Cushion Buckwheat (Silver-Plant)

Eriogonum ovalifolium

Buckwheat Family

This mat-forming species can be found from prairie elevations to the alpine ridges. Its large mats are distinctive and appealing to the eye on high rocky ridges. The leaves are oval in shape and densely covered in silver woolly hairs, giving the plant an overall grey or silver appearance. The white to cream-coloured flowers occur in dense, rounded heads atop short, leafless stems that rise from the basal growth. The flower umbels in this species are simple, not compound as in most members of the genus.

Sulphur Buckwheat

Eriogonum umbellatum

Buckwheat Family

This perennial grows from a stout taproot and tends to form mats. Its spoon- to egg-shaped leaves are all basal, narrowing to a slender stalk, greenish above and often woolly white beneath. The leaves turn bright red in the fall. The flowering stem is usually leafless and up to 30 cm tall. The stem supports an inflorescence composed of small creamy-white to pale-yellow flowers that are held in compact spherical clusters (umbels). The flowers sometimes become tinged with pink on aging. The plant occurs from moderate to alpine elevations, on grassy slopes, dry gravel ridges, alpine ridges and talus slopes.

The specific epithet, umbellatum, refers to the shape of the inflorescence, and indeed the species also goes by the locally common name Subalpine Umbrellaplant.

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.

Globeflower

Trollius albiflorus

Buttercup Family

This plant grows from thick, fibrous rootstock in moist meadows, along stream banks and in open, damp areas in the subalpine and alpine zones. Its shiny, bright-green, mostly basal leaves are palmately divided into five to seven parts and deeply toothed. The few stem leaves are alternate and short-stalked. The flowers are made up of five to ten white sepals (which may have a pinkish tint on the outside) that surround a central core filled with numerous dark-yellow stamens. This plant contains a poisonous alkaloid.

Mountain Marsh Marigold

Caltha leptosepala

Buttercup Family

This plant lives along stream banks and in marshes and seeps in the subalpine and alpine zones. Its simple, long-stemmed, mostly basal leaves are oblong to blunt-arrowhead-shaped, with wavy or round-toothed margins. The flowers are solitary on the end of the stem, and consist of up to a dozen white, petal-like sepals that are tinged with blue on the back. The flower has a bright-yellow centre composed of numerous stamens and pistils. This plant contains glucosides which are poisonous.

Water Crowfoot (Water Buttercup)

Ranunculus aquatilis

Buttercup Family

This aquatic Buttercup lives in ponds, lakes, ditches and slow-moving streams. Its 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.

Western Anemone (Chalice Flower)

Pulsatilla occidentalis (also Anemone occidentalis)

Buttercup Family

This plant is considered by many to be emblematic of wet alpine meadows and clearings. Its large, creamy-white flowers bloom early in the spring as the leaves are beginning to emerge. The entire plant is covered with hairs, which keep it protected in its cold habitat. Most of the leaves are basal, but there is a ring of feathery, grey-green stem leaves just below the flower. The flower is replaced by a clump of plumed seeds at the tip of the flowering stem. Some people refer to this stage as “Hippies on a Stick.”

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.

Cow Parsnip

Heracleum lanatum

Carrot Family

A denizen of shaded riverine habitat, stream banks, seeps and moist open woods, this plant grows to more than 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.

Large-Fruited Desert-Parsley

Lomatium macrocarpum

Carrot Family

This stout, low-lying perennial grows from an elongated taproot and puts up a stem that branches near the base and grows up to 50 cm tall in dry or gravelly areas and on open slopes. The leaves are all basal, hairy, greyish in colour and finely dissected, resembling fern leaves. The white to purplish flowers occur in large umbrella-shaped clusters at the top of the multiple stems. The fruits are long and smooth, with narrow wings.

