Evening Star

Mentzelia decapetala

Blazing Star Family

This stout, leafy, branched biennial grows up to 90 cm tall and appears on exposed clay hillsides and in eroded badlands in the prairies. Its sharp-toothed leaves are alternate, prominently veined, and roughened with thick, whitish hairs. The large flowers appear at the terminal ends of the branches. The white flowers are showy, and have five sepals and ten pointed petals. There are numerous yellow stamens. The flowers open in the evening and bloom during the night, hence the name Evening Star. The plant uses moths as pollinators.

Clustered Oreocarya

Cryptantha nubigena

Borage Family

This plant is densely covered with bristly white hairs, and occurs on dry hillsides and in prairie habitats. The lower leaves are spoon-shaped with rounded to pointed tips, while the upper leaves are linear. The small white flowers appear in clusters in the axils of the leaves on the upper two-thirds of the erect stem. The pleasantly scented flowers are funnel-shaped and five-parted, with yellow centres. They bloom early in the spring.

Water Crowfoot (Water Buttercup)

Ranunculus aquatilis

Buttercup Family

This aquatic Buttercup lives in ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-moving streams. The white flowers have five sepals, five to ten petals and numerous pistils and stamens. The plant has two types of leaves. The submerged leaves are matting, thread-like filaments, while the floating leaves are deeply cleft into three to five lobes. The flowers are flecked with gold at the base, and are buoyed above the water on short stems. Yellow Water Crowfoot, which has yellow petals, is now considered to be in the same species.

Baneberry

Actaea rubra

Buttercup Family

This perennial grows up to 1 m tall in moist, shady woods and thickets, along streams and in clearings from low to subalpine elevations. The plant has one to several stout, upright, branching stems. Its coarse-toothed leaves are all on the stem and are divided two or three times into threes. The inflorescence is a dense, white, cone-shaped cluster of flowers that appears on top of a spike. The fruit is a large cluster of either shiny red or white berries. The leaves, roots and berries of this plant are extremely poisonous.

Canada Anemone

Anemone canadensis

Buttercup Family

This is a plant of moist grasslands and woods, aspen groves and riverine thickets. The leaves are toothed and deeply divided into three to five lobes on long leaf stalks. The leaves are light green, with fine hairs above and below. They are long-veined and attached to the stem in a whorl. The flowers are composed of five white, petal-like sepals that are rounded at the tip, with soft hairs underneath. The genus name is said to be derived from the Greek word anemos, which means “wind,” a reference to the wind being the seed distribution mechanism.

Western Clematis (White Virgin’s Bower)

Clematis ligusticifolia

Buttercup Family

This plant is a climbing or trailing woody vine that occurs in coulees, creek bottoms and river valleys. It clings to and climbs over other plants by a twist or kink in its leaf stalks. Its leaves are opposite and compound, with five to seven long-stalked leaflets. The flowers are white and borne in dense clusters. The flowers are unisexual. The male flowers have many stamens but no pistils, while the female ones have both pistils and sterile stamens.

Windflower

Anemone multifida

Buttercup Family

This plant favours south-facing slopes, grasslands and open woods. Like all anemones, Windflowers possess no petals, only sepals. The flowers are a variety of colours, from white to yellowish to red, and appear atop a woolly stem. Beneath the flowers are bract-like leaves attached directly to the stem. The leaves are palmate, with deeply incised, silky-haired leaflets somewhat reminiscent of poppy leaves. The fruits are achenes in a rounded head, which later form a large, cottony mass. The common name, Windflower, comes from the method of distributing the long-plumed seeds of the plant

Cow Parsnip

Heracleum lanatum

Carrot Family

A denizen of shaded riverine habitat, stream banks, seeps and moist open woods, this plant grows over 2 m tall. The flowers are distinctive in large, compound, umbrella-shaped clusters (umbels) composed of numerous white flowers, with petals in fives. The leaves, compound in threes, are usually very large, softly hairy, toothed and deeply lobed.

