p>Painted Bluffs Provincial Park has multi-colored bluffs eroded into sinuous shapes.    No plant life lives on the mercury (cinnabar)-copper ridges, but there are a few rocky-gravelly (moraine) ridges too.   A bit of grass and sagebrush can be found on these, but we were also pleased to see a few Blazing Stars in flower too.

Blazing Stars (mentzelia laevicaulis) is a lemon-yellow short-lived perennial.   The 5 petal stars have 5 smaller petals between them, looking like a 10-pointed star.   The stems are covered in stiff grey hairs and the leaves are rough to the touch.   They are found in low, arid basins in the Thompson Valley.   First Nations people in some areas harvested the roots to treat fevers.

We were happy to see them in bloom on a hot summer day.