Woolly Locoweed

— Our first hike at Palo Duro Canyon SP was at the number one trail in the park: the Lighthouse Trail. Known for its view of Capitol Peak and the Lighthouse, this trail also offered beautiful examples of wildflowers blooming all over the park at this time of the year. As we hiked the trail, we could see beautiful Woolly Paperflowers and Woolly Locoweed fields, as shown in the photo above. What first caught my eye was the beautiful sunlight shining through those flower petals. It was as if they were lit up. Woolly Locoweed (Astragalus mollissimus) can also be called Purple Locoweed and Woolly Loco, among other names. The name given to this flower comes from the fact that these flowers show many soft hairs covering their leaves and stems. As beautiful as they are, these flowers are harmful to livestock because of the phytotoxin called swainsonine.