I’m one of those kinds of people who like to know the names of the flowers I am looking at. I am not perfect at this, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a pretty good handle on it. I’ve been studying for a while.
When I was a little girl, there was a standing family joke which had entered our lexicon courtesy of a Park Ranger somewhere in the mists of history. He was a geologist, and he was charged with enlightening the curiosity of people who wanted to know what sort of rock they were looking at. Generally, he would identify the mineral, but every once in a while he would reply to a query, “Oh, that is an FRDK.” After hearing this term a few times, my mother finally got up enough courage to ask this expert what FRDK meant.
“It means, Funny Rock Don’t Know.” For ever after, when one of us children would ask her what kind of flower we were looking at, usually we would be told the name or directed to look in the “Flower book.” But every once in a while, the identity would be “PFDK”. (Pretty Flower Don’t Know).
This flower is a complete mystery to me. I have done everything I can think of on the internet short of ordering a book of “Flowers of the Rocky Mountains”. I am reluctant to do this because I know how flower books are. Generally speaking, if there is ONE particular flower you are trying to identify, that is the one that is not in the book.
Anyway, this flower was growing on a rocky east facing slope at about 9000 feet in a forest of pines and spruces. Nearby there were mertensia in a little brook, there were also currants and elderberries in the area. The total height of this plant from soil to flower is about 3 inches.
At first I thought it might be a member of the primrose family, but the flower form is not right. It also could be a member of the mountain laurels (Kalmia sp.) as well. But I just don’t know, and Google has not been forthcoming.
If anyone has any ideas, or an alpine flower book to look it up it, PLEASE! DO! And let me know.
Pretty, isn’t it?
the havens 
Swamp rose?
That has always been my answer when the hatchlings asked me about a flower I don’t know.
… and there are a lot of swamp hens, swamp deers and swamp pines as well…
Swamp rose, eh? I guess every family has its little traditions on the naming of the unknown. I’ll have to keep this one in mind for my grandchildren, assuming that I ever have any.
I wonder if there is a site to post pictures for identification. Couldn’t find one but maybe someone else will know
That’s a pretty good idea. While I was searching the web I found a site that has plant lists and such for some botany society it CO, I thought I might leave a contact there with a link to this post and maybe one of those experts would take pity on me. Thanks for reminding me of that.
Further investigaion in cooperation with a botanist friend of mine narrowed down the identification to a member of the wintergreen family. After a couple of more look-sees on the web, we found a picture and description and the baby is Chimaphila umbellata, also known as Pipsissewa or Prince’s Pine.
You may not believe me, but before I read the comments I thought to myself, “a pipsissewa?” Mostly because of how the stamens (anthers? I’m too tired to look that up) are like very prominent spots in front of the petals, and how they’re nodding. I’ve spent far too many hours looking at wildflower books.