Water Hemlock

Cicuta maculata (also C. douglasii)

Carrot Family

This is a plant of marshes, river and stream banks and low, wet areas. It produces several large umbrella-like clusters (compound umbels) of white flowers appearing at the top of a sturdy stalk. The leaves are alternate and twice compound, with many lance-shaped leaflets. The primary lateral veins in the leaves end between the notched teeth on the leaflets rather than at their points. This is unique, and separates this species from parsley family members in the area.

While lovely to look at, the Water Hemlock is considered to be perhaps the most poisonous plant in North America. All parts of the plant are toxic, as testified to by several of its common names, including Children’s Bane, Beaver Poison and Death of Man.

Common Cattail

Typha latifolia

Cattail Family

This plant is very common in the area and is well recognized on slough and pond margins and along streams. Its leaves are long, flat and strap-like, and the unisexual flowers are dense, cylindrical flower masses. The top of the mass consists of the pollen-bearing male flowers, while the bottom holds the tightly packed pistillate flowers. Indigenous peoples made extensive use of Cattails. The leaves were woven into mats, hats, bags and even capes; the seed heads were used as an absorbent in diapers, as well as for stuffing in mattresses and pillows; and the young flowers and rhizomes were eaten.

Arrow-Leaved Sweet Coltsfoot

Petasites sagittatus

Composite Family

This plant occurs from low to subalpine elevations in wetlands, ditches and slough margins, sometimes appearing in standing water. The large, long-stalked basal leaves are triangular to heart-shaped with toothed margins and are densely white-woolly underneath. The flowering stems appear before the basal leaves do. The stem does not have leaves, but does have some overlapping bracts. The inflorescence is a cluster of composite heads sitting atop the stem. The flowers consist almost entirely of whitish disc flowers, sometimes with a few white ray flowers.

Ox-Eye Daisy

Leucanthemum vulgare

Composite Family

An invasive Eurasian perennial from a well-developed rhizome, this plant frequents low to mid- elevations in moist to moderately dry sites such as roadsides, clearings, pastures and disturbed areas. The flowers are solitary composite heads at the ends of branches, with white ray flowers and yellow disc flowers. The basal leaves are broadly lance-shaped or narrowly spoon-shaped. The stem leaves are oblong and smaller. This species is very prolific and will overgrow large areas if not kept in check. Many people consider it the most common and recognizable wildflower in North America.

Pineapple Weed (Disc Mayweed)

Matricaria discoidea

Composite Family

This branching annual grows up to 40 cm tall along roadsides, in ditches and on disturbed ground. The stem leaves are alternate and fern-like, with finely dissected, narrow segments. Basal leaves have usually fallen off by the time flowering occurs. The flowers are several to many composite heads, with greenish to yellow disc florets on a cone- or dome-shaped base. There are no ray florets. When crushed, the leaves and flowers of the plant produce a distinctive pineapple aroma, hence the common name.

Tufted Fleabane

Erigeron caespitosus

Composite Family

A plant of dry, open places, south-facing slopes, coulees and eroded badlands, this small, white, daisy-like flower can grow in large bunches or clusters. The ray florets are usually white but sometimes bluish or pink. The numerous narrow petals surround central yellow disc florets. The grey-green basal leaves are short, hairy and lance- or spoon-shaped.

Yarrow

Achillea millefolium

Composite Family

This is a plant of dry to moist grasslands, open riverine forests, aspen woods and disturbed areas. The individual white flower heads appear in a dense, flat-topped or rounded terminal cluster. The ray florets are white to cream coloured (sometimes pink), and the central disc florets are straw coloured. The leaves are woolly, greyish to blue-green and finely divided, almost resembling a fern. Yarrow can occur in large colonies. The genus name, Achillea, is in honour of Achilles, the Greek warrior.

Northern Gooseberry

Ribes oxyacanthoides

Currant Family

This plant is an erect or sprawling deciduous shrub that grows up to 90 cm tall and occurs in moist woods, thickets and open areas. The branches of the plant are covered with small prickles and also have stout spines up to 1 cm long at the branch nodes. The leaves are alternate and shaped like maple leaves, with three to five palmate lobes. The white to greenish-yellow flowers are tubular in shape, with five erect petals and five larger, spreading sepals, and bloom from the leaf axils in the early spring. The fruits are smooth bluish-purple berries up to 1 cm in diameter.

