CA manroot ~ 02/21/14 ~ Hatton Canyon

California manroot / wild cucumber

Marah fabacea (aka M. fabaceus)

Cucurbitaceae

My friend thought this was the dreaded cape ivy (Delairea odorata), because of the shape of the leaves and the viney way it was growing.  It does look similar.  However, I was pretty sure it was wild cucumber, but realized I never really paid close attention to either plant before.  If I hadn't found the prickly fruit, I might have been convinced otherwise.  Really, what do I know?  I'm continually learning.  There are 5 spp. of Marah found in CA, and the relatively flat corolla (rotate vs. cup-shaped) tells me this is M. fabacea.  Btw, cape ivy has yellow flowers and shiny leaves. 

pink honeysuckle ~ 10/01/11 ~ Garland Ranch

pink honeysuckle / California honeysuckle / hairy honeysuckle
Lonicera hispidula
Caprifoliaceae

I'm starting to document plants through the seasons (like I have with poison-oak) and not just when they're pretty flowers. To see the pink blooms and the fruit before it turned bright red, check out my pink honeysuckle post from 07/14/11 at Garland Ranch.

I admit I wasn't out this day. I had a flu shot the day before and was feeling a bit wiggy. My doctor wisely decided he didn't want me to have a repeat performance with another hospital stay this year. So, the crappy photos for this day are thanks to Andy. He was on a long trail-run from the main Carmel River entrance all the way past Garzas Creek to Carmel Valley Village and back. It's perhaps 14 miles round trip with a 4,000 foot elevation change (his Garmin wasn't working so this is an estimate). Obviously his heart gets pumping and it's extremely difficult for him to get clear photos with our little point-and-shoot. He knows I like to have close-up shots, shots a few feet back, and scenery shots. Thank you, Andy! For a blogger who regularly takes amazing photos while he runs trails, check out Gary Valle's Photography on the Run.

dodder and pickleweed ~ 07/22/11 ~ Elkhorn Slough

salt marsh dodder on pickleweed

The orange stringy stuff is dodder, and the cactus-looking plant is pickleweed. When I first saw dodder at Elkhorn Slough, I thought someone's brightly-colored, tangled, plastic fishing line had washed in from the last high tide. It took seeing dodder at Pinnacles, too far away from any fishing, for me to figure out it is a plant, parasitic and alive.

blooming salt marsh dodder
Cuscuta salina 
Convolvulaceae (formerly Cuscutaceae)

So, imagine my further surprise to find dodder blooming... not just tiny little blooms, but relatively good-sized white blooms, way bigger than the thin orange stems supporting them. As of 1998, it has been moved to the morning glory family. Wild.

blooming pickleweed
Salicornia virginica (aka Salicornia depressa, Sarcocornia pacifica)
Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae)

When I first saw the dodder blooms, I thought it was the pickleweed blooming. Nope. Pickleweed has barely noticeable white blooms as shown above, which apparently has allergenic pollen. It, too, has been moved to a new family.

ps 10/07/11 - I wished I had linked to the reference of where I read the pollen was allergenic. I do remember a volunteer-looking fellow had stopped as I was taking these pictures to point out the tiny flowers on the pickleweed. We had a brief quip about how that was unexpected considering the more showy dodder blooms. In any case, the main reason for this postscript is that Wanderin' Weeta states the white stuff on the pickleweed are actually salt crystals, not flowers. I haven't been able to find any information about this. Do you know?

field bindweed ~ 07/22/11 ~ Elkhorn Slough

field bindweed / orchard morning glory
Convolvulus arvensis
Convolvulaceae

Seriously, after this post, I think I'm going to stay away from even attempting to identify bindweeds/morning glories. Between Calystegia, Convolvulus, Ipomoea, and Polygonum/Fallopia convolvulus (black bindweed) there are at least 51 sp./ssp./var. in CA with multiple name changes. Of those there are only a handful distinctive enough for non-experts like me to ID on the spot. Based on Wikipedia, I'm guessing this is the narrow leaved Convolvulus arvensis var. linearifolius. As a comparison, see what I think is the broader leaved variety from Hopkins.

pink honeysuckle ~ 07/14/11 ~ Garland Ranch

pink honeysuckle / California honeysuckle / hairy honeysuckle

Lonicera hispidula
Caprifoliaceae

I love that after more than 2 years of doing Nature ID, I'm still finding plants new to me. Notice the leaves are hairy? They may not always be. Apparently, the name hairy honeysuckle refers to the hairy flowers and should not be confused with the state endangered Lonicera hirsuta found in northeastern North America. For a nice blog post on propagation of L. hispidula, check out Town Mouse and Country Mouse.