Sharptooth Angelica (Lyall’s Angelica)

Angelica arguta

Carrot Family

This plant can grow to over 2 m tall in shaded riverine habitat and moist open woods. The numerous white flowers are arranged in compound umbels. The leaves are twice compound, with large, sharp-toothed leaflets, as is reflected in the common name. The lateral leaf veins are directed to the ends of the teeth on the leaf margin. Angelicas are highly prized by herbalists for treating digestive disorders.

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.

Hooker’s Thistle

Cirsium hookerianum

Composite Family

This native thistle can grow up to 1 m tall, and is found in a variety of habitats from valleys up to alpine elevations. The flower heads are white, and the bracts surrounding the flowers point upward. The leaves, stems and bracts are all covered with silky hairs. The leaves display a prominent mid-vein. The species name celebrates Sir William Hooker, a prestigious English botanist. This plant was used as food by some Indigenous peoples, eaten either raw or cooked.

Palmate Coltsfoot

Petasites frigidus

Composite Family

This perennial grows from a thick, creeping rhizome, putting up a white-hairy flowering stem that is up to 50 cm tall in wet to moist forests and wetlands and along streams, rivers and lakeshores. The stem appears before the leaves do. The hairy, long-stalked basal leaves are kidney-shaped to round and palmately lobed. The stem leaves are very much reduced to reddish bracts. The inflorescence occurs as a flat-topped cluster of composite heads at the top of the stem. The flower heads have white to pinkish ray and disc florets or may appear with disc florets only. The flower heads have woolly-hairy bases.

Pathfinder Plant (Trail Plant)

Adenocaulon bicolor

Composite Family

This species grows in shady and open woods at low to moderate elevations. Its somewhat large basal leaves are triangular, alternate and narrowly scalloped, and can reach 1 m long. The leaves are green above and white woolly beneath. The flowering stem is solitary with many branches, rising above the leaves, and has inconspicuous white flowers at the top. The fruits are hooked achenes that cling to clothing or fur of passersby. The common name arises because the leaves invert when a hiker passes through, leaving a trail of silvery-white undersides apparent.

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, resembling a fern. Yarrow can occur in large colonies. The genus name, Achillea, is in honour of Achilles, the Greek warrior.

Northern Black Currant (Skunk Currant)

Ribes hudsonianum

Currant Family

This plant is an erect deciduous shrub that grows up to 2 m tall in moist to wet forests at low to subalpine elevations. The species does not have thorns, but has yellow resin glands dotting its smooth bark. The leaves are alternate and maple-leaf-shaped, with three to five rounded lobes. The white, saucer-shaped flowers occur in spreading to erect clusters and have a strong smell that some people find uncomfortable. The black fruits are speckled with resin dots, and are said to have a particularly bitter taste.

Sticky Currant

Ribes viscosissimum

Currant Family

This plant is a shrub that grows up to 2 m high in damp woods and clearings from valleys to subalpine elevations. It does not have prickles. Its bell-shaped flowers are yellowish-white, often tinged with pink. The flowers and leaves are covered in glandular hairs that are sticky to the touch. The blue-black fruits also are sticky and not considered edible. The specific epithet, viscosissimum, is the superlative form of the Latin viscosus, meaning “stickiest.”

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.

Eyebright

Euphrasia nemorosa

Figwort Family

These small, beautiful plants are found in moist woods at moderate to high elevations. They grow from a taproot that puts up slender, hairy, erect, sometimes branching stems that may reach 40 cm tall. The leaves are sessile (stalkless), egg-shaped to somewhat circular, sparsely hairy and glandular, and have decidedly toothed margins. The upper leaves are reduced in size, and the white flowers appear in the axils. The flowers are two-lipped, with the upper lip being bi-lobed and concave, the lower one having three spreading, notched lobes. There is purple pencilling on the lips and a yellow spot on the lower lip.

Sickletop Lousewort (Parrot’s Beak)

Pedicularis racemosa

Figwort Family

This lovely plant favours upper montane and subalpine environments. Its white flower has a very distinctive shape that deserves close examination to appreciate its intricacy. It is variously described as similar to a sickle, a tool with a short handle and a curved blade, or as resembling a parrot's beak, thus explaining the most often used common names. The flowers appear along a purplish stem that grows up to 35 cm tall. The simple leaves are lance-shaped to linear and have distinctive fine, sharp teeth on the margins. Another locally common name for this plant is Leafy Lousewort.