Spreading Dogbane

Apocynum androsaemifolium

Dogbane Family

This relatively common shrub occurs in thickets and wooded areas, and has freely branching, slender stems. The egg-shaped leaves are opposite and have sharp-pointed tips. The small, white to light pinkish, bell-shaped flowers droop from the ends of the leafy stems, usually in clusters. The petal lobes are spreading and bent back, usually with dark-pink veins. Indigenous peoples used the tough fibres from these plants to fashion strong thread for making items like bowstrings and fishing nets. The pods of the plant are poisonous to eat.

Bunchberry (Dwarf Dogwood)

Cornus canadensis

Dogwood Family

This is a plant of moist coniferous woods, often found on rotting logs and stumps. The flowers are clusters of inconspicuous greenish-white flowers set among four white, petal-like showy bracts. The leaves are in a terminal whorl of four to seven, all prominently veined, and are dark green above, lighter underneath. The fruits are bright-red berries. The plant’s common name, Bunchberry, is probably derived from the fact that the fruits are all bunched together in a terminal cluster when ripe.

Red Osier Dogwood

Cornus stolonifera

Dogwood Family

This willow-like shrub that grows up to 3 m high, often forms impenetrable thickets along streams and in moist forests. The reddish bark is quite distinctive, and it becomes even redder with the advent of frosts. The leaves are heavily veined, dark green above and pale underneath. The small, greenish-white flowers occur in a flat-topped cluster at the terminal ends of stems. The fruits are small white berries, appearing in clumps. This plant is extremely important winter browse for moose.

Butte Primrose (Gumbo Evening Primrose)

Oenothera caespitosa

Evening Primrose Family

This low-growing, tufted perennial grows from a woody root and is found on dry clay slopes, eroded prairie and roadcuts. The leaves are basal, entire, spoon- to lance-shaped, wavy-margined, prominently mid-veined and irregularly toothed. They occur in a rosette on the ground, and may have a reddish tinge. The sweet-scented flowers are showy and white, with four large, shallowly lobed petals and four sepals that are often reflexed and pale pink. The flowers are short-lived, and become pinker as they age.

Wild Sarsaparilla

Aralia nudicaulis

Ginseng Family

This plant prefers the dark woods of moist montane forests. Its leaves are up to 50 cm long, arising singly from an underground stem. Each leaf has a long, bare stalk that terminates in three to five leaflets. The leaflets are up to 15 cm long, and are sharp-toothed and pointed at the ends. The flowers arise from a short stem near ground level, well below the spreading leaflets. The tiny, whitish-green flowers are arranged in three round umbels.

Fringed Grass of Parnassus

Parnassia fimbriata

Grass of Parnassus Family

These plants abound in riverine habitat, pond edges and boggy places from the montane to the subalpine. The white flowers are very delicate looking. The flowers appear as singles on a slender stem, with five white petals and greenish or yellowish veins. The lower edges of the petals are fringed with hairs. Alternating fertile and sterile stamens are characteristic of this genus. The leaves are mostly basal and broadly kidney-shaped. A single leaf clasps the flowering stem about halfway up.

Greenish-Flowered Wintergreen (Green Wintergreen)

Pyrola chlorantha

Heath Family

This is an erect perennial that inhabits riverine environments and moist to dry coniferous and mixed forests from montane to subalpine zones. Its flowers have five waxy, greenish-white petals and a long style attached to a prominent ovary. The bell-shaped flowers are distributed on short stalks up the main stem. The shiny, rounded, dark-green leaves are evergreen, basal in a rosette and have a leathery appearance.

