antelope bitterbrush, Purshia tridentata

Bitterbrush was the next image from that 2013 Colorado day. But this isn't it. One of the fun parts of that trip was noticing the differences in plant stages from north to south, and up to down. So we have to go back up, both in altitude and latitude, to get a better image of bitterbrush. It's a scraggly thing, but up close kind of pretty. It grows on barren mountain slopes in AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NE, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, and BC. Summit CO CO, 6/17/13.