Participant Info

Species

Comarum palustre [Potentilla palustris]

Family

Rosaceae

CommonName

purple marshlocks

Presence

Yes

Status

native

EarliestDate

1949

LatestDate

2021

Ecosystem

subalpine, tundra

Geobotanical

SSanjuans

Counties

Conejos, Rio Grande

Passes

Cumbres, Grayback, La Manga

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

Yes Mary E. McDonald: Conejos Co, 1 mile W of La Manga pass 6 Aug 2016; natural pond at Cumbres Pass 15 July 2022; Rich Haswell: natural pond at Cumbres pass 2 Aug 2022

Comments

For purple marshlocks herbarium vouchers provide only two locations in the Watershed: a mattress bog by a pond at Cumbres Pass (Conejos Co, 1949, 1965); and a wet alpine meadow west of Grayback Mountain (Rio Grande Co, 1978). Recently it has been photographed north of La Manga Pass (Conejos Co, 2016), as well again at the Cumbres Pass pond (2022). These three locations mark the very southernmost USA reach of this circumboreal species, The presence of Comarum palustre in Colorado is disjunct from the main USA distribution, which broadly covers the states bordering Canada, and the Pacific west coast from Canada on down through Oregon and northern California. For more photographs and comment, click "yes" in the Annotation field below.

Annotation

Yes