Indian Pipe (Ghost Plant)

Monotropa uniflora

Heath Family

This unique and unusual saprophyte grows either solitary or in clumps from a dense root system, and occurs in moist, shaded woods in rich soil. It is fairly rare, and is said to appear almost overnight, like a mushroom. Instead of leaves, it has colourless scales. The flowers are white to cream-coloured, nodding on stems up to 20 cm tall and shaped like a smoking pipe stuck into the ground by the stem. The flowers darken to black with age and turn upward at the top of the stem. Stems from the previous year’s growth may persist.

Labrador Tea

Ledum groenlandicum

Heath Family

This much-branched evergreen shrub is widespread in low to subalpine elevations in peaty wetlands and moist coniferous forests. The flowers are white and numerous, with 5–10 protruding stamens in umbrella-like clusters at the ends of branches. The leaves are alternate and narrow, with edges rolled under. They are deep green and leathery on top, with dense rusty hairs underneath. The fresh or dried leaves can be brewed into an aromatic tea, hence the common name. They were also used in barns to drive away mice and in houses to repel fleas.

One-Sided Wintergreen

Pyrola secunda (also Orthilia secunda)

Heath Family

This small forest dweller grows up to 15 cm tall at low to subalpine elevations in dry to moist coniferous or mixed woods and clearings. The white to yellowish-green flowers lie on one side of the arching stalk, arranged in a raceme of six to ten and sometimes more. The flowers resemble small street lights strung along a curving pole. The straight style sticks out beyond the petals, with a flat, five-lobed stigma. The egg-shaped, evergreen leaves are basal and fine-toothed at their margins. Once seen, this lovely little flower is unmistakable in the woods.

Single Delight (One-Flowered Wintergreen)

Moneses uniflora

Heath Family

This intriguing little plant inhabits damp forests, usually on rotting wood. It is quite tiny, standing only 15 cm tall, and its single white flower, open and nodding at the top of the stem, is less than 5 cm in diameter. The flower looks like a small white umbrella offering shade. The leaves are basal, oval and evergreen, attached to the base of the stem. The style is prominent and tipped with a five-lobed stigma that almost looks like a mechanical part of some kind. The plant is also known locally as Wood Nymph and Shy Maiden.

Low-Bush Cranberry (Mooseberry)

Viburnum edule

Honeysuckle Family

This plant is a sprawling deciduous shrub that grows to heights of up to 2 m in moist to wet forests, along streams and in boggy areas from low to subalpine elevations. The leaves are opposite, sharp-toothed and maple-leaf-shaped with three lobes. The tiny, white, five-parted flowers appear in flat-topped showy clusters between leaves along the stem. The fruits are clusters of red or orange berries that contain a large, flat stone. The fruits remain on the plant after the leaves fall, and the overripe berries and decaying leaves often produce a musty odour in the woods.

Snowberry

Symphoricarpos albus

Honeysuckle Family

This common deciduous shrub occurs from coast to coast in North America, and is found in well-drained, open or wooded sites from prairies to lower subalpine zones. The shrub is erect and can attain heights of 2 m. The slender branches are opposite and covered with tiny hairs. The pale-green leaves too are opposite, and elliptical to oval. The flowers are white to pink and broadly funnel-shaped, occurring in clusters at the ends of the twigs. The fruits are waxy, white, berry-like drupes that occur in clusters and often persist through the winter. It is reported that some Indigenous peoples called the berries Ghost Berries or Corpse Berries and would not touch them.

Twinflower

Linnaea borealis

Honeysuckle Family

This small trailing evergreen is common in coniferous forests but easily overlooked by the casual observer. The plant sends runners creeping along the forest floor, over mosses, stumps and fallen logs. At frequent intervals the runners give rise to the distinctive Y-shaped stems 5–10 cm tall. Each fork of the stem supports at its end a pink to white, slightly flared, trumpet-like flower that hangs down like a small lantern on a tiny lamppost. The flowers have a sweet perfume that is most evident near evening.

