4”Color: bluish to violetHabitat: meadows, open woods,

open slopes, from sea level to timberline

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months April to August.These flowers are described as

shrinking because of the the way the flowers fold in.

Violet (Blue)

Fritillaria lanceolataCharacteristics:Leaves: 1 ½-6” long, lanceolateStems: height of 1-4’, stems

erect, leafy in upper part, leafless below

Color: greenish brownHabitat: grassy areas and

slopes or in open woods.

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months February to June.It’s name “fritillus” means dice

box, which is Latin.Missionbell

Claytonia lanceolataCharacteristics:Leaves: ½-3 ½” long, narrow,

lanceolate, 1 or 2 narrow leaves near stem

Stems: height of 2-10”

Color: white to pinkish

Habitat: moist ground, near snow banks of foothills and mountains.

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months April to July.

Part of the plant is edible, when it is cooked, it tastes like a potato.

Spring Beauty

Geranium viscosissimumCharacteristics:Leaves: 1 ½-5” wide, palmately cleft

and deeply divided into 5-7 segments with sharp teeth on ends and edges

Stems: height of 1-3’, several leaves on long stalks near base

Color: pink-lavender, purplish petalsHabitat: open woods and meadows

from lowlands to well into the mountains

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months May to August.

The fruit is slender with 5 lobes at the base.

Sticky Geranium

Sisyrinchium inflatumOlysinium?

Characteristics:Leaves: 4” long, lower half

sheathing stem, sword likeStems: height 4-12”Color: reddish-lavender or

purpleHabitat: grassy areas in

sagebrush and open woods

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to June.The flowers are in loose coils.

Grass Widow

Geum triflorumCharacteristics:Leaves: 1 ¼-6” long, pinnately

compounded, jaggedly toothed blades.

Stems: height up to 16”, branched stalk above thick clumps of basal leaves

Color: pink to reddish-pink, sometimes yellowish

Habitat: sagebrush plains to mountain ridges and meadows.

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months April to August.The fruit on the plant is in

reddish plumes 2” long.Prairie Smoke

Dodecatheon alpinumCharacteristics:Leaves: 1 ¼-4” long, narrow, less

than ½” wideStems: height of 4-12”, smooth

stalk growing from a basal rosette

Color: Yellow base, dark purple stamens, pink-purple petals

Habitat: mountain meadows along mountain streams

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months June to July.There are about 10 western

species with reddish-lavender corollas.

Alpine Shooting Star

Hydrophyllum capitatumCharacteristics:Leaves: 4” wide and 6” long,

triangular, divided into 7-11 segments, 2-3 large teeth on ends, but not on edges

Stems: height of 4-6”, long stalks with some leaves attached

Color: white to pale purpleHabitat: brushy areas and wide

open woods

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to July.This plant was cooked for greens

by Indians and settlers.

Dwarf Waterleaf

Mertensia ciliataCharacteristics:Leaves: 1 ¼-6” long, tapered at

base, the lower leaves on long petioles

Stems: height of 6-60”, leafy stemColor: blue, pink with ageHabitat: stream banks, seeps, and

wet meadows.

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months May to August

The fruit is divided into 4 small wrinkled segments.

Mountain Bluebell

Clematis columbianaCharacteristics:Leaves: 1/2-1 1/4” long, from

lanceolate to highly dividedStems: about 2” high (creeper),

numerous sprawling stemsColor: cream, white, pink,

lavender, blueHabitat: shifting, rocky, high

mountain slopes

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months June to August.

Debilis means “weak,” which refers to the sprawling stems.

Clematis

Arctostaphlos uva-ursiCharacteristics:Leaves: ¼-1 ½” long, oblong,

widest near blunt tips, leathery dark green leaves

Stems: height of 6”, red-brown, woody, trailing

Color: pink

Habitat: open places near coast or high in mountains

Interesting Facts:

The flowering season includes the months March to June.

Kinnikinnick has many medical uses including the alleged control of STDs.

Kinnikinnick

Calypso bulbosaCharacteristics:

Leaves: 1 ¼-2 ½” long, shallowly plaited, tapered to purple stalk

Stems: height up to 8”, erect, reddish flower stalk that grows above one basal leaf

Color: pink-reddish pinkHabitat: thick duff and mossy

ground in woods

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to June.The plant is named after the sea

nymph Calypso of Homer’s Odyssey.

Fairy-slipper

Ranunculus glaberrimusCharacteristics:

Leaves: ½-2” long, rather fleshy, blades varying from elliptical to nearly round, lobes at end, leaves at base

Stems: height of 2-8”Color: shiny yellowHabitat: mostly among

sagebrush and in open pine woods

Interesting Facts:The flowering season includes

the months March to June.Buttercups are to some degree

poisonous.

Sagebrush Buttercup

Draba verna

Characteristics:Leaves: basal, ovateStems: long, unbranchedColor: white or yellowHabitat: grassy plains to

sagebrush desert and lower mountains

Interesting facts:Bears leaf-like oval seed pods.Grows in urban environments

very well