April 24-26, 2009: Jim Erdman reported these April blooms in GVM. He welcomes comments and additions.

• Ball Cactus (Pediocactus simpsonii)
• Bluebells; Chiming Bells (Mertensia lanceolata)
• Biscuit Root; Wafer Parsnip; Wild Celery (Cymopterus acaulis)
• Common Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale)
• Crane’s Bill; Alfilaria; Filaree; Red Crane’s Bill (Erodium cicutarium)
• Dwarf Mountain Fleabane (Erigeron compositus)
• Mouse-ear (Cerastium strictum)
• Pasqueflower (Pulsatilla ludoviciana)
• Spring Beauty (Claytonia rosea)

Click “more…” to see images and details from Jim.

Biscuit Root; Wafer Parsnip; Wild Celery (Cymopterus acaulis). Harrington’s Edible Native Plants of the Rocky Mountains (1967) says this about this genus: “As far as we know all the various species of biscuit root produce edible roots.”

Crane’s Bill; Alfilaria; Filaree; Red Crane’s Bill (Erodium cicutarium) Noxious weed List Here in Colorado we’ve only one species of Erodium, which is in the Geranium Family, Geraniaceae. Notice the highly divided leaves. On Colorado’s Noxious Weed List B, its name is redstem filaree. That listing seems strange, as Weber and Wittmann’s Colorado Flora, Eastern Slope makes no mention that it’s an alienweed. Only that it’s “One of the earliest flowering weeds of early spring in ruderal sites[that is, growing on waste ground]. A winter annual, its leafy rosette is already well developed by October.”

4/25/09 With fog lifting and this morning’s dusting of snow melted, I found the sole cushion-like daisy on my lot where I’d seen it before. It keys to Erigeron compositus that we have in the checklist, what some call Dwarf Mountain Fleabane. One key-element, its leaves being three-lobed as shown here. Weber and Wittmann say it’s found on “Gravelly soil, middle elevations; white or violet rays.” With my hand lens, this photo does show the bristle-like (hispid) hairs, as on my specimen.