I would not have guessed these alien-looking thistle plants along the XTERRA race course in Black Mountain Regional Park are a wild form of the cultivated globe artichoke.
In its description of the artichoke thistle, the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC) notes the Mediterranean plant was found by Charles Darwin in South America in 1833. It had already escaped cultivation and spread over “several hundred square miles” of the Argentine pampas. Surveys in California from 1860 to 1864 also reported the artichoke as having escaped cultivation. The plant was reported in a pasture in San Diego County as early as 1897.
Another surprise was that the pretty yellow and white flowers along some sections of the course appear to be another Mediterranean plant known as crown daisy or chop-suey greens (Glebionis coronaria). If so, the plant is reportedly used as an ingredient in a number of Asian recipes.
Note: Great care is required when identifying and using wild food plants. Even if the plant is positively identified there can be contamination from herbicides and pesticides, and other potential problems. There may also be conservation concerns, especially if the plant is uncommon, rare or endangered. For example see Safety Guidelines For Edible Wild Food Plants and Foraging Guidelines.
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.
Rabbitbrush is blooming in profusion on the summit plateau of Mt. Pinos at the moment. It seems the entire plateau is abuzz with resonating wingbeats of various insects, such as this bumble bee.
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.
