Super early flower?

The purpose of this forum is to help people identify things they've seen while out hiking: wildflowers, trees, birds, insects, small animals, animal tracks, even geographical features like buttes or streams
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Charley
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Super early flower?

Post by Charley » February 16th, 2023, 5:08 pm

This year's grass widows reminded me of the earliest wildflowers I saw last year.

I was on a south facing slope on Blue Buck Mountain, near Winthrop, Washington, at about 5,000'. It was March 4th. We'd skied up some Forest Roads, and ditched our skis to hike up a melted-out slope to get a view from a nearby ridge.

We saw these flower on the way up:
IMG_9783.jpeg
It seemed really early to me, considering that I was near the Canada border, at such a high elevation. But there had been an inversion for much of the preceding month (there was more snow down in the valley than in the mountains nearby), and the slope had great solar access.

Anyway, I didn't know anything besides grass widows came out so early!
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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bobcat
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Re: Super early flower?

Post by bobcat » February 16th, 2023, 5:52 pm

Looks like sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus), found east of the Cascades to the Great Plains. Yes, they bloom very early, maybe the first bloom in some of the places they inhabit.

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adamschneider
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Re: Super early flower?

Post by adamschneider » February 16th, 2023, 6:57 pm

It wouldn't surprise me to find sagebrush buttercups in LOW elevations at this time of year, but yeah, at 5000' near Winthrop is pretty unusual!

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Charley
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Re: Super early flower?

Post by Charley » February 17th, 2023, 3:21 pm

Awesome! Thank you.
Believe it or not, I barely ever ride a mountain bike.

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