Wildflowers and plants in Cajas National Park

Yesterday's post on Cajas National Park was about its vistas and scenery, which were gorgeous.  It also had beautiful plants and flowers -- an appreciation for which is shared with several of my wonderful lady friends.  So these are for you, amigas.  I miss you!

Since the park was at 4200 meters, many of the plants, and almost all the flowers were of alpine stature, very tiny, very close to the ground, to survive the winds and cold. I apologize for my ignorance, but don't know names here, and all I do "know" is what the naturalist told me.  Not footed. 

Each of these little plants are about 1 cm across. They grow together and form self-limiting colony clumps.

       
This colony is about 3 feet across, a little mound.

A bunch of them.  In some places they comprise the ground we walked on -- they're soft and squishy . 

These are about 4 inches across, and grow together in groups, and separately. 

This one had leaves growing out its center of blossoms. 

This tiny flower's blossoms were only 1cm across in full balloon star shape,
and, we were told, never open more than this,
but still manage to be pollinated as the petal overlap is slight. 

 

Another pair of those tiny, tiny flowers. 

These were normal size, and sure looked like New England Asters to me -- but our naturalist said no. 

Mountain chamomile.

My evidence that lupine-like flowers grow everywhere.  Again I'm wrong, via the naturalist.  But hey.

A bromeliad about the three feet tall and wide. 

Same bromeliad, looking into it. 

Another kind of mountain chamomile.

Very buttercup, but different.

About 6-8" tall with a little straw flower like thing on top when in bloom. 

One cm blue flower that looked like a spring beauty. 

Llama poo - fertilizer. 

 

Sigh . . . it was beautiful.