VEGETATION COMMUNITIES OF NIWOT RIDGE

A DRY MEADOW COMMUNITY, composed mostly of a sedge, Kobresia myosuroides, with old man's whiskers and tree islands in the background

A WET MEADOW COMMUNITY These communities tend to be dominated by sedges (Carex spp.)

A MESIC MEADOW (and snowfence research site in midsummer. The foreground contains some sedge (Kobresia) that doesn't like the added snow!)

A look at what's beneath the foliage: Check out the root mass!!!

This link will take you to the vegetation page of the LTER web site (advanced students only)

Flowers of Niwot Ridge

Cushion Plants (click on each image for a larger picture):

 

Arctic sandwort
(Minuartia obtusiloba)

Alpine Forget-Me-Not
(Eritrichium aretoides)

Alpine Primrose
(Primula angustifolia)

Cushion Phlox
(Phlox siberica ssp. pulvinata)

Non-Cushion Plants:

Alpine Avens
(Acomastylis rosii)

Alpine Bluebells
(Mertensia alpina)

(blue flowers)

Alpine Sunflower or "Old Man of the Mountain"
(Hymenoxys grandiflora)

American Bistort
(Bistorta bistortoides)

Elephant's Head
(Pedicularis groenlandica)

Parry's Clover
(Trifolium parryi)

Parry's Primrose
(Primula parryi)

Pretty Shooting Star
(Dodecatheon pulchellum)

Snow Buttercup
(Ranunculus adoneus)

Western Yellow Paintbrush
(Castilleja occidentalis)

More pictures of common Niwot Ridge plants - some cushion plants, some not. These links are to photos at the Texas A&M Vascular Plant Image Database unless otherwise noted.

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