Beargrass

Xerophyllum tenax

Lily Family

These impressive plants grow in peaty soil or clay in open woods and clearings from mid-elevations to the subalpine. The species has a basal clump of long, dense, sharp, evergreen leaves from which rises an impressive stem up to 150 cm tall. The inflorescence is a large torch-shaped cluster of hundreds of miniature white lilies which bloom from the bottom of the cluster first and then work their way upward. Individual plants may be sterile for several years, producing flowers only once to three times in a decade. Indigenous peoples used the leaves for weaving exquisite baskets, capes and hats.

Queen’s Cup

Clintonia uniflora

Lily Family

This beautiful perennial lily grows from slender rhizomes. Its flowers are about 5 cm in diameter, and are usually solitary, white and cup-shaped, appearing at the top of an erect, hairy stem. The plant may display two or three shiny leaves at the base of its flowering stem, each of them oblong or elliptical with hairy edges. Its fruit is a single deep-blue berry, giving rise to two locally common names: Beadlily and Bluebead Lily.

Three Spot Mariposa Lily (Three Spot Tulip)

Calochortus apiculatus

Lily Family

This perennial lily inhabits coniferous woods; dry, sandy or gravelly slopes; and moist fescue grassland, from the montane to the subalpine zone. It grows from a bulb as a single-leafed plant producing one to five flowers. The flower is white to yellowish-white with three spreading petals fringed at the margins. Each petal is hairy on its inner surfaces and has a purplish gland at its base. These purple glands give the flower one of its common names, Three Spot Tulip. Three narrow white sepals appear between the petals.

Mariposa is Spanish for “butterfly.”

Western Trillium (Western Wake Robin)

Trillium ovatum

Lily Family

This gorgeous lily blooms early and prefers boggy, rich soils in montane and lower subalpine forests. Its large, distinctive, stalkless leaves are broadly egg-shaped with sharp tips, and occur in a whorl of three below the flower. The solitary flower blooms atop a short stem above the leaves, with three broad white petals up to 5 cm long alternating with three narrow green sepals. The petals change colour with age, first turning pink, then progressing to purple.

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

Reflexed Rock Cress

Arabis holboellii

Mustard Family

This plant is widespread in the eastern parts of the region, especially on gravelly slopes and in dry open woods. The plant stands up to 70 cm tall. Its basal leaves form a rosette, and the stem leaves are numerous, narrow, lance-shaped, and clasping on the stem. The flowers are white to pinkish, occurring on reflexed stalks, hanging down along the stem and in a terminal cluster. Rock Cresses are edible and are said to have a taste similar to radishes. The leaves and flowers are often added to salads and sandwiches.

Heart-Leaved Twayblade

Listera cordata

Orchid Family

This small orchid, standing about 20 cm tall, prefers a cool, damp, mossy habitat. As a consequence of its size and preferred location, it is an easy flower to miss. Its white flowers are scattered up the stem in an open raceme. The lip of the flower is deeply split, almost in two. The stem leaf structure of the genus is distinctive, with two leaves appearing opposite each other partway up the stem. The specific epithet, cordata, means “heart-shaped,” referring to the leaves.

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.

Mountain Lady’s Slipper

Cypripedium montanum

Orchid Family

This distinctive and relatively rare orchid grows up to 60 cm tall, occurring in dry to moist woods and open areas from mid- to subalpine elevations. Its lower petal forms a white, pouch-shaped lower lip that has purple markings. The brownish sepals and lateral petals have wavy margins and appear to spiral away from the stem. The attractive leaves are alternate, broadly elliptical and clasping on the stem and have prominent veins. One to three flowers can appear on the stem, and they are wonderfully fragrant.

