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.

 

Green-veined

 

Beach Knotweed (Polygonum paronychia), a native subshrub in the Bodega Dunes, in bloom on 24 March 2016

Pendulous

Here's a plant that I've been oohing and ahhing over since our walk in Marin County on Saturday.

 

I know, I know...I need to get my head out of the tidepools more often!  ;)  

This is Coast Silk Tassel (Garrya elliptica), an evergreen shrub that grows in coastal scrub and mixed evergreen forest habitats from southern Oregon to southern California.  It flowers from late winter to early spring.

Coast Silk Tassel is dioecious — male and female flowers are borne on different plants.

The photo above is a closeup of the male flowers.  Here's an expanded view of the entire "tassel":

 

Female flowers look quite different.  I'll do the same thing — show a closeup first, and then an expanded view:

 

 

 

While trying to learn about the structure of Coast Silk Tassel flowers, I came upon a very interesting description.  

Below is a closeup of the male flowers again.  Note that there are small globe-shaped flowers extending downward from fuzzy, purplish bracts.  The flowers have 4 linear segments that arch around and meet again at their tips.  This creates four "slits" or "windows" through which you can see the anthers (the parts that produce the pollen).

 

In his paper about the systematics and evolution of Garrya, Gerald Dahling suggests that the "chamber" created by the male flower parts could catch loose pollen and prevent it from falling to the ground...and then the wind could pick up the pollen in the chamber and carry it out through the slits.  (This would potentially be an adaptation to prevent pollen desiccation in arid environments.)  I don't know if anyone has ever tested this, but it was interesting to think about and it made me look at the male flowers in a whole new way!

Dahling, G.V.  1978.  Systematics and evolution of Garrya.  Contributions from the Gray Herbarium of Harvard University, No. 209, pp. 3-104.

One more look at these wonderful, cascading, pendulous, catkin-like inflorescences:

Scurfy

 

While looking at Beach Saltbush (Atriplex leucophylla) this afternoon, Peter noticed the striking red-and-white stems. You can barely see them against the sand in the photo above, but here's a close-up in the next image.

 

We realized we hadn't really paid much attention to the stems before.  When I got home, I wanted to see if the stems were mentioned in species descriptions.  Several accounts discuss how this shrub is scurfy (a botanical term for having a scaly covering or coating), but interestingly, the red coloration often doesn't come up.

Out of curiosity, I checked some older photos for the red color and to see if they were scurfy.  It was intriguing to see that the scurfiness varied.  At times it was quite dense and the stems were almost white (next image).

 

But other times there was almost no scurfiness and the stems were bright red (see below). 

 

I don't have a large sample size, but in general the least amount of scurfiness on the stems seemed to be present in the winter and early spring.  Do the reddest stems represent new growth?  Or are they stems that have been uncovered by sand recently?  Or is it related to something else?

If you're interested in looking at Beach Saltbush yourself, watch for it growing along the uppermost portion of local beaches.

P.S.  Scurfy.  It's a strange word, isn't it?  Because this plant is so scurfy, or scaly, another common name for it, according to Calflora, is Sea Scale.

Golden

Two flowers that are noticeable as you walk through the dunes in late summer and early fall:

California Goldenrod (Solidago velutina).  Having struggled at times with identifying the many species of goldenrods in New England, I was surprised to find that there is only one species of goldenrod on Bodega Head.  The Jepson Manual describes the inflorescence, or flower head, as wand-shaped.  The species name, velutina, refers to the velvety leaves.  There are 12 species of goldenrods in California.

 

California Goldenbush or Mock Heather (Ericameria ericoides).  This is an attractive native sub-shrub (low to the ground) that reaches its northern limit at Bodega Head.  It's endemic to California.  [Another New England connection: In general form and appearance, this species reminds me of Hudsonia ericoides on Cape Cod, sometimes known as False Heather or Golden Heather.  The species name, ericoides, means "heather-like."]

 

Above, Melanie Daniels (a.k.a. Tippi Hedren — who's coming to The Tides in Bodega Bay this weekend!) shows off the goldenbush flowers.  If you haven't yet seen this doll, it's an authentic barbie doll released in 2008 to celebrate the 35th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock's, The Birds.  Much of the movie was filmed on Bodega Head, in Bodega Bay, and in Bodega.