Death Camas (Meadow Death Camas)

Zigadenus venenosus (also Toxicoscordion venenosum)

Lily Family

This plant of moist grasslands, grassy slopes and open woods grows from an onion-like bulb that has no oniony smell. The leaves are mainly basal and resemble grass, with prominent mid-veins. The greenish-white, foul-smelling flowers appear in tight clusters atop an erect stem, each flower having three virtually identical petals and sepals. There are yellowish-green V-shaped glands (nectaries) near the base of the petals and sepals. The plant contains very poisonous alkaloids.

Fairybells

Prosartes hookeri (form. Disporum hookeri)

Lily Family

A plant of moist, shaded woods, stream banks and riverine environments, this delightful flower blooms in early summer. Its creamy-white, bell-shaped flowers have six tepals and occur in drooping pairs at the ends of branches. The leaves of the plant are generally lance-shaped, with parallel veins and pointed ends. The fruits are reddish-orange, egg-shaped berries occurring in pairs. The fruits are edible, but said to be bland. They are a favoured food of many rodents and birds.

False Solomon’s Seal

Maianthemum racemosum

Lily Family

A lily of moist woods, rivers and stream banks, thickets and meadows, this plant can grow up to 50 cm tall. The flowers are small and white, arranged in a branching panicle that is upright at the end of the stem. The leaves are broadly lance-shaped, numerous and alternate, gradually tapering to a pointed tip, with prominent parallel veining, sometimes folded at the midline. The fruit is a red berry flecked with maroon.

Prairie Onion

Allium textile

Lily Family

This onion is common in sandy soils in coulees and on dry prairie meadows and hillsides. It is said to be the most abundant of the wild onions. The stems are narrow, grooved and circular, and produce a strong odour of onion if crushed. Several stems can arise from the same bulb. The small, white flowers are numerous and borne in a tight, upright umbel on the top of the stem. This onion usually blooms earlier than other wild onions. Indigenous peoples gathered the bulbs and ate them raw or cooked and in stews and soups.

White Camas

Zigadenus elegans (also Toxicoscordion elegans)

Lily Family

This plant of moist grasslands, grassy slopes and open woods grows from an onion-like bulb that has no oniony smell. The greenish-white, foul-smelling flowers appear in open clusters along an erect stem. There are yellowish-green V-shaped glands (nectaries) near the base of the petals and sepals. The leaves are mainly basal and resemble grass, with prominent mid-veins. The species name, elegans, means “elegant.” Though elegant indeed, these plants are extremely poisonous, containing very toxic alkaloids, particularly in the bulbs.

Other common names include Mountain Death Camas, Green Lily, Elegant Poison Camas, Elegant Death Camas, and Showy Death Camas.

Northern Bedstraw

Galium boreale

Madder Family

This plant is common to roadsides and woodlands in the montane to subalpine zones. Its tiny white flowers are fragrant and occur in dense clusters at the top of the stems. The individual flowers are cruciform, with each having four spreading petals that are joined at the base. There are no sepals. The smooth stems are square in cross-section and bear whorls of four narrow, lance-shaped leaves, each with three veins. Indigenous peoples used the dried plants to stuff mattresses, and also extracted red and yellow dyes from the plants.

Sweet-Scented Bedstraw

Galium triflorum

Madder Family

This plant occurs in moist mountain forests, along stream banks and in dense, damp woods. It is a low, trailing perennial that has leaves in whorls of six, radiating from a common centre stem. The leaves are tipped with a sharp point, and give off a sweet aroma, variously compared to vanilla or cinnamon. The small, greenish-white flowers occur in groups of three in the leaf axils, with four petals per flower. Some Indigenous peoples used the plant for stuffing their mattresses.

Seneca Snakeroot

Polygala senega

Milkwort Family

This multi-stemmed, unbranched, erect perennial grows up to 50 cm tall from a woody, twisted rootstalk that has a snake-like appearance and smells and tastes somewhat like oil of wintergreen. The plant appears in open woods and prairie parklands. Its numerous leaves are alternate, narrowly lance-shaped, simple and up to 30 cm long. The small, numerous flowers are greenish-white and appear in dense, tapered clusters atop the stems. The common name originates from the practice of using the plant to treat snakebite.

