https://www.facebook.com/1213456025343758/

Native North American Flora, Sinclair, WY (2026)

04/06/2026

Wow, I can’t believe I’ve already been the Lead Botanist for the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database for a year! As the single botanist and project manager for our program, I don’t get enough time to post about all of the amazing projects that I am privileged to work on, so here is a quick smattering of favorite field photos from 2025 all across Wyoming. I surveyed rare and endemic species from the basins to the alpine and everything in between. We conducted genetic studies, revisits to historical species in the state, the 38th year of long term monitoring of a formerly threatened species, and much more. Lots of off trail miles were put on boots and even more miles were driven on dirt roads. I slept under infinite starry skies, rose to coyote song, kept company with the elk and bison, and washed myself in the purity of Wyoming’s beautiful solitude. This is why I will always be a boots on the ground botanist. Here’s to the next year, and all of the amazing plant species that I look forward to meeting.

04/05/2026

Signs of (a pretty early) Wyoming spring-Part 1

Spring ephemerals of the Rockies and surprisingly, my first time seeing our state butterfly- Sheridan’s hairstreak (Callophrys sheridanii). Caterpillars feed on Eriogonum spp. but here an adult is feeding on one of our earliest blooming species Hooker’s Townsend. Lots of species are arriving early after a winter that reached less than 10% of typical snowpack.

03/13/2026

Feels pretty full circle to be back in my old stomping grounds doing cool floristics work at Wind Cave National Park. Now I’m in Rapid City to present some early findings at the Black Hills Area Botanist and Ecologist Workshop this morning. I came up as a botanist in the eastern prairies of South Dakota and had my real botanical awakening kicking around the Black Hills and tailing the coats of a number of SD experts that I now get to work beside. 🤩

Last summer I surveyed the 2011 Sanson addition to Wind Cave which only had something like 30 vouchers ever collected in the whole 5,500 acre unit. Definitely undersurveyed. Happy to report a few new additions to the park’s flora and expanded areas of the SD rare Oreocarya cana (G4/S2), otherwise known as mountain Cryptantha (Pic 3 and 4). It grows on these really crazy gypsum substrates (Pic 5) and soils of the Red Valley- a section of red shales and siltstones that indigenous peoples called the Red Racetrack for the way it rings the whole Black Hills and the story of the Great Race when bison and humans raced for their order in the universe. 🦬 ✨

Enjoy some belated fieldwork photos, bison friends, and a video of the crazy dust storm I survived enroute to this conference. 😂 the first pic is a throwback of me in a random prairie bathtub that was adapted into a trough. My crew found it while doing veg surveys at the Whitney Preserve (elsewhere in the Black Hills) as a wee undergrad in 2017! Back when I still wore jeans to the field lol.

Pic 6: Penstemon as big as your head, almost! Penstemon grandiflorus

Pic 7: Astragalus as juicy as a cherry tomato, kinda. Astragalus crassicarpus var. paysonii

Sound up for a cacophony of birds at Singing Bird Spring near the end 🎶 🐦

01/24/2026

What the Phlox?

My first field project of 2025 focused on a Wyoming endemic, the Beaver Rim Phlox (Phlox pungens). Two distinct “morphotypes” have long been recognized across the two basins where this species occurs: the Green River Basin (sometimes called the Ross Butte morph) and the Wind River Basin.

My team and I collected leaf material across multiple populations for genome sequencing to test whether these morphotypes are actually two separate species (video at the end). The results could have major implications- potentially shrinking the range of the “true” Beaver Rim Phlox and elevating conservation priority for populations in one basin.

One especially cool population had huge leaves (see the Wind River Basin photo), an early visual clue pointing to its high polyploidy, because more DNA=cell expansion.

What do you notice between these two populations? 👀

Hint: look at the leaf width, midrib, and glandular hairs.

01/18/2026

The Snowy Range is probably my favorite place in Wyoming, and I’m incredibly lucky it’s basically in our backyard. It’s a great place to make a quick trip to see subalpine and alpine species, since you’re already at 10,000 ft on the Scenic Byway!!!

It was a banner year for some of my favorite showy species which carpeted the subalpine wet meadows in the Snowies:

1. White Globeflower (Trollius albiflorus)
2. Sky Pilot (Polemonium viscosum)
3. Rocky Mountain Marsh-Marigold (Caltha chionophila)

Many alpine species grow in mats and cushions to survive wind and snow, but large, colorful flowers still abound- especially in areas with ample snowpack and sustained soil moisture. When the pollination season is short, you’ve got to go all in to impress the bees. Plus, the intense UV at this elevation has driven the evolution of vibrant protective pigments, like the anthocyanins which contribute to Sky Pilot’s intense blue-purple color.

01/17/2026

Rare Plant Haul!

Well, I’m a little late, since I started the year with a broken ankle, but here is the first post in a series highlighting the plants I visited and worked with over the last year. 🌱

2025 marked my first year as the Heritage Botanist for Wyoming (WYNDD), and I was incredibly fortunate to see some truly amazing parts of the state and work across a wide range of habitats, from mountainsides to dunes and barrens, each with its own unique beauty.

