Mesa Verde was truly verdant with a lush growth of foot-tall grasses, shiny new leaves on the Gambel Oaks which were regenerating very well from an extensive forest fire on the plateau in 1996, and new growth on the surviving Juniper and Pinyon Pine trees.Cliff Fendler-bush, Fendlera rupicola
Among the many shades of green against red soils and cliffs, was a striking white shrub, Cliff Fendler-bush, Fendlera rupicola, with four petals, in the same family as mock orange, but lacking a fragrance.
Blue Flax, Linum lewisiiIn grassy patches, especially in Moorfield campground, an old friend from the Sierra Nevada in California (and throughout the West), Blue Flax turned it’s delicate blue face to the sun in the morning.
Blue Penstemon, Penstemon linarioides
Found everywhere, between grass clumps, on open ground or at the edge of rocks was an 5 to 10 inch tall perennial, with spikes of pale blue-purple flowers resembling snap-dragon, a Penstemon which I keyed out to Penstemon linarioides in “The Flora of Arizona”. To verify my identification, I have just googled the name and found several color photos that seem to match.
Our vote for the most beautiful goes to the Mariposa Lily. We saw only a single flower of Calochortus nuttallii; it was gorgeous.
Mariposa Lily, Calochortus nuttallii
The most peculiar looking plant was Bladder-pod, Lesquerella wardii, with its central tuft of gray leaves encircled by puffy round seed pods. It must have been beautiful when the brilliant yellow flowers were in bloom earlier in the season.Bladder-pod, Lesquerella wardii
I found it difficult to select only these few from the 77 herbs, shrubs and trees I photographed at Mesa Verde. They are all interesting and beautiful to me.
