Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Ross' Avens
Geum rossii
Rose family (Rosaceae)

Avens is often found in huge colonies, especially near tree line and on . Its finely cut shiny leaves, maroon buds, and very bright shiny yellow flowers make it a handsome and noticeable plant. Its leaves are often four-to-eight inches long below tree-line but are barely an inch or two long on . Because of its shiny yellow flower petals, Geum rossii is often mistaken for a Buttercup. Geum rossii leaves turn a warm, shiny maroon in the fall often blanketing many acres of cool woods and with a deep glow.

The specific epithet is for the Arctic explorer, Captain James Ross, who collected the first specimen of this plant for science in 1820 in the Northwest Territories of Canada. The classical Latin "Geum" name was given by Linnaeus in 1753.


©2012 Gary A. Monroe

Description

plants form . Stems from 1 to 7" tall, often with 1-3 greatly reduced leaves below the . 1-8" long, short-, , to hairy along the veins on the underside of the leaf, . 5 from 1/8 to 1/5" long. Petals 5 yellow about 1/3" long. an .

Field Marks

Masses of fern-like topped by 5 bright yellow flowers.

© Al Schneider

petiolate -- a leaf that has a stem. A sessile leaf has no stem.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

pinnatifid -- A leaf shape that is pinnately lobed but not cut all the way to the axis.

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

alpine -- above the tree line. Thin soil, rocks, short growing season, frost, winter snow.

tundra -- Land above tree line characterized by a short growing season, intense sun and wind, thin soils, very high snow fall and high rain fall. Contains low growing sedges, grasses, dwarf shrubs and herbs.

ciliate -- fringed with hairs

achene -- a type of simple dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. For example, a rose hip holds a few achenes.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom.

basal leaves -- a leaf that grows lowest on the stem of a plant.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.

glabrous -- smooth, glossy, having no bristles or hair-like structures. Bald.

rhizome -- root-like stems that may either grow horizontally at the soil surface or in other orientations underground.