chewing the scenery

I may have mentioned this, but LORDY I love coastal sage scrub.
And I just returned from visiting it, mostly at Tijuana Estuary in San Diego.

(on a freaky aside, in the Wiki entry/CSS-link above,
the CSS photo was taken where I did my thesis research!)

This is a CSS glamor shot I took at Cabrillo NM, San Diego.

Here are some of the lovelies I saw.

LOTS of stuff blooming right now.

A very sexy grouping of some CSS species
put together at the Tijuana Estuary visitor center (VC).

So many of my little friends. =)

• The thing in the middle is Shaw's agave (Agave shawii; per Calflora it's on the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants on list  2.1 = rare, threatened, or endangered in CA; common elsewhere)

• center bottom is barrel cactus (Ferocactus viridescens; per Calflora, it's also 2.1, rare, threatened, or endangered in CA; common elsewhere)

• lower left is white sage (Salvia apiana; only found slightly beyond CA borders)

• lower right is "fingertips" per Calflora, I know it as lady finger dudleya, but the name that 1st comes to mind we both agree upon, Dudleya edulis. Only found slightly beyond CA borders

• the yellow and orange flowers on the right edge are deer weed (woah, apparently now called Acmispon glaber, I knew it as Lotus scoparius), this plant is an ally when you're trying to rehab CSS 'cause it fixes nitrogen, so feeds the soil

• the small, rounded cacti at its feet is fishhook cactus, Mammillaria dioica

• the big wacky hairdo at the top is Yucca whipplei, a.k.a. our Lord's candle, or chaparral yucca

I love Shaw's agave.

This is a huge one near the VC.

Gorgeous, rare plant.

Drool.

This is bush mallow (Malacothamnus fasciculatus)--SO glamorous!

A shrub that can tower over you. STUNNING.

Blooming coastal cholla (Opuntia prolifera).
In my brain it's still "jumping cholla,"
aptly describing how it hops onto your socks,
pants, shoes, etc. =)

A very important, basic component of CSS:
California buckwheat (Eriogonum fasciculatum):

The below moth requires buckwheat to survive.
It's Hemileuca electra (electra buckmoth).
Again, STUNNING!!
Gave me a HEART attack when I saw it fluttering
at the edge of a huge canyon at Joshua Tree NP.

That red will singe your brain.

Back at the TJ estuary, looking south toward Mexico (buildings/hills).
In the white flat space between,
there's a serious seabird rave out there, esp. terns.
Wingless bipeds need not apply.

It's so San Diego.

Amazing natural resources,
w/ GIGANTIC military helicopters buzzing overhead,
amid a HUGE urban jungle,
and if you trip and fall, you might land in Mexico.

=)

It's never dull.

xobb