The
photo at right shows yellow dryas found along the Park Road near milepost 80,
Denali National Park..........June 24, 2002.
Yellow dryas is an attractive perennial wildflower suitable for rock gardens. The stems extend along the ground with the flowered scapes rising up to 20 cm high. The herbage ranges from glabrous on the upper leaf surfaces to white tomentose on both leaf surfaces and on the stems. The hairs are generally denser on the underside of the leaves than on the upper. The upper scapes may be slightly glandular. The leaf blades are oblong-elliptic to obovate in shape with a cuneate base and coarsely once to twice toothed on the margins. Leaf blades range from 1.5-3 cm long and up to 2 cm wide and are generally dark green above and whitish below. The petiole is often longer than the blade.
Generally one flower is found atop the scape. The calyx is covered with blackish, glandular hairs and the 8-9 sepals are ovate in shape and from 4-6 m long. The 8-9 petals are pale to deep yellow in color and elliptic to obovate in shape, each measuring from 8-12 mm long. The petals generally ascend rather than spread, forming a loose tube.
Yellow dryas is generally found above timberline on rocky ridges and on talus slopes. It may extend below the treeline on the gravel bars of streams and rivers.
Yellow dryas may be found from Alaska south to the mountains of southwestern British Columbia. It is found eastward to the Rocky Mts. where it extends south into Montan, Pend Oreille County, WA, and into the Wallowa Mts. of northeastern Oregon.
