Rocky Mountain Calochortus
Jane McGary (Wed, 06 Jul 2016 09:23:57 PDT)

On a recent trip to Colorado and the Beartooth and Bighorn ranges in
Wyoming, we saw Calochortus in several places. I'm having trouble
deciding whether these were Calochortus gunnisonii or Calochortus
nuttallii, or one species in one site and the other elsewhere. Both
species are reported to occur where we were, and both are quite
variable. Can anyone advise me about distinguishing characteristics? I
have photos, but they're not detailed enough to distinguish, e.g., the
shape of the hairs. All the flowers we saw were mostly white, except for
one pale pink individual among white ones. I suspect all were C.
nuttallii but would like help to confirm this.

Other geophytes are uncommon in this region. We saw 3 Allium species,
Veratrum californicum, and Lloydia serotina. Most of our plant-hunting
was aimed at alpines such as Kelseya uniflora (success) and Aquilegia
jonesii (almost entirely a failure owing to an earlier than usual
flowering). We did stumble upon the tiny, rare orchid Cypripedium
fasciculatum, though.

Thanks,

Jane McGary

Portland, Oregon, USA