I always forget that nature is the answer to most of my life's problems. This past Sunday I was really depressed-- like, crying at the end of yoga in corpse-pose, depressed. I kind of blame my yoga teacher, she was talking about her father who had passed away last year, and it was father's day... but it is also just the way my brain is. It likes sad things, it is constantly scanning my memories and current thoughts to find sad subjects to cling to. The important point I have to remember, though, is that my brain also LOVES flowers. I think I was a pollinator in a past life, and my soul has this intense attraction to brightly colored petal-landing pads, nectar guides, and sweet scents. The space in my head lights up with a crazy drug-like joy when I see a new species of flower... and luckily, we live in the California Floristic Province, one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. One interesting/difficult group of flowers to identify that I have noticed blooming lately are those in the Phacelia genus. Apparently there are about 200 species worldwide, 13 of which occur in the Santa Monica mountains. I saw three species on Sunday, the first probably the Large flower Phacelia (Phacelia grandiflora, above) at Rocky Oaks Park. The park is tiny but offers gorgeous views of nearby vineyards, and harbored a new -to- me species of wildflower: the purple, tubular Foothill Penstemon (Penstemon heterophyllus, pictured at left). After a quick jaunt around Rocky Oaks, we drove further down Kanan Dume Rd. and parked at the trail-head to the Backbone Trail. There were TONS of heart-leaved penstemon blooming (including a yellow morph), and the fantastic Scarlet larkspur (Delphinium cardinale-- the genus Delphinium is named after the flower's spur-shape, which looks like a dolphin's fin! so cool! Pictured right, and above). Also blooming: slender sunflowers, bush mallow, and other Phacelias (below). On the way home, we saw a field of Farwell-to-Spring flowers (Clarkia bottae). The stigma (the dark pink head of the style, where pollen grains are deposited), is kind of weird-looking, with a dark "x" etched into it. Upon some googling, it seems that this stigma hasn't opened yet, and will unfurl into four parts, as seen here. I love thinking about plant reproduction, because it can get so wild; stigmas are kind of like the plant versions of a woman's cervix-- they are the gateway for plant sperm (pollen) to germinate pollen tubes, and ultimately fertilize ovules. Stigmas can be picky, and help discriminate between pollen from the wrong plant species, or from genetically-similar pollen (which would promote inbreeding). These stigma behaviors are one of several traits called self-incompatibility mechanisms. Plants are awesome and crazy!
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I have to say, this is not my favorite place for a hike, given that it is so close to the far more interesting trails in Temescal. Having said that, if you aren't committed to a real work out, and don't mind the surreal sounds of a Polo game in the background, this is a good option. The main trail in the park is a loop, up to Inspiration Point. Somehow, my friends and I got lost and never made it to the Point, but that is probably because I was taking too many pictures of flowers, of which there were a surprising number! The most exciting was the Pink Mariposa Lily (Calochortus plummerae), which has dense yellow hairs in its inner petals, and takes my breath away every time I see it. We also saw a large lizard scamper away that may actually have been something other than the usual western fence lizard... I need to consult my herp friends for the ID, but there is a blurry pic below. We also noticed strange foamy drippings from several Eucalyptus trees at the end of the trail, the cause of which remains a mystery. Googling "foam buble Eucalyptus" gives you suggestions such as "slime flux", a bacterial disease of trees that sounds pretty gross and weird. But, they aren't native, so maybe its ok if they get the slime flux..? An interesting question. |
AuthorI like nature! And hiking, and taking pictures, especially of nature. Archives
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