Boise National Forest

New plant found in Boise National Forest!

A species new to science -- Sacajawea’s bitterroot (Lewisia sacajaweana) - grows nowhere else in the world but central Idaho! Just over two dozen populations of Sacajawea’s bitterroot are known to exist and about 75 percent of them on the Boise National Forest.

This rare and beautiful plant is a high country resident; Sacajawea’s bitterroot can be found in montane and subalpine habitats ranging from 5,000 to 9,500 feet. The plant is dormant most of the year, but shortly after snowmelt, a rosette of succulent leaves emerges, followed by showy white flowers that hug the ground. After flowering, all aboveground signs of the plant disappear – with the tuberous carrot-like root hidden just below the surface. Its relative, the common bitterroot, Lewisia rediviva, has similar growth pattern

Look for these wildflowers in the Boise National Forest:

arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata)

bitterbrush (Pushia tridentata)

glacier lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)

heartleaf arnica (Arnica cordifolia)

marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala)

monkshood (Aconitum columbianum)

mountain hollyhock (Iliamna rivularis)

Nuttall's larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum)

paintbrush (Castilleja sp, Castilleja miniata)

rosy pussytoes (Atennaria rosea)

sagebrush buttercup (Ranunculus glaberrimus)

scarlet gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata)

Sitka columbine (Aquilegia formosa)

springbeauty (Claytonia lanceolata)

sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum)

syringa (Philadelphus lewisii)

wild hyacinth (Brodiaea douglasii)

yellowbell (Fritillaria pudica)

These conifer trees grow in the Boise National Forest:

Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)

Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii)

grand fir (Abies grandis)

lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta)

ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)

subalpine fir (Abies lasiocarpa)

western larch (Larix occidentalis)

whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis)