Endemic Species Of Colorado: The Complete List

Colorado’s landscapes — from alpine meadows and sagebrush steppes to canyon rims and mesas — host plants and animals found nowhere else. That local endemism reflects isolated habitats, unique soils, and Colorado’s range of elevations, so even small pockets can support species not seen beyond state lines.

There are 41 Endemic Species of Colorado, ranging from AR Valley Evening-primrose to Weber’s Saw-wort. For each species you’ll find below the Scientific name, Colorado range (counties/region), and Conservation status to make it easy to understand where each occurs and how at-risk it is. The list compiles county-level ranges and status notes so you can quickly see geographic limits and conservation priorities in the entries you’ll find below.

How were these endemics determined and their ranges assigned?

Ranges are based on published records, herbarium specimens, state natural heritage surveys, and vetted citizen science observations; county- or region-level mapping comes from those combined sources and expert review, while conservation status uses state and national assessments to reflect current concern.

What practical steps can readers take to support these species?

Avoid disturbing sensitive habitats, report sightings to platforms like iNaturalist, support land protection and restoration groups, and consult local guidelines before collecting or visiting fragile sites to help protect narrow-range endemics.

Endemic Species of Colorado

Images and Descriptions

Uncompahgre Fritillary

A small, orange-and-black checkered butterfly found only on a few peaks above 13,000 feet. It lives in patches of snow-willow, its larval host plant. This elusive species is one of the rarest butterflies in North America, threatened by climate change.

Pawnee Montane Skipper

A dark, fast-flying butterfly subspecies with yellow-orange spots, found exclusively in the montane grasslands of the South Platte River canyon system. Adults fly in late summer, feeding on nectar from blue mistflower, its larval host plant.

Greenback Cutthroat Trout

Colorado’s state fish, once thought extinct. This colorful trout is distinguished by its vibrant green back and large, dark spots. Pure, native populations are critically endangered and restricted to a few isolated headwater streams where they have been painstakingly reintroduced.

Manitou Springs Naucorid

A small, predatory aquatic insect known as a “creeping water bug.” This incredibly rare bug is found in only one specific thermal spring system in the world, located in Manitou Springs. Its existence depends entirely on the unique water chemistry of its habitat.

Hops Blue Butterfly

A small, delicate blue butterfly whose caterpillars feed exclusively on the wild hops vine. It flutters through streamside habitats in the foothills west of Denver and Fort Collins. It is considered globally rare due to its very restricted range and specialized diet.

North Park Phacelia

A small plant with striking purple, bell-shaped flowers and fern-like leaves. It grows only on the unique, barren clay hills of North Park. This federally endangered flower is adapted to harsh, dry conditions and is threatened by habitat disturbance.

Parachute Beardtongue

One of the world’s rarest plants, this delicate flower has pale blue-to-lilac, snapdragon-like blooms. It clings to life on loose, unstable oil shale scree slopes on the Roan Plateau, making it extremely vulnerable to energy development.

Skiff Milkvetch

A low-growing, silvery-leafed member of the pea family with tiny, pinkish-purple flowers. It is found only on specific gravelly soils within the sagebrush steppe of the Gunnison Basin. Its small population is highly threatened by residential development.

Osterhout’s Milkvetch

A tall, robust milkvetch with creamy white flowers, found only on selenium-rich shale soils near Kremmling. This endangered plant incorporates selenium from the soil, making it toxic to most grazing animals and part of a unique “poisonous” flora.

Colorado Butterfly Plant

A tall, elegant plant with delicate white-to-pink flowers that open at dusk. This federally threatened subspecies grows exclusively in moist meadows along streams in north-central Colorado, threatened by changes in hydrology and land use.

Dudley Bluffs Bladderpod

A low, cushion-like plant covered in dense, silvery hairs and bright yellow flowers. It grows only on barren, white oil shale outcrops in the Piceance Basin, a habitat rich in endemic plants and also a center for energy development.

Colorado Hookless Cactus

A small, globe-shaped to cylindrical cactus with beautiful pink or violet flowers. It is found in arid, gravelly soils of the Colorado River drainage near Grand Junction and is threatened by illegal collecting, development, and off-road vehicle use.

Penland’s Beardtongue

A beautiful plant with showy, bright blue-to-purple tubular flowers. It thrives on the same selenium-rich shale soils as Osterhout’s Milkvetch near Kremmling, making this small area a hotspot for rare endemic plants adapted to toxic soils.

Weber’s Saw-wort

An unusual, thistle-like plant with purple flowers crowded into a dense head, covered in woolly white hairs. A true arctic-alpine species, it’s found only on a few of Colorado’s highest peaks, a remnant from the Ice Age isolated from its relatives in Asia.

Pagosa Beardtongue

A striking plant with deep cobalt-blue flowers, growing only on gray, weathered Mancos Shale slopes around Pagosa Springs. This rare beauty is highly vulnerable due to its extremely small range, which is threatened by residential and commercial development.

DeBeque Phacelia

A low-growing annual plant with small, pale lavender flowers and sticky, hairy leaves. It is restricted to a very specific soil type derived from the Wasatch Formation, found only in a small area north of the Colorado River.

Dudley Bluffs Twinpod

A small, silvery cushion plant from the mustard family, notable for its unique, heart-shaped, inflated seed pods. Like its neighbor the Dudley Bluffs Bladderpod, it is a specialist of the white oil shale barrens, making it highly vulnerable to habitat loss.

Rocky Mtn. Townsend-daisy

A charming, low-growing cushion plant that produces relatively large, white-to-pink daisy-like flowers. It is found in the harsh, windswept environment of alpine fellfields and rocky ridges above treeline in Colorado’s central mountains.

