Synonym: Anotites menziesii.  Silene menziesii.  (Catchfly)
Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)

Montane.  Open woodlands. Summer.
Valley of the East Fork of the San Juan River, June 25, 2007.

Anotites menziesii can be a very common plant of open woodlands.  The pictured plants are part of a colony of over a hundred plants, a common growth pattern because the plant sprouts from elongated roots.  Flowers are quite small and arise from the leaf axil.  Leaves are noticeably widest at the middle and taper quickly to a point on both ends.  This leaf shape helps to distinguish this plant from Moehringia machrophylla.  A close look at the flowers of the two plants shows them to be quite different.  Both plants grow in colonies and share similar habitats, although Moehringia machrophylla can grow at higher altitudes.

This plant was first named Silene menziesii by William Hooker in 1830; Edward Greene renamed it Anotites menziesii in 1905.  Weber accepts the Anotites genus name; Flora of North America and John Kartesz accept Silene.  Archibald Menzies, physician and naturalist aboard several major 18th century sea and land explorations, was the first scientist to explore the Pacific Northwest.  Pseudotsuga menziesii, what we now commonly call Douglas Fir, was first collected for science by Menzies, not Douglas.  (More biographical information.) 

"Anotites" is of unknown origin, but Weber theorizes that it is "probably from "a", "not"...[and] "notites", "marked'.  Hence 'unrecognized' ".

Synonym: Gastrolychnis drummondii, Lychnis drummondii. Silene drummondii.  (Catchfly)
Caryophyllaceae (Pink Family)

Montane, subalpine, alpine.  Meadows. Summer.
Kilpacker Trail, July 17, 2006.

Gastrolychnis drummondii is most easily spotted by looking for its tuft of bright basal leaves.  The long, lanky stems, typically around eighteen inches, are difficult to see against the meadow background and flowers are no easier to spot: petals (either pink or white) 

are but several millimeters long but the sticky, distinctive, 10-veined calyx is about 15 millimeters long and a bit more noticeable.

William Jackson Hooker named the species Silene drummondii in 1830, probably from a specimen collected by Thomas Drummond, naturalist and explorer of North America.  (More biographical information.)  Love and Love moved this species to the Gastrolychnis genus; the Greek "gastridos" means "pot-bellied".

Semi-desert. Shrublands, Openings. Spring.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 5, 2005.

Catchfly is common throughout North America, and is, according to the 2005 Flora of North America, "very plastic, being greatly affected by moisture, exposure, and nutrients".  But it is such a slender plant that it is inconspicuous and seldomly observed.  Basal and stem leaves are sparse, short, and narrow.  Areas of the stem are often quite sticky and bugs are trapped on the plant, but Silene antirrhina is not a carnivorous plant.  Flowers range from white though light pink.

Linnaeus named this species in 1753: "Antirrhina" could be from the Greek for "against" "nose" but William Weber indicates that the name means "with leaves like [those of the plant] Antirrhinum".

Semi-desert. Shrublands, Openings. Spring.
Corona Arch Trail, April 13, 2005.

A close look at a seemingly mundane plant shows graceful beauty.

Semi-desert. Shrublands, Openings. Spring.
Canyons of the Ancients National Monument, April 27, 2005.