Notable Native Wildflowers of Yellowstone
Here's a listing of some of the most common and interesting plants found in Yellowstone National Park.
Yellowstone Sand Verbena (Abronia ammophila)
Yellowstone sand verbena is a rare and unique plant. It grows by Yellowstone’s lakeshores, and is endemic to the park—it exists nowhere else in the world!
This plant’s very presence on the Yellowstone Plateau is surprising because of the high elevation and long, cold winters. Yellowstone sand verbena is a member of a plant family that typically lives in warmer climates such as deserts and tropical areas. Some botanists believe that the thermal activity in Yellowstone has allowed the sand verbena to survive harsh winters and to slowly evolve into a species adapted to this climate. Mystery still surrounds how this plant is pollinated, how the seeds are transported, and how long the seeds survive.
Yellowstone sand verbena, as the name suggests, is associated with sandy sites. It grows as a sand-hugging mat one to four inches tall and up to three feet wide. Because sticky glands cover the surface of the plant, sand grains adhere to flowers, stems, fruit, and leaves. Clusters of white flowers are present from mid-June to late August or early September when harsh frost kills the above-ground parts of the plant. This long blooming period is unusual for Yellowstone; most plants bloom for a short time during the summer.
Yellow Glacier Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)
A member of the lily family with a nodding bloom on a 6-12 inch stem, this bright yellow spring flower is found in abundance in both parks at elevations of more than 7,500 feet. Also known as the fawn lily, trout lily, and adder's-tongue, it is especially common near Sylvan Pass and on Dunraven Pass.
The yellow glacier lily was a very important root vegetable for Native Americans, and the dried bulbs were also an important trading item among tribes. The bulbs are not edible when raw, but prolonged steaming such as pit cooking, converts their indigestible carbohydrate, insulin, into edible fructose. Grizzly bears have been noted to dig yellow glacier lilies and let them wilt on the ground, then return a few days later to eat them. The bears seem to be aware of the increase in sweetness of the bulbs after exposure to air.
Yellow glacier lily blooms not long after snow melt, often at the edges of retreating snow banks, which give rise to their alternate common name, avalanche lily.
Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja linariaefolia)
This is the Wyoming state flower. It has a distinctive narrow, bright scarlet bloom that is most commonly found from mid-June to early September in the Snake River bottomland. Other species are white, yellow, orange, and pink.
There are over 200 species of Indian paintbrush found in North America. The showy red bracts, which are actually modified leaves, resemble a brush dipped in paint, hence the common name.
Plains Prickly Pear (Opuntia polyacantha)
This member of the cactus family is only one of two such species found in the park, most frequently in the Mammoth area and near the Snake River. It is distinguished by thick, flat green stems armed with spines, and during midsummer a conspicuous yellow flower with numerous petals.
Native Americans recognized prickly pear's medicinal qualities and treated warts by lacerating them and then applying juice from the plant. This plant grows in dry grasslands from the plains into the foothills, canyons and mountain forests.
Fringed Gentian (Gentiana dentosa)
This member of the gentian family has been the official flower of Yellowstone Park since 1926. It is common and blooms throughout the summer. Fringed gentian is found blooming at the beginning of the tourist season in June on the worm earth of the geyser basins, and it can still be found in bloom in some of the more protected places in the park even in late September.
The purple petals are fused into a two inch long corolla and sit atop 1-3 foot-tall stems.
Silky Phacelia (Phacelia sericea)
Silky is very common and easy to find in the park. At least 150 species of Phacelia can be found in North America. Often growing in purple clumps alongside roadsides, the flower derives its name from the silvery lanugos that covers its stems and leaves.
This perennial plant is found in the rather dry soils of trails and roadsides from 6,500 to 8,500 feet and blooms in July and August.
Slimpod Shooting Star (Dodecatheon conjugens)
The shooting star is similar in appearance to the cultivated cyclamen. The shooting star is characterized by pinkish .5-1 inch-long flowers, whose stamens lead the way as the turned-back petals stream behind like the tail of a shooting star.
It is a plant commonly found in sagebrush plains or in moist mountain meadows. In Yellowstone, it is also found most particularly near thermal areas, stream beds and Yellowstone Lake.
Native Americans used an infusion of this plant as eyewash.
Pink Monkey Flower (Mimulus lewisii)
The pink monkey flower has large, showy rose-red to pink petals that attract insect pollinators near stream beds at elevations of 7,000 to 9,000 feet all summer. It is also found near mountain streams, around thermal areas and at Yellowstone Lake. Another related species, mimulus guttatus or yellow monkey flower, as its common name suggests, comes in shades of yellow.
Monkey flowers have very sensitive, two-lobed stigmas that will close if touched with a pin, straw, piece of grass or an insect’s tongue, an adaptation which is thought to help in pollination. Bees are the primary pollinators of this plant. The genus name mimulus means “little actor.”
Fairyslipper Or Calypso Orchid (Calypso bulbosa)
Yellowstone and Grand Teton host at least 15 species of orchids, but this is the most beautiful and deliciously perfumed of them all. It can be found in cool, deep shaded areas from mid May to mid June. Unfortunately, although this little orchid has a widespread range, it is quickly being eradicated in populated areas through trampling and picking. The bulbs are attached by delicate roots that are broken easily even by the lightest touch or tug of the stem. Hence, when the flower is picked, the whole plant usually dies. As well, this orchid grows in association with specific fungi, and as a result it is virtually impossible to transplant successfully.
Some Aboriginal people chewed the corms or sucked the flowers to cure mild cases of epilepsy. The corms were sometimes also peeled and eaten raw for their nutritional value.
Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva)
The bitterroot is the state flower of Montana. Although it’s common name is not particularly romantic, the flower is exceedingly beautiful.
The starchy root was prized by the Native Americans as a food source, and they dug them up in early spring before they became too bitter. The roots were peeled and cooked, and sometime they were dried to be eaten in the winter. A pudding of bitterroot, saskatoon berries and salmon eggs was also made.
Its flowers, which resemble water-lily flowers, open up only in the sun. The fleshy leaves appear as soon as the snow melts and usually dry up by the time the plant flowers in early June. This plant prefers dry, open, sometimes-stony soil and in grassy meadows.
Columbia Monkshood (Aconitum columbianum)
This is a purple, oddly shaped flower with a hood-shape structure, and a stem that varies in height from 2-5 feet. Although rarely, white albino flowers sometimes occur.
You'll find Columbia monkshood in wet meadows and on stream banks from June to August, often near thermal areas, stream beds, and Yellowstone Lake.
All parts of this plant are highly poisonous, especially to livestock. The tubers contain Aconitum, which according to folklore, was an essential ingredient of the flying ointment that witches smeared over themselves before taking flight. It would cause heart fibrillations, and together with belladonna, which causes delirium could give one a sensation of flight.
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