slgwv's photos with the keyword: bloom

I think, but anyone who knows better please say so! Cercis occidentalis , by Lake Shasta, California. The inset is a close-up of the blossoms, on a different individual of the same species.

Probably longspur lupine, Lupinus arbustus , off the Pacific Crest Trail north of the Sierra Buttes, California. It is probably _not_ yellow bush lupine because of this alpine location--not to mention the shrub is much smaller. It's a bit incongruous, nonetheless, when you're expecting lupines to have blue flowers!

Along the Horsethief Canyon designated vehicle route in the Piper Mountain Wilderness, north of Death Valley, California. Beavertail ( Opuntia basilaris ) is a type of prickly pear cactus where the thorns are isolated in small clumps, leaving big flat blades like a beaver's tail. It was a staple of the local Native Americans and is also used in traditional Mexican cooking. You can often find the blades in the Hispanic foods section of supermarkets in the US Southwest.

South Warner Mountains, extreme northern California, USA. I don't know the exact species.

I think! (Confirmation, Pam?) Just off the Pacific Crest Trail about 5 miles south of Jackson Meadows Reservoir, California.

Pink Fuzzy Flower. ID, anyone? Off the trail to Triangle Lake in the Sierra Nevada, California. Map location is approximate.

A.k.a. greasewood. Larrea tridentata . Southern Nevada, near the tiny town of Moapa about 50 miles NNE of Las Vegas. This is a very typical shrub of the Mojave desert. In the adjacent pictures you can see how it tends to occur evenly spaced, almost as though deliberately planted, on an otherwise nearly barren desert surface. It blooms in the spring, as seen here. Here's the Wikipedia write-up: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creosote_bush

Chamerion angustifolium . Next to an old juniper snag. Fireweed (per Wikipedia, called rosebay willowherb in Britain) is found thruout much of the Northern Hemisphere. These specimens are off the Pacific Crest Trail above Echo Lakes, Sierra Nevada, California. It's another important colonizer species; that's where it gets its common name in North America, because it's one of the first plants to seed after a wildfire.

Prunus andersonii. Native to western Nevada and adjacent California. It _is_ in the same genus as peaches, cherries, and almonds. It is a thornbush whose pink-to-red flowers (seen here) turn into a small fuzzy fruit. It's not particularly edible altho rodents and such eat it. It's obviously impossible to tell from a photo, but the blossoms also have a heavy sweet fragrance.

More Pink Flowers. In the Salt Wells basin, off US 50, Nevada, in some extremely dry terrain.

ID, anyone? They're in the drainage of San Juan Creek, Toiyabe Range, Nevada. Map location is approximate.

In bloom! Mint Wash Trail, Prescott, Arizona, USA. CHOY-yuh, btw. Map location is approximate.

A different species of prickly pear, in which the thorns occur in isolated clusters on the flat blades of the plant. Those oval blades vaguely resemble a beaver's tail, which is wide, flat, and hairless. Beavers use their tails both for swimming and for slapping the water surface as a warning. Arrow Canyon, southern Nevada.

In bloom. With lots of fuzzy-looking thorns--they're not as soft as they appear! ;) Arrow Canyon, southern Nevada.

Castilleja spp. A common genus of wildflower in western North America. The flowers are supposed to be edible. The whole plant can be very toxic, however, because it tends to concentrate selenium.

Wyethia spp. Often called "sunflowers" locally, and per Wikipedia they're indeed related. A common flower in Northern Nevada, they pretty much like the same conditions the sagebrush does, maybe a tad wetter. They can add quite a splash of yellow to a meadow! The name comes from the broad tapered leaves. The gray-green fronds in the background are sagebrush.

Along the Yampa River, northern Colorado, USA.