We were in Tahoe a couple of weeks ago with friends and the wildflowers were out in full force. Katie organized two hikes for the gals that she felt would give us an opportunity to see the local wildflowers and she chose terrific trails. I was stunned by the large number of wildflowers available in July.
I saw many flowers that reminded me of wildflowers I’ve seen elsewhere – like Maine, Alaska and Sun Valley, but they were slightly different and there were so many more varieties to see. After our hikes, I began the project of looking up the flowers so I would know what I saw – which was no small feat. The two best sourcesI found for identifying my Sierra Nevada flowers were Jay Sullivan’s site and Karen Wiese’s Sierra Nevada Wildflowers. I believe I have the correct names below each flower, but if you find I’ve mislabeled a flower, please let me know!
Enjoy just some of the wildflowers we discovered. Heads up: there are A LOT of flowers :).
Leichtlin’s Mariposa Lily (Calochortus leichtlinii)
Wavy-Leaved Paintbrush (Castilleja applegatei)
Swamp Onion (Allium validum)
Velvety Stickseed (Hackelia velutina)
Single-stemmed Groundsel; One-Stemmed Butterweed (Senecio integerrimus)
Mountain Pride (Penstemon newberryi)
Sierra Onion (Allium campanulatum)
Waxy Checkerbloom; White-veined Mallow (Sidalcae glaucescens)
Brewer’s Cinquefoil, (Potentilla breweri)
King’s Sandwort (Eremogone kingii)
Anderson’s Thistle (Cirsium andersonii)
Pussy Paws (Calyptridium umbellatum)
Wooly Mule’s Ears (Wyethia mollis)
Little False Solomon Seal (Maianthemum stellatum)
Longspur Lupine (Lupinus arbustus)
Glacial Daisy; (Erigeron glacialis)
Anyone know what this is?
Western Bistort; Ladies Thumb (Bistorta bistortoides)
Desert Paintbrush (Castilleja linariifolia)
Sierra Daisy (Erigeron algidus)
Purple Penstemon?
Desert Monardella (Monardella exilis)
Skyrocket; Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)
Sticky Cinquefoil; Green’s Drymocallis (Drymocallis gladulosa)
Bitter Dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium)
Snow Plant (Sarcodes sanguinea)
Narrow-leaved Azure Penstemon (Penstemon azureus)
Pinedrops (Pterospora andremedea)
Slender Larkspur; Greene’s Larkspur (Delphinium gracilentum)
