Wyoming is has a beautiful landscape with many natural wonders. While the state is renowned for its majestic mountains and pristine wilderness, a hidden treasure is waiting to be explored – the diverse and enchanting wildflowers in Wyoming. We dive into 13 common species with photos of each.
13 Wildflowers in Wyoming
The state flower of Wyoming is the Indian Paintbrush, also known as Prairie-fire. This beautiful flower is native to North America and can be found in various colors such as red, orange, yellow, and pink. The Indian Paintbrush is not only a beautiful flower but also has a rich cultural history and is often used in Native American traditional medicine.
1. Pale agoseris
- Scientific Name: Agoseris glauca
- Where to see: Throughout the state
- Season: Spring to Summer
The pale agoseris is a beautiful flower in the Asteraceae family, also called the false dandelion. Native to western North America, it showcases a diverse appearance, with heights reaching up to 70 centimeters.
It produces flower heads with yellow ray florets, but no disc florets. The plant grows well in areas without trees and produces a bitter milky juice that can turn into a gum-like substance.
2. Horsemint giant hyssop
- Scientific Name: Agastache urticifolia
- Zone: 3-9
- Where to see: Northwestern to Southwestern Wyoming
- Season: Late Spring
In Wyoming, you can find a flower called horsemint giant hyssop. It has strong stems that can grow up to four feet tall and can have smooth or slightly hairy stems and leaves.
It produces dense clusters of pink flowers at the ends of its stems that are purplish and are found in a narrow clusters that can be up to six inches long.
3. Elegant death camas
- Scientific Name: Anticlea elegans
- Zone: 4 – 8
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Summer
You’ll come across the elegant death camas in Wyoming, typically around mountainous regions, forests, hillsides, meadows, and canyons. It features white lily-like flowers adorned with two-pronged, greenish-yellow glands on each petal. This unique shape helps distinguish it from other members of the genus. This species of plant is also very poisonous, hence the morbid name.
4. Crested pricklypoppy
- Scientific Name: Argemone polyanthemos
- Zone: 8 – 10
- Where to see: From Weston County down to Laramie
- Season: Mid Spring
You can discover the crested pricklypoppy, also known as bluestem prickly poppy, from Weston County down to Laramie in Wyoming. From late spring to summer, the plant blooms flowers adorned with 4-6 delicate translucent white petals that flutter in the wind.
At the center of the blossoms is a substantial group of yellow stamens. Because it has prickly defenses and a bad taste, animals usually don’t eat it. This makes it more common than other plants in areas where animals graze.
5. Sticky gilia
- Scientific Name: Aliciella pinnatifida
- Where to see: Scattered throughout Northwestern to Southwestern Wyoming
- Season: Spring
The sticky gilia can be identified by their glandular hairs along the upper leaf margins and flower tubes. In the middle of the plant’s stamens, which are topped by white anthers, are pink to deep purple blooms with lighter bases and spreading lobes.
It likes rocky places and does well where there aren’t many other species. Sticky gilia also does best between 5,000 and 14,000 feet in altitude.
6. Arrowleaf Balsamroot
- Scientific Name: Balsamorhiza sagittata
- Zone: 4-8
- Where to see: Throughout the state
- Season: Early Summer
The Arrowleaf Balsamroot has wide leaves that are no more than a foot long and shaped like an arrowhead. In the spring, this plant produces bright yellow blooms that look similar to a daisy. These flowers appear on long stalks and when the bloom is spent, the leaves and stalks will dry up.
Arrowlead Balsamroot is found in sagebrush, grassland, mountain brush, pinyon-juniper, pine and quaking aspen habitats. It can be found throughout much of the open land in Wyoming, and is often admired by tourists in Grand Teton National Park and around Jackson Hole.
7. Leafy arnica
- Scientific Name: Arnica chamissonis
- Zone: 2 – 8
- Where to see: Throughout the state except Crook down to Laramie
- Season: Early Summer
The Leafy arnica is a type of sunflower that grows well in coarse or medium-textured soils with a pH between 6.0 and 7.2. This moisture-demanding plant prefers damp meadows and conifer forests, where it needs a precipitation level of 14 to 24 inches. As the summer develops, you’ll also notice them actively blooming with yellow flowers.
8. Showy milkweed
- Scientific Name: Asclepias speciosa
- Zone: 3 – 9
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Early Summer
One of Wyoming’s natural wildflowers, showy milkweed has an upright, hairy look. The plant has long leaves that grow opposite each other on stems and produces a milky sap when the leaves are damaged. Its hairy flowers are pale pink to pinkish-purple and grow in clusters called umbels.
Besides being an important feeding and habitat plant for monarch butterflies, milkweed also draws other pollinators like the red-belted clearwing moth. You may also find them along streams, dry slopes, open forest areas, and roadsides.
9. Rock jasmine
- Scientific Name: Androsace septentrionalis
- Zone: 3 – 8
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Spring to Summer
The rock jasmine is a small annual herbaceous plant that’s native to North America and belongs to the Primrose family. It has a bunch of leaves in a circular pattern, and many stem that hold clusters of small white flowers. This type of species does well in dry, sandy areas, particularly near old beach ridges and sandy grasslands.
10. Orange agoseris
- Scientific Name: Agoseris aurantiaca
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Mid Spring
The orange agoseris, also known as the mountain dandelion, grows well in mountain areas and can be found in both wet and dry environments. In the middle of spring, each stem has one flower surrounded by smooth or hairy leaves.
The ligulate head has ray florets that are usually orange, but can also be yellow, pink, red, or purple. In the Ramah Navajo culture, a cold infusion of this plant is used for protection against witches.
11. Baneberry
- Scientific Name: Actaea rubra
- Zone: 4 – 8
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Spring
Baneberry is a beautiful species that has a few stems with white flowers and green berries that turn red in middle to late summer. This plant is commonly found in shaded areas with moist or wet soil throughout North America.
People grow it in shade gardens because of its beautiful berries but remember that baneberry is toxic, especially the berries. Eating them can cause serious stomach problems and even stop your heart. Native Americans even used the juice from the fruits for poison arrows.
12. Columbian monkshood
- Scientific Name: Aconitum columbianum
- Zone: 2 – 5
- Where to see: Scattered throughout the state
- Season: Early Summer
The Columbian monkshood is a tall, spindly flowering species that belongs to the buttercup family and is native to western North America. It grows well in areas near rivers, grassy fields, and forests with conifer trees, and you can usually find it at elevations between 600 to 2,900 meters.
The folded flowers come in different colors, from dark blue or purple to white or yellowish, and they usually have a spur. Like other monkshoods, this plant is poisonous to humans and animals.
13. American pasqueflower
- Scientific Name: Anemone patens
- Zone: 3
- Where to see: Throughout the state but less in South Wyoming
- Season: Spring
The American Pasqueflower is a wildflower in Wyoming that grows to a height of 3 to 18 inches and blooms from March to May. The flower has six petals ranging from blue-violet to white, with pointy tips and lined veins.
After flowering, American pasqueflower produces seed heads covered in pinkish-purple feathery plumes for wind dispersal. You can look for it on south-facing slopes in dry to average sandy soil, and it also thrives as a garden plant.
Best Places To See Wildflowers In Wyoming
Wyoming has many beautiful parks and preserves to view wildflowers. For wildflowers of alpine prairie habitat, visit Black Hills National Forest. View roadside meadows while driving the Cloud Peak Skyway through the Big Horn Mountains. You also can’t go wrong with the many trails and overlooks found in Yellowstone National Park, and Grand Teton National Park.
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