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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Warning: this hike inspires cliches. Getting to the trailhead requires driving to the end of Corral Canyon Rd, off the PCH in Malibu. This drive might be worth the trip alone, with its exhilarating hairpin turns (cliche 1). But the trails awaiting you at the end of the road are definitely not to be missed. These include a truly awesome ridge hike connecting you to the Backbone trail, and forays into the mountains and riparian areas around the trail-head. The views and sandstone outcroppings are phenomenal (cliche 2). May is a lovely time to go, since the yucca are blooming and so many insects are out pollinating flowers and filling the air with a symphony of sounds (cliche 3). Besides the yucca, California buckwheat was also in full bloom, and the black sage was just starting. Pt. Mugu State Park is in Ventura County, just up the way from Pt. Dume in Malibu, and has amazing hikes. I have been there maybe 5 times, and always get lost, because I basically have no sense of direction. My hungover friend who came with me was a little annoyed we ended up on a meandering 5 hour hike, but I had a great time taking pictures of new flowers (see below). The Coreopsis weren't quite in bloom here yet, despite going off on Pt. Dume, but the California lilac (Ceanothus spp.) were going nuts with flowers, which I had never seen before. Another bonus was a western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis) my herpetologist friend caught with her bare hands (which was so impressive!). The males have blue stripes on their bellies, and these lizards also have a protein in their blood that neutralizes the bacterium that causes Lyme disease in the gut of ticks that carry the bacterium around, which is just about the coolest thing I have ever heard of a lizard doing. This winter, I have taken a renewed interest in getting out and hiking and trying to learn about the plants in the area. This is partly driven by my procrastinating on my thesis, and partly driven by wanting to get in better shape. But mostly, I just miss seeing flowers! And one of my favorites is a late winter bloomer: the Giant Coreopsis!! So in February I made several forays to the Malibu coast to try and catch this weird, beautiful plant that flowers in a showy synchronized blanket of yellow. The trunk kind of looks like a Joshua tree, while the top is an explosion of yellow daisies out of a neck of slender arugula leaves. I have always wondered who the pollinators are (all that gorgeous flowering display has to be for someone, right?), but I have never seen anyone visiting the flowers except tiny flies. It remains a mystery. Point Dume is a great place to see this plant, as well as lots of cool marine life. That day we spotted a multitude of barking sea lions off the coast, brown pelicans with young on the cliffs, and tons of fun invertebrates in the tide pools below. These included gooseneck barnacles, purple and orange sea stars having a crazy orgy, a chestnut cowrie, and a sea hare (which is a large sea slug that is used in neurobiology studies and is super alien and awesome looking)! Afterward, I heard from a marine biology friend that the area is a Marine Protected Area, which may explain why there was so much cool stuff to see. |
AuthorI like nature! And hiking, and taking pictures, especially of nature. Archives
September 2014
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