Monument plant superbloom

Green Gentian, Monument Plant super bloom!

A green gentian "superbloom" refers to a synchronized mass-flowering (or "masting") event of the monument plant (Frasera speciosa), also known as elkweed or green gentian. These long-lived plants survive for 20 to 80 years as a simple rosette of leaves before sending up a single massive 4- to 6-foot flowering stalk, releasing seeds, and dying. Because of this unique life cycle, they typically blend into high-country meadows. However, during a masting year, thousands of these towering, greenish-white spires burst into bloom simultaneously across the landscape

These plants only flower once in their lifecycle, and they can remain dormant for decades before flowering. It often takes 30-40 years (and sometimes upwards of 80) for them to store up enough energy to bloom, and once they do, their stalks produce an average of 600 flowers and can grow up to nine feet tall.

Canon 6d