Friday, April 8, 2011

fringepod ~ 04/08/11 ~ Garland Ranch

best guess hairy fringepod or narrowleaf fringepod
best guess Thysanocarpus curvipes or T. laciniatus
Brassicaceae

The seed pods are quite stylish; they remind me of the 70's fashionable wallpaper that has now cycled around to be hip again. If I had to take a guess between the two species found at Garland Ranch, this would be the hairy fringepod (T. curvipes), mainly because these were found on the sandy floodplain of the Carmel River and not up on the hilly and rocky slopes. Even after looking up the keys in Jepson (its regular usage of "±" wacks me out as it's not informative at all), I still have no idea about the difference. I am uncomfortable making a positive ID.

Such as it is, I've never looked at fringepods this closely. In a similar train of thought to my past comment about how Monet and other Impressionist painters must have been myopic, I'm starting to really appreciate macro photography (not mine, but others, which show better). Eh, my new eye doc says I need "reading" glasses simply because I'm getting older. I don't have an issue wearing glasses as I've needed them to see distance ever since the 6th grade when Mrs. Harris went out of her way to notice and comment to my folks that I could not see the Five-A-Day math quiz on the chalkboard. However, I'm wondering about the quality of the new eye doc's corrective examination as I can read clearer without contacts, or glass at all, and through my old glasses from 6 years ago, all compared with this new prescription. Erga.

4 comments:

TexWisGirl said...

those are really neat! would make an interesting addition to a dried weed display.

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

I am impressed with the great pains you must go though to ID these plants. I know what it is like just for me to look up a bird in a guide book. If you think having your eye sight going south is bad, wait till you can't remember what it was you ID'd just the other day. I really like this flower.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

twg, they would, huh? They're very delicate.

Thanks, JL. Sometimes I pull my hair out doing this blog, but I've learned so much. And, I do tend to forget stuff, but luckily I have records here.

Jennifer said...

I love that.....Never seen anything like it. It has an ethereal quality to it.