Bell’s Twinpod

A bright yellow-flowered cushion plant that is one of the first signs of spring on the barren shale slopes of the Front Range foothills. It is a soil specialist, adapted to the sterile, often-purplish Niobrara and Pierre Shale formations.

Colorado Tansy-aster

A low, mat-forming plant with striking lavender-to-purple, daisy-like flowers and spiny-tipped leaves. It is endemic to the gravelly flats and alluvial fans of the high-altitude basin of South Park, a harsh environment with cold winters and intense sun.

Hartman’s Buckwheat

A low, mat-forming perennial with greenish-white to pinkish flowers clustered in small heads. This extremely rare plant is known from only a few locations in the Gunnison area, where it grows on barren, rocky slopes derived from a specific volcanic tuff formation.

Pagosa Skyrocket

An exceptionally rare and beautiful biennial plant with trumpet-shaped, white-to-pale-blue flowers marked with purple spots. It is found only on weathered Mancos Shale outcrops in the immediate vicinity of Pagosa Springs.

AR Valley Evening-primrose

A low-growing plant with large, showy yellow flowers that open in the evening and fade to orange-red by the next day. It is restricted to the shaley bluffs and gravelly soils along the Arkansas River, threatened by urbanization and gravel mining.

Porter’s Feathergrass

A rare bunchgrass with delicate, feathery seed heads that is found in shaded, rocky habitats in subalpine forests. Unlike many rare plants that prefer harsh, open sites, this grass seeks out cool, moist, north-facing slopes and cliffs.

Badlands Sand-verbena

A sprawling, sticky-leafed plant that produces round clusters of fragrant, greenish-white to pinkish flowers. It is found only on sandy, wind-blown soils in South Park, often growing on active sand dunes. Its entire global population exists here.

O’Kane’s Easter-daisy

A tiny, jewel-like cushion plant with hairy, gray-green leaves and small, white-to-lavender daisy flowers. One of the Roan Plateau’s oil shale endemics, it grows in tiny crevices on the bare, white marlstone, highly susceptible to disturbance.

Colorado Blue-eyed Grass

A member of the iris family with flattened, grass-like leaves and delicate, star-shaped, pale blue to whitish flowers. It is not a true grass and grows in moist meadows and along stream banks in several central Colorado mountain basins.

Barneby’s Cat’s-eye

A low, tufted plant in the borage family, covered in bristly hairs and bearing clusters of tiny, fragrant white flowers. It is restricted to barren clay hills and saline soils of the Mancos Shale formation near De Beque and Grand Junction.

Osterhout’s Stonecrop

A succulent perennial with fleshy, flattened leaves and star-shaped, yellow flowers. It is another of the rare endemics of the selenium-rich shales near Kremmling, growing in rock crevices where few other plants can survive the toxic soil.

Cushion Bladderpod

A dense, silvery cushion plant with bright yellow flowers, perfectly adapted to the harsh conditions of its habitat. It is known from only two locations in the Gunnison Basin, where it grows on barren clay hills, making it one of Colorado’s rarest plants.

Piceance Twinpod

A silvery, mat-forming plant with yellow flowers and small, inflated seed pods. It is another of the oil shale specialists endemic to the Piceance Basin, growing on the distinctive white shale outcrops. Its habitat is a focus of energy development.

Rollins’ Twinpod

A low, silvery cushion plant with bright yellow flowers. It is found only on specific clay soils derived from the Morrison and Cedar Mountain formations in the very northwestern corner of Colorado, a harsh, arid, and beautiful landscape.

Colorado Rock-cress

A small plant in the mustard family with basal rosettes of leaves and stems bearing small, white to purplish flowers. It is found on dry, rocky slopes, often in sagebrush or open pinyon-juniper forest in the central mountainous region of the state.

Rabbit Ears Gilia

A rare subspecies of the common scarlet gilia, distinguished by its creamy white to pale yellow flowers. This beautiful plant is found only in the high-elevation sagebrush and aspen parklands around Rabbit Ears Pass, a localized and unique color variant.

Mesa Verde Stickseed

A small, bristly annual plant with tiny blue flowers, easily overlooked. Its entire known population in the world is found within Mesa Verde National Park, often growing in disturbed soils in pinyon-juniper woodlands, especially in post-fire areas.

Golden Blazing Star

A stunning biennial with large, golden-yellow flowers that have numerous, feathery stamens. It grows on the steep, granitic canyon walls and gravel bars along the Arkansas River near the Royal Gorge, a very showy plant in a rugged habitat.

Dot-leaf Zinnia

A low, bushy perennial with small, yellow, daisy-like flowers. While the species ranges into other states, Colorado populations are considered a distinct, isolated, and potentially endemic variety, adapted to the harsh shortgrass prairie environment.

May-lily

A beautiful spring ephemeral with fragrant, white, star-like flowers that emerge from an underground stem. This rare variety of the common sand lily is known only from the sandy, adobe soils of the Grand Valley, blooming for a very short period in spring.

Pueblo Goldenweed

A small, woody subshrub with narrow leaves and heads of yellow, daisy-like flowers. It is extremely rare, known only from a few sites on barren shale outcrops near Pueblo. Its tiny range makes it highly vulnerable to any habitat disturbance.

Colorado Barneby’s Clover

A low, mat-forming clover with beautiful pink and white flower heads. This species is restricted to the rocky, windswept ridges and alpine tundra of the Park Range and nearby mountains, a tough but beautiful survivor of high elevations.

North Park Milkvetch

A delicate, low-growing perennial in the pea family with small, purple flowers. It is another of the highly specialized plants endemic to the unique, mineral-rich clay soils of North Park, sharing its rare habitat with the North Park Phacelia.

Endemic Species in Other U.S. States