Asteraceae
Not much was in bloom, just a couple small patches of white flowers: milkmaids, miner's lettuce, and this. On first glance I thought it was cowparsnip (Heracleum maximum), but the flowers didn't look quite right to me and there weren't any leaves. After I got home, I flipped through my Wildflowers of Garland Ranch by Michael Mitchell and Rod M. Yeager, my personal favorite local flower guide. I double-checked online (see embedded links in the ID above). Michael and Rod also do an impressive online MontereyWildflowers site that I tend to forget exists. It looks like they've made a lot of improvements in the past few years.
5 comments:
Any chance you can convince Mitchell and Yeager to do a wildflower phone app? I use their Garland Ranch wildflower book even up here in the San Francisco Bay area - it's small enough to fit in my pack, not too heavy, has great photos and descriptions of the most common flowers and well organized. Except the binding is falling apart.
Oh, cool, I'm glad I have good tastes in field guides. I'll suggest it to them the next time I see them. I can't remember if they ended up hiring a web designer, because Rod's original site (http://www.rodyeager.com/Wildflowers/Welcome.html) was about as good as I could do on my own. You like apps, huh? I don't have a smart phone; it's not worth it down here where cell reception is extremely spotty.
I was surprised we didn't see any Petasites in bloom on our hike in Stevens Creek. I saw the big maple-like leaves, but no flowers. It often blooms quite early.
I have a problem with white flowers - so many look the same as each other. Come to think of it, there are a whole host of yellow ones I can't tell apart too!
For several years I've been following a tree - observing it through the seasons. I see from the list on Tree Year that you did the same in 2011. I'm wondering if you would like to link up with others who are tree following now?
We're gearing up for a proper start at the beginning of March. If you are interested, there's information on my blog Loose and Leafy.
http://looseandleafy.blogspot.co.uk/p/what-is-tree-following-and-list-of-tree.html
I'm experimenting with using a Linky box. Currently, there's one with each new post for people who will be tree following. The plan soon will be to have one linky box a month so people will easily be able to read each other's tree following posts.
I do hope you will join us.
Lucy Corrander
Hey, Ken. You seem really good at recognizing early leaves. Me? I'm still drawn to the glowy and showy.
Lucy, I'll check it out. I already have a tree in mind, a coast live oak out my back door that I believe a hummingbird or two are currently making nests in. I've set out cotton for them, and they've been regularly taking little bits over the past few days. Thanks for the heads up.
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