Peeping at posies w/CNPS Power Plant People

Fiddleneck flower faces. Genus = Amsinckia.

Per Jepson, Amsinckia "Seeds and herbage TOXIC to livestock (especially cattle)

from alkaloids and high nitrate concentrations. Sharp plant hairs irritate human skin."

Translation: Look, but don't touch. Or eat. Pretty please.

CAVEAT: these few shots are from yesterday's lovely hike with

California Native Plant Society and their noble members,

and all plant names are approximate:

I have stuff to do today, didn't take notes yesterday,

and am not a botanical wizard so would have to key stuff out.

No time, but, much love. =)

Freshly popped harvest brodiaea, Brodiaea elegans, subspecies elegans.

It was a lovely day for hiking west along the Merced River

to its confluence with the North Fork of the Merced.

Frequently I'd ask some CNPS smarty what something was,

and the person reply by naming the species-end of the latin binomial.

As in look at my face and say "elegans."

And I'd look at their face and say nothing.

Then I'd swallow my pride, and ask "So, uh... what's the genus?"

The first step in learning is declaring ignorance. =)

Caterpillar phacelia (Phacelia cicutaria) mit bee (dig that fancy wing cut!)

Redbud, Cercis occidentalis. That flower looks like a pair of shoes, to me.

And last, but not least, lichen posing as California poppy:

xobb