ID this plant! Brushy evergreeny looking shrub things growing roadside up Mount Tam. Anyone know what it is? Another new Cali plant for me.
botany
Summersun finally brought my star jasmine to life. Thanks sister Sally for the long awaited birth of my Christmas gift!
Orange blossom, my new favorite flower. Best fragrance of any flower except wild Maine beach roses
Super cool mystery succulent of the day. What is it?
First summer bramble-roses found next to sidewalk – more fragrant than anything you’d find at the flowershop
Another botanical mystery atop Buena Vista Park – what the heck is this bush/shrub/tree? It had odd figlike/oak leaf shaped leaves and strange fruits all over it, in addition to some pretty nasty spikes!
Miner’s Lettuce – once I read about it, it was hard not to miss it on my walk! Bright green cups with tiny white flowers nestled inside – almost looks like a candidate for one of those Victorian era fairy illustrations, doesn’t it? I didn’t eat it.
Can you help me I.D. this fragrantly blooming SF sidewalk tree? It smells so lovely and floral, like jasmine, with shiny green leaves and tiny white blooms. It’s growing up and down Golden Gate Avenue. I don’t know what it is, do you?
Tennessee Valley Trail – newts, birds, thistles, and waves.
Went for a wander on the Tennessee Valley Trail in Marin County yesterday. There was sooo much to see and hear! It was uniquely wonderful being away from the constant onslaught of background noise in the city. I could actually hear the waves crashing in the distance more than a mile away from the shore … in addition, meadowlarks, hawks, ravens, insects, wind in the grasses and just the silence. I saw many unique plants including springtime’s burgeoning pussywillows along the stream, splashy striped milk-thistles, and waving marsh-grasses.
Milk thistle beside the path – the white stripes really do look like drizzles of milk on the glossy green leaves.
We also saw many animals – a long legged heron of some sort standing upwards of the path, his feathers ruffling in the wind (probably just got done fishing in the freshwater pond), odd grape-clustered barnacles clinging to rocks by the roiling waves, tiny brown limpets crammed into all the cracks in the rocky face of the cliff, little brown thrushes or sparrows flitting amongst the pussywillows, and finally at the end of the trail, a cute tiny little lizard in brick red with lime green eyes. It turns out, when I got home, that it might be identified as a Rough Skinned Newt (juvenile phase), although I’m not sure if they have green eyes. It looks about the same though, and was crawling along the path nearby the stream where it might have originated. Of course, I picked it up and put it off the path so no runners would stomp on it, and realized after getting home and looking it up that it’s a toxic little beastie (tetrodotoxin to be precise). Oops. I suppose I’m used to living in Maine where nothing out there is really poisonous/venomous/dangerous. I will have to read up quite soon on California flora/fauna. What is a good resource or book I can get from the library?
Found some Miner’s Lettuce in Buena Vista Park!
After learning what it was earlier this week, I was thrilled to see big patches of Miner’s lettuce growing all over Buena Vista park. It was lush and juicy and green and I was surprised to see how many pretty little white flowers were in the cups of the leaves. Quite neat to learn a new plant then be able to identify out for a walk! Much more interesting than seeing an undifferentiated hillside of green. I didn’t eat it though. Lots of people walking their dogs nearby …