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   The genus name, "Pedicularis", given by Linnaeus in 1853, is derived from the Latin "pediculus", "louse".  A bygone belief had it that the plant gave lice to people and cattle.  Or, according to some sources, the plant was thought to cure people or cattle of lice!  "Wort" is from the Old English, "wyrt", meaning "plant" (Figwort, Spiderwort, Spleenwort).  Many members of the Pedicularis genus are also commonly called "Wood Betony".

To yellow Pedicularis   To Pedicularis racemosa    To Pedicularis centranthera

 

Pedicularis groenlandica
Pedicularis groenlandica (Elephant Heads)
Scrophulariaceae (Snapdragon Family)

Subalpine. Wetlands, streamsides. Summer.
Upper Calico Trail, June 12, 2004.

No one forgets pink elephants.  They are common along streams and boggy mountain meadows, sometimes numbering in the thousands.  Red fern-like leaves appear first and dark stems follow.  The greens of chlorophyll eventually masks most of the reds.  Plants bloom for many weeks, making this one of the most widely known  --  and gasped at  --  wildflowers.  Even the dried seed heads continue to show the elephant’s trunk.

Pedicularis. groenlandica is found throughout the United States West and across all of Canada.

Anders Retzius (1742-1821) named and described Pedicularis groenlandica in 1795, perhaps from a specimen from Labrador; contrary to the implication of the name, P. groenlandica is not found in Greenland.
Pedicularis groenlandica
Pedicularis groenlandica (Elephant Heads)
Scrophulariaceae (Snapdragon Family)

Subalpine. Wetlands, streamsides. Summer.
Upper Calico Trail, June 12, 2004.

 

Pedicularis groenlandica
This meadow of Pedicularis groenlandica was quite boggy and I came out wet, muddy, and with one huge welt from a fly bite.  Perhaps the fly on my lens that you can see at the top center of the picture is the very fly that bit me.
Albino Pedicularis groenlandica are unusual and unforgettable.

Range map © John Kartesz,
Floristic Synthesis of North America

State Color Key

Species present in state and native
Species present in state and exotic
Species not present in state

County Color Key

Species present and not rare
Species present and rare
Species extirpated (historic)
Species extinct
Species noxious
Species exotic and present
Native species, but adventive in state
Eradicated
Questionable presence

Range map for Pedicularis groenlandica