Sunday, November 17, 2013

vinegar weed ~ 11/17/13 ~ Garland Ranch


Given how late in the year it is and how dry it's been, I really wasn't expecting to find any flowers blooming at Garland Ranch.  Quelle surprise!  I spotted two short vinegar weed plants in their lovely purple glory on a small sunny slope, a location which usually sprouts shootingstars and Johnny jump ups in the early spring.  These were softly fuzzy (i.e., non-irritating) and left a heavy scent on my fingers for hours.  I associate the smell to a mixture of turpentine and pitcher sage.  I kinda liked it.  It didn't remind me of vinegar at all.  The structure of the flowers fascinates me with its curve way back and then up and around.  I'd love to see how the mechanism works on pollinators.

5 comments:

Jennifer said...

It looks like something a hummingbird would love

John W. Wall said...

I loved woolly bluecurls when I first found it near Santa Barbara. I haven't seen it in years now, and I'm not even sure it gets this far north.

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Good question, John. Calflora lists herbaria records from San Mateo and Alamdea Counties. There's also Dean Taylor sighting at Mount Madonna in Santa Clara County: http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=8031. I've only seen the woolly ones at Pinnacles. They're fun.

Jeannette said...

That looks like a fun find. It rained here last night...maybe it is visiting you now? Everything needed the drink!

Katie (Nature ID) said...

Jeannette, I was in Berkeley and SF all day yesterday where it started raining just before noon. Pretty much the rain followed me home, because Andy said it hadn't been raining until I walked in the door. It's was so pretty today with all the wet. I hope it continues through the night.