Anyone know this flower?

[Colino]

The girls are bringing in orange pollen and there are no Dandelions yet so I did some detective work. Using Country Boys idea about the white butterflys as an indicator of nectar flow I found the girls working these small white flowers. I have no idea what they could be.
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Lilwhite.jpg

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Lilwhite.jpg

[karen]

It looks like Phlox.

[Charlie]

Colino,
Is there any chance that you could get better pictures of the flowers and the plant itself. When I blow these pictures up, the Picture is very fuzzy on my computer. If you could also place a ruler/tape measure nearby in the picture at the same time to give some idea of the scale may be beneficial also. The only thing I can tell for sure is the flowers have five petals and yellow pollen and they grow next to dandelions. I have no idea what kind the leaf structure this plant has and I'm suspicious that it will be required. If you can provide better pictures I will see what I can find in the various databases that would suit your area around Medicine Hat.

[Countryboy]

I agree that better pictures would help.

It resembles the wildflower we call Spring Beauty.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&sou ... ASwgiDTa3c

[Colino]

I took these pics with my cell phone so they weren't that clear to begin with then when I resized them to reduce their size it took away more clarity. Tomorrow I will take some pics with my camera and upload them to drop box so I can paste a link. They are only 3/8" to a 1/2" across, low to the ground and when the girls load the pollen into their baskets it appears orange like Dandelion pollen.

[Colino]

I agree that better pictures would help.

It resembles the wildflower we call Spring Beauty.

https://www.google.com/search?site=&sou ... ASwgiDTa3c

That's not it because the sex organs don't protrude out of the flower and they are not that purple.

[Colino]

Colino,
Is there any chance that you could get better pictures of the flowers and the plant itself. When I blow these pictures up, the Picture is very fuzzy on my computer. If you could also place a ruler/tape measure nearby in the picture at the same time to give some idea of the scale may be beneficial also. The only thing I can tell for sure is the flowers have five petals and yellow pollen and they grow next to dandelions. I have no idea what kind the leaf structure this plant has and I'm suspicious that it will be required. If you can provide better pictures I will see what I can find in the various databases that would suit your area around Medicine Hat.

If you look near the center of the horizontal pic there is a bee on them to give you some scale of size.

[Colino]

It looks like Phlox.

It does look like a type of really tiny phlox except the leaves are fuzzy and globular in structure.

[Vance G]

I have never seen that variety here and I am not all that far away. Probably from seeds dropped off in caribou dung on their migration by your home on their way to different lichens. My bees were piled up on the hive wrap all bearing red and orange pollen. Some of that is coming from Aspen I would guess. Dandelions in heavy bloom in town but I just saw the first stunted flower by my bees. But a word of warning colimo, when I was changing bottom boards yesterday and pulling a few frames, my strongest hives had I would guess less than five pounds of sugar water/ honey. They would have starved within a few days! I had some boxes of honey form mite killed colonies and parceled it out among the needy and put on another full baggie. Sorry to hijack but thought you should know. Was that flower in unbroken prairie?

[Colino]

I have never seen that variety here and I am not all that far away. Probably from seeds dropped off in caribou dung on their migration by your home on their way to different lichens. My bees were piled up on the hive wrap all bearing red and orange pollen. Some of that is coming from Aspen I would guess. Dandelions in heavy bloom in town but I just saw the first stunted flower by my bees. But a word of warning colimo, when I was changing bottom boards yesterday and pulling a few frames, my strongest hives had I would guess less than five pounds of sugar water/ honey. They would have starved within a few days! I had some boxes of honey form mite killed colonies and parceled it out among the needy and put on another full baggie. Sorry to hijack but thought you should know. Was that flower in unbroken prairie?

Yes the flower is on unbroken prairie I'm uploading some better picture links to my drop box now when they're loaded I'll post the links. We're going to plus 20C today so I'll peek in the hives and see how much they have for stores.
Thanks
Colino

[Colino]

I thought I posted this link before but I must have done something wrong I don't see the post. Here is a link to pics I took this a.m. and loaded to drop box.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/767g4uyz92y2 ... NQnGa?dl=0

[Charlie]

might it be

from Alberta Native Plant Council
http://anpc.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/20 ... dendum.pdf

LOW BRAYA

I can't tell for sure but it is as close as I have come after a couple of hours.

[Colino]

might it be

from Alberta Native Plant Council
http://anpc.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/20 ... dendum.pdf

LOW BRAYA

I can't tell for sure but it is as close as I have come after a couple of hours.

I'm not sure that's it Charlie. The stem is not that long and the leaves are not flat but almost fuzzy globes. I'll go out tomorrow morning and pull one up to get a profile shot of the whole plant. Sorry for using up so much of your time but this could be a new species or something. Also it could be an important early spring nectar source in my area. I noticed early last spring the feral hive was bringing in what I thought was orange Dandelion pollen and I could find no Dandelions blooming in the neighborhood. Even when the Dandelions bloom here I never see many bees working them maybe this flower is the reason why.
Colino

[Colino]

I uploaded some close ups of a plant I pulled up and added them to my drop box file photo numbers 4,5, and 6.
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/767g4uyz92y2 ... NQnGa?dl=0

[Charlie]

Colino:
Sorry for using up so much of your time

Don't worry about it, I love a good challenge especially when I have time and I may learn something.

[Colino]

Karen hit the nail on the head! It is a type of wild Phlox called "Phlox Hoodii" I missed it because I was only looking at domestic varieties. It's an important early nectar source for native pollinators. Scroll down this page it's on the left hand side. Thanks to all.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/toddbolan ... 135962003/
More from wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlox_hoodii