Photos: Wildflowers of Denali National Park and Preserve

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 9

The Alaska State flower Eritrichium aretioides (Mountain Forget-me-not). Taken at Mile 55 in Denali National Park and Preserve.

In Denali National Park and Preserve -- home to North America's tallest mountain -- more than a hundred species of wildflowers blossom in the long Alaska summer.

On the park's Facebook page, Jacob W. Frank has been posting dozens of the stunning flowers. "Last summer, I found 115 species," he tells Facebook readers. "This summer we are shooting (stars) for 120."

Frank has shot stunning photos of each one he discovers, as well as noting the species and the location in the park where he found the wildflower.

As Frank looks for more, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski has embarked on her own mission that could forever change the park. Alaska's senior senator has introduced a bill that would officially rename Mount McKinley, North America's tallest mountain, as Mount Denali, "The Great One."

It's just the latest attempt in an ages-old battle over whether the mountain should be known in homage to late President William McKinley or by its original Athabascan name, The Associated Press reports. Ohio, birthplace of the former president, has long contested renaming the mountain.

Few Alaskans refer to the mountain as Mount McKinley.

"All that would be changing with is that the Alaskan name for the mountain would become the 'technically correct' term for what is an Alaska landmark," AP reports her saying.