Blue-capped Polypore

Fungi > Polypores & Bracket Fungi

The Blue-capped Polypore (Albatrellus flettii), also celebrated as Flett’s Polypore, is an extraordinary, terrestrial pore mushroom native to the subalpine conifer forests of western North America. While almost all polypores are tough brackets growing on dead...

Apache Plume

Plants > Trees & Shrubs

Apache Plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is a breathtaking, resilient desert shrub celebrated for its dramatic transformation from elegant white wild-rose blossoms into colossal, shimmering clouds of feathery, pinkish-purple seed heads. Named for the resemblance of these...

Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany

Plants > Trees & Shrubs

Curl-leaf Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius) is an ancient, gnarled evergreen hardwood that clings to the most windswept, sun-scorched limestone ridges of the American West. Revered as one of the longest-lived flowering trees on planet Earth—with individual...

Hunt’s Bumblebee

Invertebrates > Bees, Wasps & Ants

Hunt’s Bumblebee (Bombus huntii) is one of the most vividly colored and important native pollinators in the western mountains of North America. Instantly recognized by its brilliant, flame-red or bright orange abdominal belt sandwiched between bold lemon-yellow...

Indra Swallowtail

Invertebrates > Butterflies & Moths

The Indra Swallowtail (Papilio indra), affectionately called the Cliff Swallowtail, is a legendary, fast-flying butterfly native to the sheer canyon walls and windswept rocky summits of the western United States. Prized among entomologists for its dramatic, jet-black...