Wildflowers, Ferns, and Trees 
of the
Four Corners Region of 
Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, & Utah

Introduction

  Welcome.  I hope this web site shows you the beauty of Four Corners Flora and helps you understand how to identify these plants.  

Seven hundred wildflowers, ferns, and trees found within a 150 mile radius of the Four Corners area of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah appear in this educational/reference web site.  Each plant appears in at least two photographs: one small photo shows a distinctive part of the plant such as the flower or leaf; larger photographs show the entire plant. The larger photographs are accompanied by details about the plant's blooming time and place, unusual plant characteristics, interesting growth habits, the meaning of the plant's scientific name, etc. 

Click your way into these plants and you will find photos and descriptions of Cactus in deserts and Spruce in 14,000 foot mountains, flowering shrubs in canyons and short-lived flowers in dry washes, plants hanging on sandstone rock faces, and dwarf wildflowers in alpine meadows. This diversity thrives in the approximately 9,000 square miles encompassed in this web site.  The area includes Mesa Verde, Canyonlands, Arches, and Canyon DeChelly National Parks; Escalante/Grand Staircase, Natural Bridges, Hovenweep, Canyons of the Ancients, El Malpais, and El Moro National Monuments; the San Juan, Chuska, Abajo, and LaSal Mountains; and many other wild areas of and near the Colorado Plateau, those lands drained by the Colorado River.

Many of the plants found in the Four Corners area are also found in nearby states, even in distant states, and even in other countries  --  we live on a blue sphere where everything is related to everything else.

I hope your visit to this web site is profitable and enjoyable and gives you some idea of the wild beauty of the Four Corners.

I further hope this web site promotes an appreciation for plant diversity and beauty and contributes to the protection of plant habitat and to the protection of the creatures that thrive on these plants.  If we each become involved in planning efforts of the United States Forest Service, National Park Service, and Bureau of Land Management and if we each work locally for the protection of open spaces and the control of urban and rural sprawl, we can protect plants and their habitat.  Joining national organizations such as the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, The Nature Conservancy, and the Audubon Society; local organizations such as the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance and the San Juan Citizen Alliance; and other national and local environmental groups is a further way to ensure that the plants remain. 

Taking walks in the wild is the best way to ensure that we remember the value of wild beauty and what we are here for.

Join the Native Plant Society in your state: enjoy, learn about, and help to preserve the native plants of your area.  See the Links page for Native Plant Societies in the Four Corners area.  

Searching and browsing

1) You can search or browse photos by color or plant type, or search or browse by name, or search this entire web site:

     Searching or browsing by color or plant type: Once you have entered a flower color, fern, or tree section (by clicking on the desired button at the top of this or any other page) you will find small photos alphabetized by family, genus, and species.  These photos are about 15 kilobytes, and pages may contain as many as 15 small photos.  Depending on the number of photos, your internet connection speed, and the amount of traffic on the internet, you may have to wait a minute or so before all photos open.  When you click on one of the small photos you will go to a new page that has a larger photo of the entire plant and a description of the plant (accompanied sometimes by photographs and descriptions of other members of the genus).  Enlarged photos are around 70 kilobytes and will take from a few seconds to a minute to open.  I hope your patience is rewarded.  

     Searching or browsing by name: You can use the search engine to search for a specific plant by common or scientific name or you can browse the alphabetical lists of all plants.

      Searching the entire web site:  You can use the search engine not only to find a plant by name but also to find: 
all members of a family;
or plants blooming in a specific month, season, habitat, or vegetation zone; 
or plants on a particular trail, etc.

The search engine scans every word of the web site.

2) If you are searching for a particular flower by color, be sure to look in several color sections.  Flower colors vary; some blue flowers can be purple, pink, or white; some red flowers can be yellow or orange; etc.  Remember too that because of variations in growing factors the species could look dramatically different in the field.

3) Handy points to remember when searching and browsing this web site:

A) To move to the top of a page, click on a hot pepper or yellow/pink/black Southwestern graphic.

B) This web site is best viewed at a screen resolution of 1024x768 pixels with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Browser.  Other resolutions or browsers may cause distortions.  Please let me know if they do.

Key to photographs

   This web site provides photographs and descriptions of over 700 wildflowers, shrubs, ferns, and trees of the area within a 150 mile radius of the Four Corners.

