More than a field guide, Mountain Wildflowers of the Southern Rockies offers cultural and botanical essays that present useful and fascinating facts about seventy-five species of wildflowers, including strategies for survival, plant evolution, origins of common and scientific plant names, family characteristics, and their roles in human history. The Laramie and Medicine Bow Mountains of southern Wyoming, the principal ranges in Colorado, and the Sangre de Cristo, Jemez, and Sandia Mountains in New Mexico are home to over a thousand species of wildflowers. The striking samples included here were selected not only because they are characteristic of this region, but also because they have interesting stories to tell. Grouped by family and arranged in natural order, each featured profile is accompanied by a color photo and most include a drawing by wildflower artist Walter Graf.