Morning Glory (Hedge Bindweed)

Calystegia sepium (also Convolvulus sepium)

Morning Glory Family

This plant is a twining, climbing or trailing vine that grows from slender, spreading rhizomes. Its white to pinkish flowers are 3–6 cm across and trumpet- or funnel-shaped. The leaves are alternate and arrowhead-shaped, and the flowers appear solitary in the leaf axils. The flowers usually close when it is dark, overcast or raining. Other locally common names for the plant are Lady’s Nightcap and Bell-Bind.

Pennycress (Stinkweed)

Thlaspi arvense

Mustard Family

This mustard was introduced from Eurasia, and appears at low to mid-elevations in cultivated areas and waste places. It blooms continuously from early spring until frosts arrive. The leaves have irregularly toothed margins and clasp the stalk. The white flowers have four petals and appear in rounded clusters at the tops of the stem. The fruits of the plant are flat, circular pods with wide wings around the edges and a notch at the top. The common name is derived from the resemblance of the fruits to the size of pennies. The common name Stinkweed is appropriate.

Black Henbane

Hyoscyamus niger

Nightshade Family

These plants are imports from Europe that are looked upon as a noxious weed. The species is biennial and has large, robust, irregularly shaped leaves that grow to about 1 m tall. The flowers are bell-shaped and formed in crowded, one-sided spikes near the top of the plant. The petals have a distinctive and conspicuous network of purple veins, both inside and outside the petals. The flowers mature to a capsule that contains many seeds and resembles a peanut in shape and texture.

Hooded Ladies’ Tresses

Spiranthes romanzoffiana

Orchid Family

This orchid is reasonably common in swampy places, along lakeshores and in meadows and open, shady woods. It grows up to 60 cm tall. The characteristic feature of the plant is its crowded flower spike, which can contain up to 60 densely spaced white flowers that appear to coil around the end of the stem in three spiralling ranks. When newly bloomed, the flower has a wonderful aroma which most people say smells like vanilla. The common name is a reference to the braid-like appearance of the flowers, similar to a braid in a lady’s hair.

Round-Leaved Orchid

Amerorchis rotundifolia

Orchid Family

This tiny orchid, standing no more than 25 cm tall, occurs in well-drained parts of bogs and swamps and in cool, moist, mossy coniferous forests. The flowers are irregular, with three white to pink sepals. The upper sepal combines with the upper two, purple-veined petals to form a hood. The two lateral sepals are wing-like. The lowest petal forms an oblong lip that is white to pink and spotted with dark-red or purple markings. The leaf is basal, solitary and broadly elliptical. These small orchids are always a treat to discover, and in some places they appear in profusion.

Sparrow’s-Egg Lady’s Slipper (Franklin’s Lady’s Slipper)

Cypripedium passerinum

Orchid Family

This lovely orchid grows from a cord-like rhizome along streams and in boggy or mossy coniferous areas. It resembles other Lady’s Slippers in shape, but this flower is decidedly smaller, with bright-purple dots on its interior, and has shorter, stubbier, greenish sepals. Both the stem and the leaves of the plant are covered in soft hairs. The species name, passerinum, means “sparrow-like,” a reference to the spotting on the flower being like the markings on a sparrow egg.

Ground Plum

Astragalus crassicarpus

Pea Family

This hardy perennial grows in open prairie and on grassy hillsides, and sprawls over the ground, sometimes forming dense mats up to 1 m in diameter. The stems are decumbent – lying on the ground, with tips ascending – and the inflorescence appears in a loose raceme of eight to ten pea-like flowers at the tip of the stems. The flowers are whitish, with their keels fringed in purple. The fruits are nearly round pods up to 12 mm in diameter, which are reddish and lie on the ground like small, red plums.

White Clover (Dutch Clover)

Trifolium repens

Pea Family

This common plant was introduced from Eurasia for hay, pasture and soil improvement, it being a nitrogen fixer in the soil. The leaves, which creep along the ground, are composed of three leaflets – occasionally four, if you are lucky. The flowers are white and clustered on short, slender stalks in round heads. On close examination the flower cluster is quite intricate in shape and worthy of close examination. Historically the flowers have been used to flavour cheese and tobacco, and have even been used in famine times to make bread.

