Foothills, montane. Meadows. Summer.
Haviland Lake Trail, July 1, 2005 and Navajo Lake Trail, July 6, 2004.

In the midst of wet meadow greenery one can often find the tall and slender Geum aleppicum with its serrated three parted leaves.  Both Geum aleppicum and Geum macrophyllum, members of the Rose Family, are often taken for Buttercups on the basis of their small, bright, yellow flowers.  Both Geums are found most commonly in moist areas of the lower mountains.

"Geum" is a name of ancient Greek origin and "aleppicum" means "from Aleppo, Syria".

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Priest Lake, July 15, 2008.

The enlarged leaf ("macrophyllum") of the basal leaves sets this Geum apart.  Both Geums shown are very slender plants, often buried in meadow grasses and easily passed by, but the pictured plant at left sits out in an open meadow with many other Geum macrophyllum plants as lush as this one.

Montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Scotch Creek Road, July 1, 2004.

Foothills, montane, subalpine. Meadows. Summer.
Haviland Lake Trail, July 1, 2005 and Turkey Creek Trail, June 26, 2007. 

The seed-head of Geums (and relatives such as Drymocallis), catch more attention than their yellow flowers.  Several hundred styles make up these swirly, prickly-looking, maturing seed heads.  The very fresh seed head of Geum aleppicum is at left; the slightly more mature Geum macrophyllum is at right.

Peering into G. macrophyllum we can see hundreds of dots -- tiny, glandular hairs -- along the lower portion of each style.  This same area is smooth (glabrous) on G. aleppicum.