Ring around the daisy

 

A small bee making its way around the ray flowers of a Seaside Daisy (Erigeron glaucus). 

Here's a close-up so you can enjoy the metallic green color of the bee,with white hairs on its abdomen, and pollen covering its legs and face.  Busy, busy!

 

May the Fourth

 

Close-up of LAYIA platyglossa, otherwise known as Tidy Tips.

We thought this might be a good choice for Star Wars Day.

(Get it?  Layia is fairly close to Leia, isn't it?)

May the Fourth Be with You.

P.S.  The gold color isn't a bad choice for the Boston Bruins, either.  Yeah, B's!

Yellow carpet

 

Here's another photo from our hike at Point Reyes on 29 March 2019.  I think the dominant yellow flower here is Point Reyes Blennosperma (Blennosperma nanum var. robustum).  When researching this species, I learned a fun fact: Blennosperma disk flowers exude a sticky fluid that contains the pollen.  

I wish I had known that before we encountered Blennosperma on our hike because I would have spent more time trying to get a better close-up photograph.  But here's one image where I zoomed in — I think you can see some of the large white stamens (they look like white "dots" scattered among the disk flowers in the center) that will produce the pollen:

P.S.  "Blennosperma" might seem like an odd name, but it means "slimy seed" and apparently refers to a characteristic of this species — the seeds become slimy when wet (according to the Jepson eFlora).

Late summer flowers

 

California Goldenbush (Ericameria ericoides) in yellow, and female Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis) flowers in white.  Photographed in the Bodega Dunes on 25 August 2017.

 

Catching some z's in the Hemizonia?

 

An interesting moth in a Hemizonia flower.  The dewdrops on the wing made me wonder if the moth had spent the night in this flower?

Unfortunately, I'm not sure which species of moth this is, but I'll be working on the identification.  If you're familiar with this species, let me know!

Photographed in Marin County on 22 May 2017.

Mules and horses

 

Narrow-leaved Mule's-ears (Wyethia angustifolia)

A very fuzzy bee was also very interested in the flowers: 

 

Here are the long, slender leaves that give this wildflower part of its name.  The leaves can be up to 20 inches long.  (Hmmm...how long are a mule's ears?)

 

And here's a close-up of the leaf patterning:

 

The genus, Wyethia, is named after Nathaniel Wyeth, an inventor (of a horse-drawn ice cutter) and expedition leader.  (Wyeth has connections to Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA!).  In the early 1800s, he traveled across the country with Thomas Nuttall (of Nuttall's Woodpecker) and John Kirk Townsend (of Townsend's Warbler).

Seasonal display

 

Happy Fourth of July!

It seemed like sharing the seed head of the local Beach Dandelion (Agoseris apargioides var. eastwoodiae) would be a fun way to help celebrate.  Does it remind you of fireworks or sparklers?

 

 

If you're curious, this is what Agoseris looks like in flower (below).  Note the broad, fuzzy leaves.  You can find Beach Dandelions along Bodega Head's coastal bluffs.

 

Name that flower

 

This is Microseris bigelovii, a nice annual wildflower that grows along the coast.  The Jepson Manual doesn't list a common name for it.  When I realized that, I thought it deserved a common name, so I started playing around with ideas.

Below I'll tell you the name I came up with, and here's a hint: I'm not sure you can tell from this picture, but it has a very pretty orange hue.  Do you want to try to come up with a common name?

So I've decided to call this flower Bigelow's Tangerine.  It has a certain ring to it, doesn't it?  And it describes the petal color and refers to the person for whom it was named.

Later I learned that Microseris bigelovii is sometimes called Coastal Silverpuffs, in reference to the rounded head of seeds (similar to a dandelion).  But I think I'll keep calling it Bigelow's Tangerine.  I can't help it...it sounds exotic, and it's fun to say!

Let me know if you came up with other ideas!

P.S.  This flower was named after Dr. John Milton Bigelow — a professor of botany at Detroit Medical College who participated in the Pacific Railroad Survey of 1853-1854 and several other collecting trips in California.