A canyon sunflower (Venegasia carpesioides) in a grove of oaks in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon.
From last Sunday’s run to Cheeseboro Canyon from the Victory Trailhead of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve (Ahmanson Ranch).
Category Archives: nature|wildflowers
Nightshade Along the Garapito Trail
From a New Year’s morning run on the Garapito Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains, near Los Angeles.
Some related posts: Deadly Nightshade, Douglas’ Nightshade
Circle X Crags and the Channel Islands
The view above is of crags in the Circle X area and the Channel Islands from the Etz Meloy section of the Backbone Trail in the Santa Monica Mountains.
From today’s out and back run on the Backbone Trail from Kanan Road to a viewpoint on Etz Meloy Mtwy fire road. The fire road continues west about a mile and links to the Yerba Buena segment of the Backbone Trail.
The segment between Kanan Road and Yerba Buena Road includes the two remaining gaps in the Backbone Trail — the 0.1 mile Etz Meloy gap and the 0.4 mile Upper Trancas gap.
Here are a few additional photographs from the run:
 Etz Meloy Motorway |
 Chaparral Currant |
 Oak Grove |
After the Station Fire: Opportunistic Bumblebee
This bumblebee is doing its best to hold on and squeeze far enough into a Turricula blossom to slurp some nectar.
Other than rabbitbrush, there are not many food choices for bees in the Southern California mountains in the Fall, so they have to take advantage of what can be found.
Not much Turricula (Poodle-dog bush)* is blooming either, but it has been such a prolific fire-follower that here and there a plant is in flower.
*The taxonomic name for Turricula parryi (Poodle-dog bush) has changed to Eriodictyon parryi. The Jepson Manual: Vascular Plants of California, Second Edition (2012) has returned Turricula to the genus Eriodictyon, as originally described by Gray. According to the Wikipedia entry for Turricula (April 11, 2012), “… molecular phylogenetic analysis carried out by Ferguson (1998) confirms that Turricula should be treated as a separate genus within a clade (Ferguson does not use the term “subfamily”) that includes Eriodictyon, and also the genera Nama and Wigandia; Eriodictyon is the genus to which Turricula is closest in molecular terms, and is its sister taxon.” I use “Turricula” and “Poodle-dog bush” interchangeably as a common name.
From Sunday’s Ten Miles – Four Peaks run in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Grinnell’s Beardtongue
Grinnell’s beardtongue along the Pacifc Crest Trail, near Mt. Burnham, in the San Gabriel Mountains. This bulbous Penstemon can accommodate large pollinators such as bumblebees and carpenter bees.
From a run in July 2010.
Eye-Catching Escapees
The two most showy wildflowers we saw on our run in the Marin Headlands last weekend were montbretia (above) and belladonna lily. Both are escapees from cultivation that originated from the Cape of South Africa.
Montbretia (Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora) is a garden hybrid developed in France in 1879 from two South African species. In California it is most commonly found along the coast from Santa Cruz County, northward. Belladonna lily (Amaryllis belladonna) is widely cultivated and has been reported in numerous California counties, primarily along the coast.