pasqueflower
This plant comes through the ground sometimes as early as March, clothed in fur-covered sepals and involucre. It is one of the most beautiful, conspicuous of the early spring flowers in the Rockies. The large lavender blossoms with their gold centers resemble the garden crocus, to which this plant is in no way related. With the advancing spring, it follows the disappearance of he snow up the mountain slopes all the way from the foothills to the alpine, blooming in clumps among the rocks or on the open grassland. Each of the many achenes has a long plumed style. As they ripen, these styles lengthen, giving the seed cluster a feathery appearance and providing a sail for each individual seed so that it can be carried long distances by the wind.
