Today I’m featuring a common wildflower that is found along the Mount Evans Highway in Colorado. This prickly little plant is called the Wooly Thistle, and I think you can readily see why it is so named:
You certainly wouldn’t want to grab this plant with the bare hands! I don’t have a lot of information on this plant. I was told by one of the rangers that this is what the “bloom” looks like, but when I did an online search, it appears that there should have been a purple flower, prior to the “wooly” appearance. Also, last year’s travel to this area, which was about a month earlier than this year’s trip, yielded only the white, wooly flowers … no purple flowers. So, if anyone knows the true story of this wildflower, please share it with us. Here is another view of the plant:
After making these images, I moved in with my 180mm macro lens and got a close-up shot of the flower … with a bonus:
Actually, I didn’t even notice the awesome-looking fly until I was home and editing the images!