White Peavine

Lathyrus ochroleucus

Pea Family

A plant of moist, shaded woods and thicket edges, this twining perennial has coiled tendrils at the ends of its leaves, and it climbs on adjacent plants. Its pea-like flowers are pale yellow to white. Lathyrus is from the ancient Greek name for a plant like this or some other member of the pea family. The species name, ochroleucus, is Greek, meaning “yellowish white,” alluding to the flower colour. The peavines are distinguished from the vetches by their larger leaves and stipules.

Wild Licorice

Glycyrrhiza lepidota

Pea Family

This coarse perennial grows up to 1 m tall from a thick rootstock that has a slight licorice flavour. It occurs in moist grasslands, along streams and rivers and in slough margins and disturbed areas. The leaves are alternate and pinnately compound, with 11–19 pale-green, sharp-pointed, lance-shaped leaflets. The leaflets have glandular dots on the underside, and produce a lemony odour when crushed. The showy, yellowish-white flowers are numerous and occur in dense clusters at the top of the stem.

Moss Phlox

Phlox hoodii

Phlox Family

This is a plant of dry, exposed hillsides, eroded slopes, foothills and prairies. The small, five petalled flowers with orange stamens are united into a tube below. The tiny, overlapping, grey-green leaves are awl-shaped with spiny tips and woolly at the base. The plant grows low to the ground and covers the ground like a moss. The flowers show a tremendous variance in colour, from white to all shades of blue and purple. The genus name, Phlox, is Greek for “flame.” This flower blooms early in the spring and adds a wonderful spectrum of colour to an otherwise drab landscape.

Field Chickweed (Mouse-Ear Chickweed)

Cerastium arvense

Pink Family

This early-blooming plant thrives in dry grasslands and rocky and disturbed ground, often forming large mats of white flowers in the spring. The flowers appear in loose clusters, often numerous on each plant. The five white petals are notched and have green lines on them as nectar guides for insects. The upper part of the leaf is said to resemble a mouse’s ear, thus the common name for the plant.

Mealy Primrose

Primula incana

Primrose Family

This small plant inhabits moist meadows and slopes and the margins of sloughs and lakes, where it grows low to the ground with a basal rosette of leaves. The flowers are pale purple to white, with yellow centres. The petals are deeply notched and appear at the end of a tubular calyx. The common name refers to the mealy, cream-coloured scales on the undersides of the leaves. Primula is from the Latin primus, meaning “first,” a reference to the early blooming time of many in the genus.

Western Spring Beauty

Claytonia lanceolata

Purslane Family

The flowers of this early bloomer are white, but may appear pink, owing to the reddish veins in the petals and the pink anthers. The tips of the petals are distinctly notched. The plants are usually less than 20 cm tall, and the flowers appear in loose, short-stalked terminal clusters. The species grows from a small, white, edible corm. Some Indigenous peoples used the corm as food, and it is said to taste similar to a potato.

Birch-Leaf Spirea

Spiraea betulifolia

Rose Family

This deciduous shrub grows to 70 cm, and occurs in moist to dry open and wooded sites, from valley floors to the subalpine zone. It spreads by underground runners, and often forms dense cover on the forest floor. The plant is alternately branched, with cinnamon-brown bark and alternate oval or egg-shaped leaves that are irregularly sharp-toothed towards the tip. The flowers are dull white, often tinged to purple or pink, saucer-shaped and occurring in flat-topped clusters on the ends of the stems.

Black Hawthorn

Crataegus douglasii

Rose Family

This is a large deciduous shrub that can reach up to 8 m in height. The bark is grey, rough and scaly, and the plant has sharp, stout thorns up to 3 cm long that will command immediate attention from the unwary passerby who stumbles into the plant. The leaves are oval-shaped and appear leathery, with multiple lobes at the top. The white, showy flowers are saucer-shaped, occurring in clusters at the tips of the branches. The berries are generally unpalatable dark-purplish pomes that contain a large, hard seed.