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 places and 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 specific epithet, passerinum, means “sparrow-like,” a reference to the spotting on the flower being like the markings on a sparrow egg.

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 and 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.

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.

Ocean Spray (Cream Bush)

Holodiscus discolor

Rose Family

This deciduous shrub is erect and loosely branched, growing to more than 3 m tall on coastal bluffs and in dry to moist woods. Its ovate leaves, toothed and lobed, are up to 8 cm long and woolly hairy underneath. The flowers are large pyramidal clusters of tiny white blooms that occur at the branch ends. The species is aptly named, as its clusters of white flowers bring to mind the foam cast up by crashing waves and ocean winds. The plant has a sweet scent from a distance, but is said to be musty smelling in close proximity.

Partridgefoot (Creeping Spiraea)

Luetkea pectinata

Rose Family

This dwarf evergreen shrub creates extensive mats as it creeps over the ground on scree slopes and in moist meadows and shady areas near timberline. It often grows where snow melts late in the season. Its numerous, mainly basal leaves are smooth, fan-shaped and much divided. Old leaves wither and persist for long periods of time. The white to cream-coloured flowers appear in short, crowded clusters atop erect stems. The flowers have four to six pistils and about 20 stamens, which are conspicuous on the flowers.

Alaska Saxifrage (Rusty Saxifrage)

Saxifraga ferruginea

Saxifrage Family

This plant grows in moist soils, on rocky outcrops and along spring banks in the subalpine and alpine zones. The stem at its base is unbranched and rust-coloured, which accounts for one of its common names. Its wedge- to spoon-shaped leaves are all basal in a rosette, with toothed margins and hairy stems. As the plant grows upward it begins to branch into multiple flowering stems. The five-petalled flowers bloom in an open inflorescence on hairy stems. The three upper petals are broader than the two lower ones. Each upper petal also has two yellow spots, while the lower ones have none. Some of the flowers will become leafy bulblets and drop off the plant.

Bishop’s Cap (Bare-Stemmed Mitrewort)

Mitella nuda

Saxifrage Family

This wonderful species occurs along streams and in bogs, thickets and moist to dry forests from the montane to the subalpine. The plant stands erect and grows up to 20 cm tall. Its heart- to kidney-shaped leaves are basal and short-lobed, with rounded teeth. The tiny flowers occur in an open cluster scattered up the leafless stem. The saucer-shaped flowers are very distinctive, and when examined closely they are reminiscent of some kind of satellite dish such as might be found in outer space, complete with antennae festooned around the circumference of the flower.

Red-Stemmed Saxifrage

Saxifraga lyallii

Saxifrage Family

This plant occurs along stream banks and at seepages and other wet places in the high subalpine and alpine zones. It is often found growing in wet mosses at such elevations. The fan- to wedge-shaped leaves are basal, coarse-toothed and abruptly narrowing on long stalks. The flowering stems grow up to 30 cm tall, and each bears one to several tiny, white, star-shaped flowers on its upper parts. When mature the white petals are marked with greenish-yellow blotches, and the sepals are reflexed. The fruits are bright-red two- to four-pointed capsules.

Spotted Saxifrage

Saxifraga bronchialis

Saxifrage Family

These beautiful flowers inhabit rocky crevices, rock faces, screes and open slopes, often appearing as if by magic from the rocks. The white flowers appear in clusters at the top of the wiry brown stems, and have small red or yellow spots near the tips of the five petals. A close examination of this beautiful flower is well worth the time.

Woodland Star (Small-Flowered Woodland Star)

Lithophragma parviflorum

Saxifrage Family

This perennial grows up to 30 cm tall and occurs in low-elevation grasslands, open ponderosa pine stands and sagebrush areas. It blooms early in the spring. Its kidney-shaped leaves are mostly basal, with deeply cleft and divided blades. The flowers are white to pinkish and occur in clusters at the tip of the stem. The flowers are broadly funnel shaped, with five spreading, deeply lobed petals.