Michael's piperia ~ 08/11/10 ~ Toro Park

Michael's rein orchid
Piperia michaelii

CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

I'm feeling very repetitive these days, but I want to have a blog record of timing and location of orchids for next year. Now that Andy has been interested in looking for orchids, he seems to be seeing them on all his trail runs. It's a good thing.

ps 08/21/10 - Michael's piperia has a stout stem and seems to be found right along the trail sides in disturbed areas. Today, a friend and I saw the tail end of blooms at Fort Ord - Creekside, which is located just across Hwy 68 from Toro County Park. She didn't quite believe me it was an orchid until I pointed out the 3 remaining blooms on the tip.

coyote mint
Monardella villosa
Lamiaceae

This flower reminded me of wild bergamot, aka bee balm (Monarda fistulosa), but apparently it's found almost everywhere in North America, except places like CA, FL, and AK. I certainly could have used some bergamot tea for my ails the past few weeks. Again, this is an Andy photo as I wasn't out with him this day. Additionally, I myself have never hiked at Toro Park, so this is a new local location for this blog.