Casey Meadow Trail

Plant Identification
Guide
Wildflowers and Trees of
the Elkhorn Mountains
 Wild Flowers of the
Elkhorn Mountains

As you walk along the Casey

Meadow trail see if you can
find the following plants.
Alberta Beardtongue -
Penstemon albertinus
• Division - Angiosperm
• Class - Dicots
• Order - Scrophulariales
• Family -
Scrophulariaceae
• These small plants (20-
40 cm tall) are
herbaceous perennials
with upright, blue
flowers
• Look for these plants
along the rocky base of
the rocky slopes of the
hillsides to the south of
the trail
 Veratrum californicum -
California False Hellebore
• Division - Angiosperm
• Class - Monocots
• Order - Liliales
• Family - Lilaceae
• These larger plants are
herbaceous perrenials
that can be 1-2 m tall.
• The larger leaves are 20-
30 cm long and grow
directly on the stems.
• Look for this plant in
open clearings closer to
the creek
American Red Raspberry -
Rubus idaeus ssp. idaeus
• Division - Angiosperm
• Class - Dicots
• Order - Rosales
• Family - Rosaceae
• These small plants are
native shrubs that can
grow 1.5 m tall and
produce small red
berries.
• Look for these plants
among the grasses
along the trail
Common Hound's-tongue
- Cynoglossum officinale
• Division - Angiosperms
• Class - Dicots -
• Order - Lamiales
• Family Boraginaceae
• These herbaceous plants
are 0.5 - 1 m tall with
many leaves growing
directly from the stem.
At the top of the plant,
there is small white or
burgundy flowers about
1-2 cm across
• Look for these plants in
groups along the trail in
open meadows
Pursh's Silky Lupine -
Lupinus sericeus
• Division - Angiosperms
• Class - Dicots -
• Order - Fabales
• Family - Fabaceae
• These small plants can
get to be 20-70 cm tall
with palmately divided
leaves with 7-9 leaflets
each. Flowers form on
stalks that rises above
the leaves.
• Look for the characterisic
“hand shaped” leaves
along the trail in the
shade of trees
 Common Mullein -
Verbascum thapsus
• Division - Angiosperms
• Class - Dicots -
• Order - Scrophulariales
• Family - Scrophulariaceae
• These biennial plants have
soft, velvety leaves that
radiate out from the center
of the plant in the first year.
In the second year, the plant
has a stalk that can reach 8
m high and produces flowers
near the top.
• Look for these plants in
rocky slopes to the north of
the trail
Conifers of the Elkhorn
Mountains

As you walk along the trail,

try to distinguish between
the different types of
evergreen trees. What
characteristics can help you
distinguish between the
trees?
Ponderosa Pine - Pinus
ponderosa
•• Division
Division -- Gmynosperms
Gmynosperms
•• Class
Class -- Conifers
Conifers
•• Order
Order -- Conifers
Conifers Pinales
Pinales
•• Family
Family -- Pinaceae
Pinaceae
•• This
This evergreen
evergreen tree tree can
can reach
reach 60
60
m in height and nearly
m in height and nearly 3 m in 3 m in
diameter.
diameter. In In mature
mature trees,
trees, the
the
branches
branches do do not
not start
start until
until 2/3
2/3
the way up the trunk. In
the way up the trunk. In younger younger
trees,
trees, the
the branches
branches form form thethe
entire
entire length
length of of the
the trunk.
trunk. These
These
evergreen
evergreen trees
trees have
have long
long (10-
(10-
30 cm) needles that typically
30 cm) needles that typically
occur
occur in
in bundles
bundles of of 3.
3.
•• Many
Many ofof the
the older
older ponderosa
ponderosa
pines
pines were destroyed in
were destroyed in the
the last
last
forest
forest fire.
fire. Look
Look forfor younger
younger
trees
trees along
along thethe trail
trail and
and along
along
the
the borders
borders of of the
the meadows.
meadows.
 Lodgepole Pine
• Division - Gymnosperms
• Class - Pinopsida
• Order - Pinales
• Family - Pinaceae
• These tall
tall straight pine
pine trees
grow in tight clusters andand can
can
reach
reach heights
heights ofof 13-45
13-45 m.
m. As
As the
the
name suggests,
suggests, the trunks of
lodgepole pine trees are usually
usually
very straight and narrower
narrower than
other pine trees. TheThe needles
needles of
these
these pine trees occur in bundles
of 2 and are 2-6
2-6 cm long.
• In the
the first
first part
part of
of the
the trail,
trail,
notice how
how the lodgepole pine
trees grow densely along
along the
the
trail.
Picture taken from
http://nhguide.dbs.umt.edu/index.php?c=plants&m=desc&id=238
 Douglas-fir -
Pseudotsuga menziesii
• Division - Gymnosperms
• Class - Pinopsida
• Order - Pinales
• Family - Pinaceae
• These dominant forest trees
can reach heights of 25 - 40 m
tall and have irregular, droopy
branches that form into a
triangular shape when the
tree is young and and is more
like a cylinder then the tree
matures. The needles are
much shorter than pine tree
needles. The ends of branches
have reddish winter buds.
• Look for these trees among
the ponderosa pines along the
edges of the meadows.