June 30, 2019, Cañada Bonita Trail to the meadow

After a month visiting the East and West coasts (with flower walks mixed in), I'm happy to be back in New Mexico. I grew up in Pennsylvania and my initial forays into plants were based there, and this was my eighth visit to the redwoods in California, in my mind both hot spots for plants. Well, not in summer. A five-mile hike on either coast yielded maybe 10 species in bloom--some of them, like the small Mariposa Lily Pussy-ears, spectacular. Today hiking to Cañada Bonita yielded 52 species (yesterday along the East Fork of the Jemez 73 species!), a contrast to summer on the coasts. Yes, I missed the spring seasons East and West, but summer belongs to the mountains!

In the high country today the stellar plants were Thimbleberry, Scarlet Paintbrush, and Ninebark. Well, the wet winter makes it difficult to select just three stars--I've never seen so much Mountain Parsley, American Vetch, or Richardson's Geranium! It is a spectacular year for flowers in northern New Mexico. (Complete list for the day below.)

Thimbleberry is a few-flowered raspberry with large white flowers. Normally you spot a flower here and there, but right now they are in huge clusters along many of the local higher elevation trails.

Scarlet Paintbrush paints the trail edges in red. It grows in clusters in openings in the mixed conifer forests--the mountain meadows have other species with subtle differences!

Ninebark is a rose family shrub with intense clusters of white flowers. It is blooming right near the parking area for the trailhead, and continues to display along the first climb from the parking area to the end of the burned area about a half mile in. The flowers are white with a hard circle at the base of the petals, the thin stamens radiating from the circle. The clusters of flowers are dense and hard to miss.

It's too early for the Mariposa lilies xand Whipple's penstemons, but the following list compiles all the species that are easy to find right now:

Genus Species Common name
Achillea millefolium yarrow
Allium geyeri Geyer's onion
Castilleja miniata scarlet paintbrush
Cerastium arvense meadow chickweed
Cirsium parryi Parry's thistle
Corallorhiza maculata spotted coralroot
Corydalis aurea golden smoke
Dasiphora fruticosa shrub potentilla
Descurainia incisa mountain tansymustard
Draba aurea golden draba
Eremogone fendleri Fendler's sandwort
Erigeron flagellaris trailing fleabane
Erigeron subtrinervis three-nerved fleabane
Erysimum capitatum western wallflower
Fragaria virginiana Virginia strawberry
Frasera speciosa deer's ears
Galium boreale northern bedstraw
Geranium caespitosum purple geranium
Geranium richardsonii Richardson's geranium
Geum triflorum old man's whiskers
Helianthella quinquenervis nodding sunflower
Iris missouriensis wild iris
Lathyrus lanszwertii Nevada peavine
Linum lewisii western blue flax
Lonicera involucrata twinberry
Maianthemum stellatum starry false Solomon's seal
Medicago lupulina black medic
Mertensia lanceolata chimingbells
Noccaea fendleri wild candytuft
Oenothera curtiflora velvetweed
Packera neomexicana New Mexico groundsel
Penstemon strictus Rocky Mountain penstemon
Physocarpus monogynus ninebark
Potentilla hippiana woolly cinquefoil
Potentilla pulcherrima beautiful cinquefoil
Pseudocymopterus montanus mountain parsley
Ranunculus inamoenus homely buttercup
Rosa woodsii Woods' rose
Rubus idaeus wild raspberry
Rubus parviflorus thimbleberry
Sambucus racemosa red elderberry
Senecio wootonii Wooton's senecio
Sisyrinchium montanum mountain blue-eyed grass
Taraxacum officinale common dandelion
Thalictrum fendleri Fendler's meadowrue
Thermopsis montana big golden pea
Trifolium pratense red clover
Trifolium repens white clover
Turritis glabra tower mustard
Valeriana acutiloba sharpleaf valerian
Verbascum thapsus mullein
Synthyris plantaginea kittentails
Vicia americana American vetch
Viola canadensis Canada violet
Viola nephrophylla northern bog violet
Trifolium hybrdium Alsike Clover
Tragopogon dubius yellow salsify
Castilleja nelsonii Southern Mountain Paintbrush