Subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Upper Calico Trail, August 3, 2000.

Oreochrysum parryi is extremely common and blooms in late summer high mountain and subalpine forests.  Stems are characteristically rough with a purple hue and sport few but large and vertical, then arching leaves.  Flowers are small relative to the size of the plant and typically three to six flowers are clustered at the top of the plant; there may be a number of clusters. 

"Oros" is Greek for "mountain" and "chrysos" for "gold".  "Parryi" is for botanist Charles Parry, 1823-1890, explorer and naturalist who visited Colorado often and widely publicized the flora of the West.  Joseph Hooker called him the "King of Colorado Botany". 

Parry collected the first specimen of this plant in Colorado and Asa Gray named it Aplopappus parryi in 1862.  Edwin Greene renamed it Solidago parryi in 1894, and Per Axel Rydberg renamed it Oreochrysum parryi in 1906.  (More biographical information.)

Subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Middle Calico Trail, August 9, 2004.

Subalpine. Woodlands. Summer.
Middle Calico Trail, August 9, 2004.

From early July on, the basal leaves of Oreochrysum parryi are very common, nearly ubiquitous, in Spruce forests, greening the forest floor.  Only a small percent of these plants will flower, however, but since there are commonly many hundreds of plants crowded into a small area, there will still be dozens of flowering plants.