As a teaser and as a tradition I’d like to continue each year, here are my favorite species sightings of 2025. This year’s list features all rare Wyoming species. May 2026 bring many more blooms, and bloom new opportunities in a time of many challenges for conservation.

Favorite species of 2025 (swipe for closeups):

1. Phlox pungens (Beaver Rim phlox) — G3 / S3, state endemic
2. Penstemon paysoniorum (Payson’s beardtongue) — G3 / S3, state endemic
3. Astragalus terminalis (railhead milkvetch) — G3 / S2, regional endemic
4. Eriogonum exilifolium (dropleaf buckwheat) — G3 / S2, regional endemic
5. Stephanomeria fluminea (Teton wirelettuce) — G2 / S2, state endemic
6. Cryptogramma stelleri (Steller’s rock-brake) — G5 / S1, disjunct
7. Oenothera coloradensis (Colorado butterfly plant) — G3 / S2S3, regional endemic

🌼
botanistsofinstagram

01/16/2026

Well, I’m a little late, since I started the year with a broken ankle, but here is the first post in a series highlighting the plants I visited and worked with over the last year. 🌱

2025 marked my first year as the Heritage Botanist for Wyoming (WYNDD), and I was incredibly fortunate to see some truly amazing parts of the state and work across a wide range of habitats, from mountainsides to dunes and barrens, each with its own unique beauty.

As a teaser and as a tradition I’d like to continue each year, here are my favorite species sightings of 2025. This year’s list features all rare Wyoming species. May 2026 bring many more blooms, and bloom new opportunities in a time of many challenges for conservation.

Favorite species of 2025 (swipe for closeups):

1. Phlox pungens (Beaver Rim phlox) — G3 / S3, state endemic
2. Penstemon paysoniorum (Payson’s beardtongue) — G3 / S3, state endemic
3. Astragalus terminalis (railhead milkvetch) — G3 / S2, regional endemic
4. Eriogonum exilifolium (dropleaf buckwheat) — G3 / S2, regional endemic
5. Stephanomeria fluminea (Teton wirelettuce) — G2 / S2, state endemic
6. Cryptogramma stelleri (Steller’s rock-brake) — G5 / S1, disjunct
7. Oenothera coloradensis (Colorado butterfly plant) — G3 / S2S3, regional endemic

🌼

07/02/2025

WY Bioblitz 2025 at Seminoe State Park is a wrap. We had a blast documenting over 70 species along the red beds and I enjoyed leading a survey group with some of my long time botany mentors and colleagues. Highlights included a Mentzelia laevicaulis bloom as big as my hand, another big-flowered species Lygodesmia grandiflora, Clemomella serrulata, Tripterocalyx micranthus (Pics 4-7) and a surprise scorpion (Pic 8).

05/20/2025

It was a great weekend with the WY Naturalists Program exploring the botanical and geological riches of Sinks Canyon and Red Canyon in the Wind River Range. A major highlight was visiting the G1G2/S1S2 state endemic Barneby’s clover (Trifolium barnebyi) which is found only on a few ledges of Frontier and Nugget sandstone. I also enjoyed packing 20 attendees into a yurt to talk about the Wyoming Plant Watch community rare plant monitoring program that I am developing. In these challenging times of firings, lost projects, and uncertainty, events like these are so nurturing and inspiring. I am so excited to continue working with this excellent program 🤩

Unfortunately, as I was out of service, the House Budget Committee passed the “One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act” that will lead to the sale of public lands like those pictured. We have less than a week before the final full House vote to call our state’s House reps and tell them to vote NO and keep public lands in public hands where they belong!!! Look up your house rep or you may call (202) 224-3121 for the U.S. House switchboard operator.
🌼 🇺🇸

01/02/2022

Happy New Year 2022! I haven’t had much time to be active on here in 2021 as I wrap up my thesis and I sadly haven’t shared many of the wonderful plant encounters that I have had this year! So, in tribute, I am sharing my 9 favorite species sightings from my 2021 field/hiking season. Hope you enjoy!

🌸 😊 📅

Clockwise from the bottom left and ending in the center:

1) Alpine sunflower, Hymenoxys grandiflora. 📌Hurricane Pass, Grand Teton NP
2) Mountain spirea, Spirea splendens. 📌 Paintbrush Canyon, GTNP
3) Spotted fritillary, Fritillaria atropurpurea. 📌 Antelope Flats, GTNP
4) Sego lily, Calochortus nuttallii. 📌Kelly Warm Springs, GTNP
5) Rocky Mountain fringed gentian, Gentianopsis thermalis. 📌 Yellowstone NP
6) Whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis (threatened). 📌 Amphitheater Lake, GTNP
7) Pink mountain health, Phyllodoce empetriformis. 📌 Amphitheater Lake, GTNP
8 ) Fringed grass of Parnassus, Parnassia fimbriata. 📌 Yellowstone NP
9) Pipsissewa, Chimaphila umbellata. 📌 GTNP

Native North American Flora

04/06/2026

04/05/2026

03/13/2026

01/24/2026

01/18/2026

01/17/2026

01/16/2026

07/02/2025

05/20/2025

01/02/2022

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request