Spring on the rocks

  

Quick shot of one of my favorite spring wildflowers on Bodega Head -- Coast Rockcress (Arabis blepharophylla).  Photographed on 11 March 2025.

May luck be your friend

  

A couple of photos to help celebrate St. Patrick's Day!  

Above, a Sierran Treefrog (Pseudacris sierra) framed by Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana) leaves.  

Below, Coast Rockcress (Arabis blepharophylla) and clover (Trifolium sp.) leaves:

 

 
With many thanks to Eric for the great photos!

Which one?

 

We saw a wonderful patch of wallflowers (Erysimum sp.) at Point Reyes last week (29 March 2019).  I'm hoping someone might be able to assist with the identification.

These plants were growing along coastal bluffs in very sandy soil.  Many of the surrounding plants were species I associate with older dune communities.

 

Is this Coast Wallflower (Erysimum concinnum)?  I've noticed this species is also known as Bluff Wallflower and Headland Wallflower.  The other possibility would be San Francisco Wallflower (Erysimum franciscanum), but I don't think I looked at enough characteristics in the field to be able to identify which species this is.  

If you can help, I'd love any feedback!

 

P.S.  I think "concinnum" might mean "elegant" or "pleasing."  Either would be appropriate for this beautiful spring wildflower!

4 x 4

 

Western Bittercress (Cardamine oligosperma), 28 February 2019.  (This is one of the first species to flower on Bodega Head.)

First of spring

Today we saw the first Coast Rockcress (Arabis blepharophylla) flowers of the spring.  This species grows near rock outcrops in grassland areas on Bodega Head.

 

 

These pictures are for Michelle, who is heading south to Marin County, but will always inspire us to look more closely at wildflowers and grasses wherever we are.  

Remembering walks with Michelle will also remind me to always have fun during natural history adventures — who else would agree to lie down next to a badger burrow and diggings to provide a sense of scale? 

 

(Michelle is ~5'3" tall, so perhaps that gives you a feeling for how much soil was dug up by the badger!)

P.S.  To learn more about the Coast Rockcress in the pictures above, review the post from 28 March 2012.

From snow to petals

We returned to California today and took a short stroll in our backyard in Sebastopol late this afternoon.  It looks like it might have been warm and sunny while we were away.  There were a few nice patches of wildflowers under the redwoods.

 

Redwood Violet (or Evergreen Violet), Viola sempervirens 

 

Milk Maids (or Toothwort), Cardamine californica 

For the record, there have been a few observations of Milk Maids on Bodega Head, but no violets that I know of.

 

It felt a little strange to leave the New England snow this morning and to be admiring wildflower petals this afternoon!