Flowers at City Creek

Below the fold, a whole bunch of flowers from my Sunday hike. Click on pictures for full size.



Many-flowered Stickseed, or a very close relative. Somewhere recently I read that, should you get the seeds from this in your sock, it was probably simpler just to plant the sock and enjoy the flowers rather than try to dig the seeds out of the sock. (Can't remember the exact source, unfortunately)





These are both likely some sort of phlox ... unless the top one is another of those mysterious apparent carnations that I came across two summers ago, but I think that was later in the summer, and the phlox was blooming almost everywhere! I guess it really liked our recent rains. Me? I'm hoping they subside enough for another foray tomorrow morning.



I think this is bitterbrush (a bit more than halfway down the page). Despite the name, the flowers had a strong, sweet scent.



This seems to be a variety of false Solomon's seal. It doesn't look quite like either of the pictures at the link, but based on Plants of the Rocky Mountans' description, "large, puffy pyramidal flower clusters," it's probably Maianthemum racemosum.


I'm pronouncing myself stumped on this one. Judging by the flowers, it's probably in the pea family, but these were rather large shrubs. *one Google search later* I found a page describing shrubs in the pea family, then I had to hunt for images of the ones with yellow flowers. The closest match is Colutea arborescens, except the flowers don't quite look right.



I think this is Lemonweed aka Yellow Puccoon. It looks a lot like a yellow version of stickseed, and Lemonweed is in the same family (Borage). However, my example picture has shorter leaves. So...either Lemonweed or a close relative, methinks. Most interesting use: Shoshoni women made a tea of the root and drank it as a contraceptive. Laboratory tests in mice have found that exracts from the plant eliminate the estrous cycle. (Plants of the Rocky Mountains)



Larkspur! Closest match I've got is "Low Larkspur", which grows on dry slopes. It could also be Nelson's Larkspur... The descriptions given contradict the supposedly matching pictures, so I'm not really sure.



Last but not least, an early-blooming geranium. Most books have at most one or two varieties of geranium in them, so I'm not going to speculate as to which geranium this is.