Photos: Explore the plants you’ll meet in western Colorado

share
Serviceberry, a flowering shrub, is common across the country, it’s shown here along the McDonald Creek Canyon trail in the McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area. Photos: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
NEWS
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — Western peppergrass, green Mormon tea and claret cup cactus are some of the 3,300 species of plants that you can find on Colorado’s Western Slope.

As temperatures warm in the approach to summer, native plants are emerging and blooming in places like Colorado National Monument, and Rocky Mountain PBS has the photos to prove it. 

The claret cup cactus, also called hedgehog or king-cup cactus, was named the state cactus in 2014, and a rare spineless variation can be found in the Monument. Native to Colorado, Utah and other states, it often blooms in May.
From left: Globemallow, western peppergrass and claret cup cactus.
From left: Globemallow, western peppergrass and claret cup cactus.
Desert paintbrush can be seen from gravely shale at the base of the Book Cliffs to the canyons of Colorado National Monument.
Desert paintbrush can be seen from gravely shale at the base of the Book Cliffs to the canyons of Colorado National Monument.
Western peppergrass and Mormon tea at the base of a juniper skeleton. The two sentinels of the west, pinyon pine and juniper trees, can each live over 100 years.
Western peppergrass and Mormon tea at the base of a juniper skeleton. The two sentinels of the west, pinyon pine and juniper trees, can each live over 100 years.
Stephen Stern’s colleagues describe him as a native plant expert. He teaches biology at Colorado Mesa University, including intro to plant biology and plant systematics.

Besides an intimidating textbook called “Flora of Colorado,” Stern recommends a few resources to anyone interested in learning the names of plants they see when hiking or biking. One is a simple website, swcoloradowildflowers.com, which offers a search function for color, shape and the size of a plant, allowing users to narrow down what they saw in the field to a few possible answers. 

Stern is also a fan of the Seek app. The app uses the phone’s camera to identify plants. Stern said it isn’t perfect, but that it’s an accessible way to get more familiar with local flora. 

“The more people engage with nature on any level is a very good thing,” he said.

For just over 15 years, gjhikes.com has been a reference for trails around the Grand Valley and beyond. A 2019 issue of “Horizon,” the student magazine at Colorado Mesa University, reported Rex Nye completed more than 1,000 hikes to gather information for the website. Nye’s wildflower page groups plants by color, and lists what hikes they can be found on. 
Groundsel or ragwort, a small member of the sunflower family, along a trail between Devil’s and Kodel’s canyons in Fruita.
Groundsel or ragwort, a small member of the sunflower family, along a trail between Devil’s and Kodel’s canyons in Fruita.
Yucca, a member of the asparagus family, has flower stalks that commonly grow three to five feet tall.
Yucca, a member of the asparagus family, has flower stalks that commonly grow three to five feet tall.
Near the Devil’s Canyon trailhead in Fruita, junipers brush up against the signature tan-orange rocks of western Colorado and eastern Utah.
Near the Devil’s Canyon trailhead in Fruita, junipers brush up against the signature tan-orange rocks of western Colorado and eastern Utah.
“They just can tolerate our really dry, tough conditions out here and survive where everything else can’t, so they're pretty amazing, beautiful trees,” said Stern of the junipers. 

Cryptobiotic soil, or biocrust, is another wonder to Stern, and for good reason. The living layer atop desert dirt provides nutrients for other plants and literally holds the soil together, preventing erosion. 

“​​It can actually make a little nursery for plants to be able to germinate. It makes the seeds of plants be able to sprout and take hold, and take root, much more easily,” he said of the delicate, slow-growing soil.
Prickly pear cactus sits among cryptobiotic soil along the McDonald Creek Canyon trail, cheatgrass surrounding it everywhere without solid rock.
Prickly pear cactus sits among cryptobiotic soil along the McDonald Creek Canyon trail, cheatgrass surrounding it everywhere without solid rock.
Cheatgrass is the opposite of biocrust — it grows quickly, takes over any disturbed ground and chokes out native plants. The invasive species is a winter annual, according to Stern, meaning it germinates in late fall and goes through winter as a seedling, getting ahead of (cheating) other plants in the growing season. 

“It's mid-April and they're already seeding, and then they're going to be done for the year.
And that means you're going to have this dry stock of grass that's just kind of waiting to catch fire and burn,” he said.
Cheatgrass on the floor of McDonald Creek Canyon.
Cheatgrass on the floor of McDonald Creek Canyon.
Sagebrush greets campers, cyclists and OHV users alike in the North Fruita Desert.
Sagebrush greets campers, cyclists and OHV users alike in the North Fruita Desert.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.