Photographs show an entire typical plant.  Small photographs are in groups; enlarged photos are on individual pages.  The small photos of flowers show just a flower; enlarged photos show the leaf, stem, and flower.  Small photos of ferns and trees show some key characteristic; enlarged photos show the entire plant.  All enlarged photographs are accompanied by descriptive text and some enlarged photographs are grouped to show plant similarities.  Shrubs are placed with wildflowers.  

This is an educational/reference web site and the intent of the photographs and descriptions is to assist you in identifying and enjoying plants of the Four Corners area.

The first scientific name given is that assigned by THE authority on Colorado flora, William Weber, in his 2001 edition of Colorado Flora, Western Slope.

Scientific names shown in bold on the enlarged photo pages are the currently accepted names according to John Kartesz's Synthesis of the North American Flora (available in 2008 on a DVD).  These names are, in the vast majority of cases, the same as those that William Weber gives and almost always the same as those in the USDA Plant Data Base and the Flora of North America.

Scientific names not shown in bold font are synonyms.

Many factors affect plant growth and, therefore, the plant you find in the field could be taller or shorter than the one shown in this web site, and it could have more or fewer flowers, be a different shade or color, be solitary or in groups, etc.

New photographs and text are added often.

Key to descriptions

     In the first three lines of each plant’s description you will find basic information about the plant: 
names
vegetation zone in which the plant is commonly found 
habitat in which it commonly grows 
season of bloom
place and date the photograph was taken 

Each of these is discussed below.

Each plant is identified by the common name most often used in the Four Corners area and by the scientific name accepted by THE Colorado plant authority, William A. Weber in his two volumes, Colorado Flora, Western Slope and Colorado Flora, Eastern Slope, co-authored with Ronald C. Wittmann, 3rd edition, 2001.  Some of Weber's scientific plant names are controversial; I use John Kartesz's, Synthesis of the North American Flora as the ultimate plant name authority.  Scientific names shown in bold on the enlarged photo pages are the currently accepted names according to John Kartesz.  Scientific names shown in normal font are synonyms.

An "sp" following the genus name indicates "a species of the genus", i.e., I did not determine the exact species in the field and the species cannot be determined from the photograph.

See the detailed Plant Names page for a discussion of why we should use scientific not common names, how scientific names are arrived at, a brief history of the development of scientific names, and why scientific names change.  Very interesting.

Key to descriptions, continued

Vegetation zones and habitats

Variations in the growth patterns and number of plants in a particular area are brought about by a number of factors:

A) Plant growth is significantly affected by seasonal variables such as precipitation, sunshine, and wind and by local variables such as soil composition, soil moisture, altitude, slope, and direction of slope of the land.  Thus a sandy, shady, moist, north facing hillside after good spring rains promotes the growth of plants quite different from those on a rocky, sunny, dry, south facing hillside after a dry spring.  These differences are apparent everywhere in the world.  

B) Disturbance by animals (especially by human beings) produces significant changes in the appearance of plants or even the existence of plants.  

C) Altitude variations produce significant differences in plant growth because of significant differences in temperature, wind, moisture, soil conditions, solar radiation, snow pack, etc.  Since altitude in the Four Corners area varies from under 5,000 feet to over 14,000 feet, it is altitude that produces the most profound impact on plants and thus is the basis of the vegetation zones in the area.

Vegetation Zones:

Alpine: Above 11,500 feet (tree line).  Characterized by tundra: land of thin soil, rocks, a very short growing season, and frost any day of the year.  Annually 30-55 inches of moisture, most from snow (200 to 400 inches per winter). Magnificent carpets of dwarfed flowering plants in June, July and August.

Subalpine: From 10,000 to 11,500 feet.  Characterized by thick Spruce/Fir forests.  Aspens grow at lower elevations in this zone.  Annually about 25-40 inches of moisture, most from snow (about 250-350 inches).  Lush wildflower growth mid-June through August.

Montane: From 8,000 to 10,000 feet.  Open Aspen forests, sometimes with heavy undergrowth of shrubs (Snowberry, Currants, Elderberry).  Colorado Blue Spruce in moist areas.  At lower elevations some large stands of Ponderosa Pine with scattered Douglas Fir on north facing slopes.  Annually about 18-30 inches of moisture, 1/2 to 3/4 from snow.  Moderate to lush wildflower growth from June-August.

