Enjoying the Gilia

 

 Blue Coast Gilia (Gilia capitata subsp. chamissonis) 

A native annual that grows in older, stabilized dunes.  Here's a close-up. 

 

Check out the exserted stamens (protruding beyond the petals).  A stamen is a male reproductive part, consisting of an anther (the part that produces the pollen) and a filament (the stalk that supports the anther).  In the photo above, the anthers are the light blue football-shaped structures and the filaments are the slender purple stalks below them.

The spherical heads of Blue Coast Gilia are made up of 25-100 flowers.  Before they start blooming, the buds look a bit like a fuzzy blackberry.

 

 

I wasn't the only one enjoying the Gilia today!