field bindweed ~ 07/14/11 ~ Hopkins

field bindweed / orchard morning glory
Convolvulus arvensis
Convolvulaceae

This is my best guess and I could be totally wrong as to the ID. It is a low-growing plant with fuzzy leaves and stem. The bloom was smaller than other morning glories I've seen, but that could be due to the growing conditions right next to the Monterey Bay. The other hairy morning glory that grows in this area is the stemless morning glory (Calystegia subacaulis), but that's generally a white or cream flower. I have a feeling once I get better acquainted with morning glories, I'll be revisiting this ID.

ps 08/20/11 - Yep. I think I got this wrong. I discovered my mistake from looking up another morning glory/bindweed from Elkhorn Slough. I initially posted this as a native coast morning glory (Calystegia macrostegia ssp. cyclostegia). I tried to convince myself that despite photos not quite matching, that Jepson's description could apply. I've made the ID correction above for this invasive plant from Europe and Asia. If Wikipedia is to be believed this is the broader leaved Convolvulus arvensis var. arvensis. Seriously, how does one tell the difference between Calystegia and Convovulus?

purple western morning glory ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

purple western morning glory / Pacific false bindweed
Calystegia purpurata ssp. purpurata
Convolvulaceae

I've avoided adding morning glories to Nature ID, because I assumed they were non-native and would be difficult to identify. Not entirely so. In fact, most of the 37 sp./ssp. of Calystegia found in CA are native, but they are difficult to ID. I admit to holding unfavorable prejudice towards non-natives. I don't like this attitude of mine, particularly in light of the fact I'm not exactly native to CA, or the USA for that matter. Interesting... and why is it that I prize rare, threatened, or endangered native plants? It's not like I hang out with plant people or any serious biology/ecology folks. I do know I've picked up this attitude regarding plants since I started blogging. Hmm? Anyone care to put in their two cents about plant prejudices?

ps 07/12/11 - As I was looking up additional plants from the Pinnacles area, I noticed there is also non-native field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) that looks very similar.

pss 08/04/11 - This morning I found this post from The Biology Refugia talking about biological xenophobia. Interesting.

happy wanderer ~ 02/05/10 ~ Cannery Row

happy wanderer
Hardenbergia sp.
Fabaceae

This picture looks similar to the one I posted January 31, 2009, but the scale is very different. This particular one, next to an antiques mall about 20 yards from the rec trail in Cannery Row, was massive - at least 10 feet tall and stretched the whole length of the parking lot! I'm actually thinking this might be H. comptoniana due to what appears to be multi-foliolate leaves, but there are many cultivars of H. violacea. The next time I walk by, I'll take a closer look at the leaves. It's a native of Australia.

salt marsh dodder on pickleweed
Cuscuta salina on Salicornia virginica
Convolvulaceae (formerly Cuscutaceae) and Amaranthaceae (formerly Chenopodiaceae)

I first posted dodder from my Pinnacles hike on April 16, 2009. I found it interesting that this dodder was on pickleweed, considering I would assume there's high salt content. I don't know enough about how the salt is stored in pickleweed or how the dodder obtains it nutrients from plants to explain this.

ps 05/09/10 - By happenstance, I came across this Elkhorn Slough Research site and was able to confirm IDs of both plants to species. A better summary of the research is here. Interesting to note Wikipedia says recent research has placed dodder in the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae), but I'll stick with Calflora until they make a correction. Plus, pickleweed is now being placed in the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae). And, no, the Katie in the article is not me.
ps 08/03/11 - Both dodder and pickleweed have been moved to new families by APG and followed by Jepson.

dodder
Cuscuta sp.
Convolvulaceae (formerly Cuscutaceae)

This parasite is very strange to behold. It feels like slightly moist, stringy plastic strands. It took me until the Pacific Grove Museum's annual wildflower show to even know it was a native plant.

ps 08/03/11 - I've made corrections to the family name above. According to the Pinnacles plant list the 3 types of dodder are: San Joaquin dodder (Cuscuta californica var. breviflora), California dodder (Cuscuta californica var. californica), and canyon dodder (Cuscuta subinclusa). Without the flower there is no way for me to distinguish between species.

happy wanderer ~ 01/31/09 ~ Pacific Grove

happy wanderer / purple vine lilac
Hardenbergia violacea

Fabaceae

This is in our neighbor's yard and I have no idea what it is. If she wasn't so aloof, I'd ask her.

ps 02/18/10 - Thanks to visiting a friend today who's renovating her garden, I discovered that this is called "happy wanderer" which was enough to search on google. Previously I labeled it "unknown purple flowering bush."