Leopard Lily

Leopard lilies (Lilium pardalinum), are endemic to California, and grow by stream beds almost all over the state.  Though not rare per se, they're not a dime a dozen by any means, and their fist-sized blooms dangling from a 3 foot high stem are as impressive as any cultivated garden flower.  This one above was blooming among the thimbleberry and sedges on the banks of Flynn Creek, near where it feeds into the Navarro River. The other pictures are in the Albion River.

Photos taken on July 18 and 23.

Farewell to Spring

I'd been admiring the roadside patches of farewell-to-springs (Clarkia amoena) blooming along the Navarro grade lately, but it was further south along the 1 this weekend that I found a lovely patch nicely lit with a safe pullout.  

These gorgeous flowers grow in patches where the pink multitude stands out against the now-dry grass, and with their barely-visible narrow leaves, you hardly see green - just a nodding sea of pink petals.  Many have darker pink blotches on each petal that can be seen from the outside and the inside, but others either don't have the pattern or have lost it.  

The way the light was filling up these flowers like little cups was what inspired me to finally pull over to get some shots.

These photos were taken on July 17, somewhere between Manchester and Elk.

Woodland Madia

I like the name of this little yellow aster.  Anisocarpus madioides (formerly Madia madioidies) can be found in wooded places in the early summer all along the west coast.  This photo was from the same day as the mariposa lily (June 14), but I still see them blooming, so this post isn't entirely out of date.  I was lucky enough to come across a very lazy bee hanging out on this bloom.  Hardly moved an antenna as a photographed it.

Elegant Mariposa Lily

I'm using the common name on the USDA plant profiles here, because it sounds so nice, but it's got many names: elegant mariposa lily, elegant star tulip, cat's ears, pussy's ears...let's just call it Calochortus elegans. After all, that is the reason we bother with the hefty latin and greek names, right?  To reduce confusion?  Or should I say, to eschew obfuscation?  But I digress.  What can I say?  It's a lovely flower, as lilies pretty much universally are. And this one, the size of a quarter and accented with those little hairs (from which it gets the latter of the common names) is downright cute.  Keep your eyes peeled.

Yellow Bush Lupine - the yellow version

As promised in the last entry, here are some photos of yellow bush lupine that is actually yellow.  I cheated a bit though; these are from Sonoma county.  Not that there's any shortage of specimens in Mendo Co., I just happened to be working on the Sonoma coast and these were not only convenient but also bathed in that gorgeous evening summer sunlight.  We've been enjoying our ration of sunlight here on the coast this first week of summer, and I thought these lupines showed off theat summery glowing feeling pretty well.  

Fuzzy seed pods are developing even while the shrubs are full of fresh flowers.

And the obligatory shot of the flowers with the ocean backdrop...

Now it's time to play catch up.  I've got a bit of a back log to post, as I've been more busy with photographing than blogging, which I think is a positive thing all in all...stay tuned for adorable furry lilies, subjectively cute furry bumblebees, and more...

Yellow Bush Lupine

Huh? Yeah, that's what it's called, and what it is; except it's also purple, in fact mostly purple, here in Nor Cal.  Lupines are nice adornment to any sunny habitat, and this particular species of lupine shrub is abundant enough to paint a whole hillside purple.   I do see yellow individuals here and there, so I'll add a photo of those later...

Like most legumes, the lupines are colonizers that like to find disturbed areas and reproduce aggressively.  Yellow bush lupine (Lupinus arboreous) is especially good at what it does, so much so, it's considered a native invasive plant in certain sensitive areas, like dunes (Cal-IPC only rates it as moderate).  

Lupines are toxic to humans and cattle.  So, enjoy them for their looks.  Lupines make a good landscaping plant thanks to this toxicity, as the deer avoid them.

These are growing on the bluffs by the Noyo harbor in Fort Bragg.  Some of the "bluffs"around Noyo harbor are actually somewhat manmade, after years of piling up material dredged from the river mouth to keep the channel deep enough for boats.  It's the perfect place for a weed garden.  I like to think these lupines are pretty tough - standing their ground against the insidious pampas grass that dominates the area.

Lupines characteristically have palmate leaves (as shown above.)  The leaves of some lupines are adorned with tiny fuzzy hairs that lend a silvery quality to the leaves in the right light.  Another species of lupine - Lupinus albifrons, or silver lupine, is named for this quality.  L. albifrons, by the way, is host to an endangered butterfly called the Mission Blue.

Monkeyflowers

Monkey flower (Mimulus) is a pretty diverse genus formerly in the recently re-thunk snapdragon family (Scrophulariaceae), now in the lopseed family (Phrymaceae).  The genus is at home in western North America and Australia.  The two species pictured here are sticky monkey flower (M. aurantiacus - above) and seep monkey flower (M. guttatus - below). Note M. auriantiacus, seems to be moving to another genus: Diplacus.

Sticky monkey flower is a shrub that grows in dry slopes throughout California. The sticky is on the underside of the leaf.  It's a resin produced by the plant to discourage caterpillars from devouring the leaves.  Seep monkey flower is an herbaceous annual that grows in low lying ever-moist areas like springs and drainage ditches.

M. aurantiacus photos at top taken on May 20 at Alder Creek near Manchester.  M. guttatus photos above taken near Noyo Harbor in Fort Bragg, and M. guttatus photos below taken by the side of Orr Springs Road east of Comptche on May 1.