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photo was from the same day as the mariposa lily (June 14), but I still see them blooming, so this post isn't entirely out of date.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.

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.

One of these things is not like the others...

Here it is, folks, evolution in action! This one violet showed off a mutation, or maybe just a rarely expressed trait, of white and yellow splotchy petals. That's how garden varieties are created - one little natural variation amplified by breeding. It's fun to see such a variation in nature, especially in a species that normally sports a multitude of remarkably identical flowers. Just goes to show, even the flowers you see every day can be interesting all over again.

These photos taken on April 16 in Little River, Ca.

Footsteps-of-spring

First entry of Spring!

On the bluffs at the end of Jefferson Way in Fort Bragg yesterday, there were a handful of species starting to bloom, but the footsteps of spring (Sanicula arctopoides), were the most prolific.

These plants are aptly named - they're flat and cheery and scattered about the green grassy bluffs like the footprints of a happy little elf. They're are cousins of the cow parsnip from a few weeks ago. They're both in the carrot family (Apiaceae), and characteristically have flowers in an umbel formation. They're so small and compact that they look like little buttons, smaller than a penny. The flower stalks are short and either single or clustered like a tiny cabbage patch.

Like the cow parsnip, these flowers were covered with insects - mostly ants.

Also blooming on the bluffs were Mendocino paintbrush (Castilleja mendocinensis), California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus) and beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis).

Happy trails.