If you’re new to Between Urban and Wild or haven’t stopped by in a while, we’re having a terrific wildflower year in this part of central Colorado.
I’m spending July blogging the bloom: posting a photo a day of a plant that’s flowering this month. My rules are: native plants, all photographed in July, and sighted on foot from home.
Today’s flower is prolific at the moment, and a nice bit of sunny cheer to get your Monday off to a good start.
Based on the frilly edges of the flowers, the narrow leaves, and the texture of the hairs on the leaves, I’m going with Lithospermum incisum on this one.
The idea behind this project was to give me an excuse to get outside and enjoy the spectacular show going on around us this year. As so often happens when you start paying attention, the details suck you in. I’ve always thought of this plant as yellow puccoon (L. ruderale) because it pretty closely matched the picture in one of my field guides, but I’m feeling a bit of pressure with y’all looking over my shoulder, so I dug deeper.
I was profoundly frustrated yesterday, because everything seemed to match up with the narrow-leaved puccoon, except the flowers on the plants here weren’t crinkly…or were they? Funny what you find out when you let go of what you think you know and try to see and not assume.
Definitely crinkly-ever so slightly.
Hopefully crinkly enough that my identification isn’t pure delusion!
I’m really enjoying “wildflower July”! I can totally relate to getting distracted by the plants on my property. What a great way to focus on the details of what’s right outside your door. Additionally, I was in NW Montana two weeks ago and came home with pictures of dozens of wildflowers that are new to me (I live in Illinois). You’re helping me with some identification, too.
Thanks for writing!
Sheila, I’m so glad you’re enjoying my attempt to share the bloom. And you’re right: sometimes it’s good to find an excuse to look closer at what seems to be the most familiar. I’m certainly no authority on plant identification, and I know I’m making mistakes with formal names, but sometimes it helps to have a name to start with when you’re trying to suss out a new plant.