I was a little disappointed to see this weed at Pinnacles, a place I consider relatively pristine. To my knowledge, Pinnacles has never been farmed or used for any other purpose than pure enjoyment. I wonder how much hikers inadvertently bring in weedy seeds or spores on their shoes, clothing, and camping gear.
At the research reserve in Elkhorn Slough, they require every visitor to step into bleach water with hopes to keep out Sudden Oak Death (SOD). I don't mind at all. Hehe, this reminds me of the time our camping gear was held for several days at the Auckland airport upon arrival in New Zealand. Andy didn't have a lick of spare clothing, and we were in Tairua by the time an airport shuttle finally delivered his backpack. It wasn't all bad; he got a now-favorite holiday shirt from a second-hand store along with some swim trunks, and we stayed in a lovely cabin since we couldn't camp.
ps 09/13/14 - It's been interesting reading through my older posts. I have to say, now that I know the lovely great copper butterfly uses dock as a host plant, I very much like seeing this very distinctive reddish plant around. I'm amazed at how I was getting caught up in the biological xenophobia that's been going around. I don't want to be in the mind frame that it's okay to kill things and be super distructo simply because, today, I deem it somehow to be bad. Tomorrow, I may change my mind and deem it be good (as shown here), but then it's too late. And, also during a recent visit to the Park, I talked with a couple historical researchers who told me that a part of the property was once a copper mine claim. They'll have that information available in the next year on the website. Cool. Also, I'm trying to make it a habit to clean my hiking shoes and gear before I leave a place, so that I can minimize anything I might potentially spread at my next hiking destination.
At the research reserve in Elkhorn Slough, they require every visitor to step into bleach water with hopes to keep out Sudden Oak Death (SOD). I don't mind at all. Hehe, this reminds me of the time our camping gear was held for several days at the Auckland airport upon arrival in New Zealand. Andy didn't have a lick of spare clothing, and we were in Tairua by the time an airport shuttle finally delivered his backpack. It wasn't all bad; he got a now-favorite holiday shirt from a second-hand store along with some swim trunks, and we stayed in a lovely cabin since we couldn't camp.
ps 09/13/14 - It's been interesting reading through my older posts. I have to say, now that I know the lovely great copper butterfly uses dock as a host plant, I very much like seeing this very distinctive reddish plant around. I'm amazed at how I was getting caught up in the biological xenophobia that's been going around. I don't want to be in the mind frame that it's okay to kill things and be super distructo simply because, today, I deem it somehow to be bad. Tomorrow, I may change my mind and deem it be good (as shown here), but then it's too late. And, also during a recent visit to the Park, I talked with a couple historical researchers who told me that a part of the property was once a copper mine claim. They'll have that information available in the next year on the website. Cool. Also, I'm trying to make it a habit to clean my hiking shoes and gear before I leave a place, so that I can minimize anything I might potentially spread at my next hiking destination.
3 comments:
Curly dock moves around really well. The seeds stick to deer, coyotes and cattle, and also drift on water. So, once it gets into a drainage, the animal traffic and water washes will quickly spread it. And, being a very hardy perennial, if it gets established, it's not going away until someone digs up the tubers.
That second shot is really cool. The picture looks like an abstract painting when viewed as a whole. I love it!
Ken, that's a good point about the animals and water. I accidentally brushed up against one and ended up with a pocket full of seeds. I didn't find the seeds to be particularly sticky, though, like burs.
Thanks, Jennifer, they are pretty in their own way.
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