Saskatoon (Serviceberry)

Amelanchier alnifolia

Rose Family

This deciduous shrub grows to heights of up to 5 m or more, and is found in open woods and on stream banks and hillsides, from the prairie to montane elevations. The shrub is erect to spreading, with smooth bark that is reddish when new, turning greyish with age. The leaves are alternate, oval to round in shape, rounded at the tips and sharp-toothed on the upper half. The white flowers are star-shaped, with five slender petals about 2 cm across, and occur in clusters near the branch tips. The purple fruits are sweet and juicy, berry-like pomes.

Trailing Raspberry

Rubus pubescens

Rose Family

This dwarf shrub is a low, trailing plant with slender runners and erect flowering stems that grows at low to mid-elevations in moist to wet forests and clearings. The plant has soft hairs on it, but no prickles. The leaves are palmately divided into three oval or diamond-shaped leaflets, with pointed tips and toothed margins. The flowers are white and spreading, and occur on short, erect branches. The fruits are red drupelets, and the aggregate cluster makes up a raspberry. The fruits are also referred to as Dewberries.

White Cinquefoil

Potentilla arguta

Rose Family

This species grows tall – up to 1 m – in grasslands and meadows. It is a glandular hairy plant, and bears creamy white flowers with yellow centres in a compact arrangement. Its leaves are bright green and pinnately compound. The basal leaves have 7–11 toothed, hairy leaflets, while the upper leaves have three to five leaflets. The genus name, Potentilla, is derived from the Latin potens, meaning “powerful,” most probably a reference to the potent medicinal properties of some of the herbs in the genus. Potentillas have a high tannin content, making them astringent and anti-inflammatory.

Wild Strawberry

Fragaria virginiana

Rose Family

This is a plant of shaded to open gravelly soils and thickets, from prairie to alpine habitats. The single five-petalled white flower appears on a leafless stem that is usually shorter than the leaves are long. The stamens are numerous and yellow. The leaves are rounded to broadly oval and toothed, with three leaflets on short stalks. The fruit is a red berry covered with sunken, seed-like achenes. New plants are often established from reddish runners. Strawberry is said to come from the Anglo-Saxon name streowberie because the runners from the plant are strewn across the ground.

Pale Comandra (Bastard Toadflax)

Comandra umbellata

Sandalwood Family

This erect, blue-green perennial springs from a creeping rootstock, and is common in open pine woods, and grasslands and on gravel slopes. Its leaves are lance-shaped and hug the erect stem. The flowers occur in a rounded or flat-topped cluster atop the stem. Each flower is greenish-white, with the sepals separated above and fused into a small funnel below. The plant has another common name – Bastard Toadflax – though the plant bears no relationship to Toadflax and is not in any way similar. Pale Comandra is a parasite, taking water, and perhaps food, from its host plant.

Richardson’s Alumroot

Heuchera richardsonii

Saxifrage Family

This is an erect perennial that grows up to 40 cm tall in sandy, gravelly grasslands, on rocky slopes and along streams. Its leathery, long-stemmed leaves are all basal, round to heart-shaped, lobed and sharp-toothed. The numerous flowers are glandular hairy, cream to pinkish and appear in a spiral around the top of a tall, leafless flower stalk. The common name, Alumroot, is a reference to the alum-like astringent found in the root of the plant. Indigenous peoples used the plant medicinally for a variety of ailments.

Western Canada Violet

Viola canadensis

Violet Family

This plant favours moist to fairly dry deciduous forests, floodplains and clearings. The flowers are held on aerial stems, and are white with yellow bases. The lower three petals have purple lines, the upper two a purplish tinge on the back. The leaves are heart-shaped, long-stalked and decidedly pointed at the tip, with saw-toothed edges. This small white flower splashes shady woods and marshes in midsummer. The plant grows from short, thick rhizomes with slender, creeping runners. These violets are easily propagated from runners but can be invasive in a garden setting.