The Uinta Basin is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province, which in turn is part of the larger Intermontane Plateaus physiographic division. It is also a geologic structural basin in eastern Utah, east of the Wasatch Mountains and south of the Uinta Mountains. The Uinta Basin is fed by creeks and rivers flowing south from the Uinta Mountains. Many of the principal rivers flow into the Duchesne River which feeds the Green River—a tributary of the Colorado River. The Uinta Mountains form the northern border of the Uinta Basin. They contain the highest point in Utah, Kings Peak, with a summit 13,528 feet above sea level. The climate of the Uinta Basin is semi-arid, with occasionally severe winter cold.
Streptanthus batrachopus is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Mt. Tamalpais jewelflower. It is endemic to Marin County, California, where it is known only from Mt. Tamalpais and surrounding terrain. There are fewer than ten known occurrences.
Tetradymia glabrata is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name littleleaf horsebrush.
Tetradymia tetrameres is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common name fourpart horsebrush and dune horsebrush. It is native to the Great Basin, where it occurs in western Nevada and just over the border in Mono County, California. It is a plant of dry scrub and sand dunes. It is a bushy, woolly shrub with many erect, spineless branches. It is the largest of the horsebrushes, growing up to two meters in height. The soft, woolly leaves are narrow and threadlike, growing up to 4 centimeters long. Shorter leaves occur in clusters around the primary leaves. The inflorescence bears 4 to 6 flower heads which are each enveloped in four or five woolly phyllaries. Each head contains up to four or five light yellow flowers each around a centimeter long. The fruit is a hairy achene which may be up to a centimeter long, including its pappus of long bristles.
Borodinia serotina is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name shale barren rockcress. It is native to eastern West Virginia and western Virginia in and around the Shenandoah Valley, where it is known from 62 populations. It is endemic to the shale barrens, a type of habitat characterized by steep slopes of bare shale, an exposed, rocky habitat type that is subject to very dry and hot conditions. Shale barrens host a number of endemics, such as Allium oxyphilum and Taenidia montana, and this rockcress is among the rarest. It is a federally listed endangered species.
Phacelia argillacea is a rare species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common names clay phacelia and Atwood's phacelia. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from one canyon in Utah County. It is "one of Utah's most endangered species"; it is "one of the nation's rarest plants" and is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.
Physaria obcordata is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae known by the common name Dudley Bluffs twinpod. It is similar in appearance to the more common Piceance twinpod, but can be distinguished by looking at the leaves through a hand lens. The Piceance twinpod, Physaria acutifolia has stellate hairs when viewed through a hand lens while Physaria ocordata has markings that look like a satellite dish, or a circle with a dot in the middle. It is endemic to Colorado, where it is found only in the Piceance Basin in Rio Blanco County. It is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Hesperidanthus barnebyi, syn. Schoenocrambe barnebyi, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, known by the common names Barneby reed-mustard, Syes Butte plainsmustard, and Barneby thelypody. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from Emery and Wayne Counties. It is threatened by habitat degradation and destruction. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.
Hesperidanthus suffrutescens is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family. Its synonyms include Glaucocarpum suffrutescens. When placed in the genus Glaucocarpum, it was the only species. It is a rare species known by the common names toad-flax cress, shrubby reed-mustard, Uinta Basin waxfruit and waxfruit mustard. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from Duchesne and Uintah Counties. It is threatened by habitat degradation and destruction. It is federally listed as an endangered species of the United States.
Sclerocactus wetlandicus is a rare species of cactus known by the common name Uinta Basin hookless cactus. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from the Uinta Basin. It may also be called the Pariette cactus, but this name is more appropriate for Sclerocactus brevispinus, the species endemic to the Pariette Draw of Duchesne County.
Townsendia aprica is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name Last Chance Townsend daisy. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known from three counties. It faces a number of threats and it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Astragalus limnocharis var. montii, synonym Astragalus montii, is a rare variety of flowering plant in the legume family. It is known by the common name Monti's milkvetch. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where there are only three known populations. Under the synonym A. montii, it is a federally listed threatened species of the United States.
Penstemon pinorum is a rare species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common names Pine Valley penstemon and pinyon penstemon. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from an area along the border between Washington and Iron Counties.
Sisymbrium linifolium, synonyms including Schoenocrambe linifolia, is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family, known by the common names flaxleaf plainsmustard, skeleton mustard, and Salmon River plains-mustard. It is native to western North America, where it can be found from British Columbia east of the Cascade Range to Saskatchewan in Canada and south to Arizona and New Mexico in the United States. An "extremely common" plant, it is most abundant in the Columbia, Great, and Colorado Basins.
Artemisia pygmaea is a North American species of sagebrush in the aster family known by the common name pygmy sagebrush.
Penstemon gibbensii is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name Gibbens' beardtongue. It is native to the western United States, where it occurs in Wyoming, Colorado, and Utah.
Penstemon grahamii, known by the common names Uinta Basin beardtongue and Graham's beardtongue, is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family. It is native to Utah and Colorado in the United States.
Physaria congesta is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Dudley Bluffs bladderpod. It is endemic to western Colorado in the United States, where it is known only from seven occurrences in Rio Blanco County. It is federally listed as a threatened species.
Physaria tumulosa, known by the common name Kodachrome bladderpod, is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is endemic to Utah in the United States, where it is known only from Kane County. There is only one known population of this plant, made up of scattered occurrences totaling about 20,000 individuals, all within the Kodachrome Basin. The plant is threatened by the loss and degradation of its habitat. It is federally listed as an endangered species. It was previously treated as a subspecies of Physaria hitchcockii.
Penstemon albifluvis, the White River penstemon, is a disputed species or variety of Penstemon that grows in a small area in eastern Utah and western Colorado. It grows mainly on broken shale and rock formations in desert habitats. White River penstemon is very rare.
