Sister species everywhere!

Today, during the break in the rain, I got my wife to drop me and my daughter off at the back-side of Muir woods with a pick up scheduled at the main entrance while she ran some errands. My main target was Brackenridgia heroldi, my boogie woodlouse. Good news is I found it, bad news is... well I don't want to talk about it.. Was beautiful and moist with wonderful waterfalls and lots of Trichodezia californiata were flying everywhere.

A funny thing about the hike was I saw a lot of pairs of plant species (e.g. two different species in the same genus) which was kind of fun. For example, I found the rarer largeflower fairybells (Prosartes smithii) touching the more common drops-of-gold (Prosartes hookeri)

largeflower fairybells (Prosartes smithii)

drops-of-gold (Prosartes hookeri) with the exerted flower parts

I also saw a Buckbrush (Ceanothus cuneatus) touching blueblossom (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus).

Not touching one another, but I did see a patch of California barberry (Berberis pinnata) at the beginning of the hike up in the mountains and a
Cascade Oregon-grape (Berberis nervosa) near the end deep in the moist redwoods.

Likewise, I saw blooming False Solomon's Seal (Maianthemum racemosum) near the beginning of the hike and Star-flowered Lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum stellatum) near the end..

And lastly, Pacific trillium (Trillium ovatum) with their stalked flowers were everywhere, but at the end of the hike where it felt alot more coastal I saw one Giant Wakerobin (Trillium chloropetalum) with its sessile flowers.

Pacific trillium (Trillium ovatum) flowers are on a stalk

Giant Wakerobin (Trillium chloropetalum) with sessile flowers

Posted on March 07, 2016 03:50 AM by loarie