Mountain holly, Grape holly (or hollygrape), Barberry, Creeping Mahonia, Mahonia repens

Ute: ksĭpoaats; Arapaho: Céci:nbi:cí:xo (“Winter leaf plant”); Cheyenne: mehmemenotse (“spicy berries”)

flowering season: April - June

A beauty for all seasons, she is an evergreen shrub with spiny leaves, growing 1-3 feet tall. New leaves emerge in spring with a bronze color before turning bright green, topped with dense clusters of tiny bright yellow flowers, followed by dusty blue-black berries later in summer, and burgundy red leaves in the fall. Her fruit is edible, but sour, after the season’s first frosts, and they were included in the diets of Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, and make good jelly. Her roots and stalk contain Berberine, with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties, and were used to treat stomach and digestive disorders and mild wounds. The inner bark of her larger stems and roots make a yellow dye. Her berries contain a dye that can be purple, blue, pink or green, depending on the pH of the water used to make the dye, as the berries contain a naturally occurring pH indicator. So many colors from one plant!

Yellow Pea, Thermopsis montana

flowering season: April - August

Potentilla, Pentaphylloides floribunda

Cheyenne: vano?emoxeshehohpe (“sage mint soup”)

flowering season: June - August

Scrambled Eggs, Golden Smoke, Corydalis aurea

flowering season: May - July

Yellow Prairie Violet, Viola nuttallii

Ute: kabamsĭtagwĭv

flowering season: April - June

The genus name Viola means violet in Latin, but her only purple coloring is the nectar guides on her sunshine yellow petals. She is also one of the few violet species with long lanceolate leaves, instead of the distinctive heart-shaped leaves of other violets. She grows in small clumps, about 4 inches tall, found from the prairie to the montane. Like other violets, her leaves and flowers are edible (but not the rhizomes, fruit or seeds). She serves as a host for caterpillars of the Coronis Fritillary butterfly. As milkweed is to monarchs, fritillaries will lay eggs near patches of violets and the caterpillars feed exclusively on the plant.

Dalmatian Toadflax, Linaria dalmatica

Ute: sagwasiûngûts

flowering season: April - September

Draba aurea

flowering season: June - August

Buffalo Currant, Clove Currant, Missouri Currant, Ribes aureum

Ute: sívoghoypi’; Arapaho: Ne’íbinó’ (“good berries”), Ne’íbi:s (“currant bush”); Cheyenne: heyohhestastemenste

flowering season: April - June

Many-Flowered Puccoon, Fringed Gromwell, Lithospermum multiflorum

flowering season: April - July

Sulphur Flower, Eriogonum umbellatum

Arapaho: Hóno:kó0o:kúnu (“white eye”); Cheyenne: heseeo?otse

flowering season: May - September

Copper Globemallow, Scarlet Globemallow, Cowboy’s Delight, Sphaeralcea coccinea

Cheyenne: hestomoa?akati ?ano, wikiisse’eyo

flowering season: June - August

Oregon sunflower, Balsamorhiza sagittata

Cheyenne: hetone?eheseeo?otse (“bark medicine”)

flowering season: May - July

Plains Prickly Pear, Opuntia polyacantha

Ute: manivf; Arapaho: Ho’yó:x (“Cactus”); Cheyenne: mahta’omunst

flowering season: June - August

Indian Paintbrush, Castilleja integra

Ute: ‘akasée’apu, piasée’mi‘napu; Arapaho: Kóúhuyó:’ (“sticky”)

flowering season: May - September

Wyoming Paintbrush, Narrow-leaved Paintbrush, Castilleja linariifolia

flowering season: June - September

Spearleaf Stonecrop, Sedum lanceolatum

Arapaho: Hóteibi:0hí:t; Hoteibii3hiit (“big horn sheep food”)

flowering season: June - August

Common Mullein, Woolly Mullein, Figwort, Verbascum thapsus

Ute: teeyahumkuv

flowering season: June - October

Erysimum capitatum

flowering season: April - August

Thimbleflower, Mexican Hat, Long-headed coneflower, Ratibida columnifera

Cheyenne: she? shenovotseheseeo? otse (“rattlesnake medicine”)

flowering season: June - October

Coneflower, Brown Eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta

flowering season: June - September

Gaillardia aristata

flowering season: June - August

Common Sunflower, Prairie Sunflower, Helianthus annuus

Ute: ahkoop, ?akwu=pi, kúpu; Cheyenne: ho?enoono

flowering season: June - October

Curly-cup Gumweed, Grindelia squarrosa

Arapaho: Kouhuyé’einóú’u (“It has sticky heads”)

flowering season: June - October

Rubber Rabbitbrush, Ericameria nauseosa

Ute: sakupu; Arapaho: Nó:kuhú:si (“rabbit-bushes”); Cheyenne: me?eshkaatseh?estse (“hairy plant”)

flowering season: July - October

Yellow sundrops, Calylophus serrulatus

flowering season: May - September