Grass-forb Community




According to Stoddart (1941), the grasslands of northern Utah form the southernmost extension of the Palouse prairie. Of the two communities into which the Palouse prairie is divided, only that dominated by bluebunch wheatgrass (Elymus Spicatus, originally known as Agropyron spicatum) occurs in Red Butte Canyon. Relatively large open areas inhabited by grasses and forbs, with an occasional big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), squawbush (Rhus trilobata), and bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), are found chiefly below the 1829 m (6000 ft) contour (Kleiner and Harper 1966), although smaller grass-forb associations also occur in forest clearings at higher elevations. Some of the grass-forb community at lower elevations are listed to the right.
Grasses and Forbs

Achillea millifolium, milfoil yarrow
Allium acuminatum, tapertip onion
Ambrosia psilostachya, western ragweed
Arabis holboellii, Holboell rockcress
Aristida purpurea, purple threeawn
Artemisia ludoviciana, Louisiana wormwood
Astragalus utahensis, Utah milkvetch
Aster adscendens, everywhere aster
Balsamorhiza macrophylla, cutleaf balsamroot
Balsamorhiza sagittata, arrowleaf balsamroot
Bromus tectorum, cheatgrass
Cirsium undulatrum, gray thistle
Collomia linearis, narrowleaf collomia
Comandra umbellata, bastard toadflax
Crepis acuminata, mountain hawksbeard
Cymopterus longipes, long-stalk spring-parsley
Elymus trachycaulus, slender wheatgrass
epilobium brachycarpum, autumn willowherb
Erigeron divergens, spreading daisy
Gutierrezia sarothrae, broom snakeweed
Hedysarum boreale, northern sweetvetch
Heliomeris multiflora, showy goldeneye
Lomatium triternatum, ternate lomatium
Lupinus argenteus, silvery lupine
Microsteris gracilis, little polecat
Phacelia linearis, threadleaf scorpionweed
Phlox longifolia, longleaf phlox
Poa secunda, Sandberg bluegrass
Stipa comata, needle-and-thread
Wyethia amplexicaulis, mulesears