Foothills (including Mesas): From 6,500 to 8,000 feet. Pinyon Pine, Juniper, and Oak forests, often quite thick.  Pockets of Douglas Firs.  Ponderosa Pines at higher elevations.  Numerous shrubs: Serviceberry, Mountain Mahogany, Snowberry.  Annually about 14-25 inches of moisture, about half from snow.  Moderate to very good wildflower growth in May and June, highly dependent on winter and spring rains.

Desert and Semi-desert (including Canyons): Typically from 4,000 to 6,500 feet. (Some areas as low as 2500 feet in deep canyons.)  Arid. Annually 5-14 inches of moisture, 1/4 or less from snow.  Desert and semi-desert areas are characterized by open, sandy flats with scattered shrubs (Saltbush, Sagebrush) and Cottonwoods along washes.  Higher semi-desert canyons have Pinyon Pine, Juniper, and Oak with some thick patches of Yucca, Sagebrush, Mountain Mahogany, and other shrubs.  Wildflower growth is best from March to June but is highly dependent on winter moisture.

Habitats

Some plants bloom only in special, very limited habitats; others tolerate a variety of growing conditions.  The following twelve categories are used to describe the habitats of the Four Corners area:  

Tundra:  Land above tree line characterized by a short growing season, intense sun and wind, thin soils, very high snow fall and high rain fall, and low growing sedges, grasses, dwarf shrubs, and herbs.

Scree: Fields (often extensive) of small, loose, slab rock.  Common below tree line and very common above tree line. Pockets of endemic wildflowers where soils accumulate.

Woodlands: Areas forested with Spruce, Fir, Pine, Aspen, Oak, Juniper, Douglas Fir.

Wetlands: Wet meadows, fens, seeps, etc.

Streamsides: Moist areas along streams.

Openings: Small to large rock or meadow clearings (caused by soil conditions, fire, or man) in woods or grass and shrublands.

Meadows: Grass, shrub, and wildflower-filled large open areas with few, if any, trees.

Rocks: Areas of large rock in canyons or mountains.

Canyons: Deep and long depressions with walls of cliffs and slopes.  Pinyon Pine, Juniper, and Sagebrush are common.

Shrublands: Arid lands characterized by shrubs, grasses, and a lack of trees.

Disturbed areas: Roadsides, mined areas, timbered lands.

Semi-deserts: Shrublands, grasslands, Pinyon-Juniper woodlands, or sandy relatively barren lands.

Key to descriptions, continued

Season of bloom and place and date of photograph

In this web site the words "spring", "summer", and "fall" describe the blooming/growing seasons, but a word of caution is necessary: spring in the semi-desert country at 5,000 feet begins in March but spring at 11,000 feet (often just a few miles away) does not set in until June or July.  In this web site "spring" refers to March - May; summer is June - August; and fall is September - November.

The place and date the photograph was taken give you a rough idea of where and when to find the plant in bloom.  Because of variations in cloud-cover, wind, rain, and snow, the blooming date for a plant in the same location can vary several weeks from year to year.  Because of altitude differences, sunny versus shady exposure, wet versus dry conditions, and variations in soil conditions, the blooming date for the same plant in different locations varies even more.

You will, of course, be able to find a plant not only in the place where the photograph was taken, but in many other areas of similar growing conditions, especially altitude, near the Four Corners states of Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah.  Some plants shown are very wide-spread and occur throughout the Rocky Mountains or even in many other areas of North America and the world.  (Because my wife Betty and I live in Colorado so close to several of its wonders (San Juan National Forest, Mesa Verde National Park, and Canyons of the Ancients National Monument), the majority of photographs are from Colorado.  All photographs are from Colorado unless otherwise stated.)

Some plants have a very short blooming period; others bloom the entire summer.  Some plants put out a single flower; others have numerous flowers, either over a long period of time or within a few days.  Some individual flowers last part of a day; others for many days. Some flowers open in the morning, some in the afternoon, several in the evening. Some stay open until they wither.

Remember that if you see a favorite flower just past bloom at 9,000 feet, it very well might be in full bloom at 11,000 feet.  

In sum, blooming period, place, and date vary with the species, the location, and the growing conditions.