Cool spring weather has slowed the blooming of numerous Western Montana wildflowers this spring, but we caught the first colorful radiance of the Bitterroot -- Montana’s state flower -- while on a walk in the Camas Prairie west of Flathead Lake over the weekend.
The Bitterroot -- a cold-resistant and hardy strain of portulaca -- is a Montana prairie wildflower that thrives in the most barren of soil conditions, which makes it very, very hardy.
We often see it sprouting sturdily upward through cracks and gaps in rocky, dry-lichen-covered outcrops or unfurling double-handful spread-fingers of iridescent pink petals – almost miraculously – through dense, hard, coarse, gravel-crusted alkaline soil.
And yet, as a native western wildflower, it is disappearing from the Montana landscape. That's because any soil or turf that has been disturbed by “progress,” – which includes any slight disturbance, tilling or grading of soil... or the presence of grazing livestock – quickly guarantees the immediate disappearance of these tiny, radiant, neon-pink June flowers. Bitterroots are simply not compatible with any regular human activity, though they're revered by the region's Native Americans as possessing medicinal and spiritual properties.
And so, Bitterroots nowadays must be searched out. They blossom for 10-to-14 days in mid-to-late June and have usually shriveled and receded back into into their coarse protective soil habitat by July first. They can be observed at lower elevations first and then at steadily higher elevations or shaded craggy outcrops by late June.
Often seen in tight clusters of blooms and pods, Bitterroots rarely extend more than two inches in height with a tight blossom circumference of barely 2 inches. Their petals unfurl gracefully and appear to me as fragile floral fingers that spread heavenward in celebration of sunny cobalt-blue June skies.
The flowers range from a brightly translucent pink to a pale pearl-white hue, and are most often found in patches or “meadows...” so you can be pretty certain you’ll find them yearly in the same locations... as long as nothing has disturbed the soil.
PHOTOS: Above, the first blossoms of the summer at Camas Prairie. Right, a "carpet" of Bitterroots at the
Craters of the Moon.
For us, a yearly trip to search-out Bitterroots has become an early summertime ritual, and we’re always excited when we spot any bright pink patches that are usually easy to locate through the dry yellow of dead grass and the gray-green hue of native grasses and plants.
On one June outing we were astounded by a glorious carpet of thousands... a pale-pink variety whose blossoms sprang up through coarse lava gravel at the Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve. For the Bitterroots alone it's worth taking a June excursion to the monument.
Montana natives always find time to celebrate -- and share -- a recent Bitterroot sighting. It is, for those of us who’ve lived our entire lives in Montana -- and have usually only recently emerged from a frigid Montana winter ourselves -- an annual rebirth and a reminder of why we are really rooted in this marvelous place.
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