Fuzzy Flowers?

Marc and I went to Beehive Buttress in Vedauwoo for some climbing. Along the way to the routes, of course, I had to stop and look at some flowers. They are really pretty...fuzzy...and purple! I had been seeing them pop up all over the Medicine Bow National Forest along the trails I hiked and was not sure what they were. It was not until Ana, one of my SMTC faculty, gave me one of her photos as a graduation present. The photo was a great shot of the same purple, fuzzy flowers I was so curious about. To my learning, they are called Pasqueflowers. These flowers are one of the first flowers to bloom in dry grasslands and hillsides in the National Forest. The large pruple blooms have a central cluster of golden stamens and feathers leaves...LEAVES! So I thought the purple parts were petals, but I learned they are sepals that are masquerading to be petals! How cool is that?! In fact, they do not have any petals! WHAT?!?!!? Part of the Ranunculacae family, the literature I had been reading tells me that all the parts of this flower are toxic and that if I tried to transplant it...aka place one in a pot, it would not survive. Oh well. In other words, they are really beautiful to look at and remember, but not for keeping in a pot of pressing in a book. 

TheChristyBel

PasqueFlower