Rabbit Mountain (aka Ron Stewart Preserve at Rabbit mountain) is a Boulder county open space featured in several lists of best wildflower hikes in the front range. Right now, you’ll see fields of white fleabane, yellow arnica, and tall yellow stems of dalmatian toadflax on the eagle wind trail. I saw at least 40 species of wildflowers easily visible from the trail. Yellow and red blanketflowers, purple Chinese lanterns, and bright orange copper mallow stand out. Boulder county parks and Open Space has a checklist of species for Rabbit Mountain (link below).
Rabbit Mountain flower checklist
Howard’s Evening Primrose, Oenothera howardii, Onagraceae (Evening Primrose). This flower is about 3 inches across. Most were wilted into orange like the photo below.
Howard’s Evening Primrose, Oenothera howardii, Onagraceae (Evening Primrose). The yellow petals wilt into an orange color.
Clustered broomrape, Orobanche fasciculata, Orobanchaceae (Broomrape). This is a parasitic plant.
Dakota mock vervain, Glandularia bipinnatifida, erbenaceae (Vervain). Don’t head out too fast from the trail head or you’ll miss this one.
Packera sp. Maybe P. streptanthifolia, or P. plattensis. Asteraceae (sunflower). This one is not on the boulder county checklist for Rabbit Mountain, but there were countless plants like this in full bloom. The collage below includes another picture with the unique basal and stem leaves. This one is being visited by a field crescent butterfly.
plains paintbrush, Castilleja sessiliflora, Orobanchaceae (broomrape). First time I’ve seen this one.
Many more: Click on the collage below to see the captions.
scenery
Boulder wildflowers 