Indian warrior ~ 04/03/14 ~ Fort Ord

Indian warrior among host plant manzanita
Pedicularis densiflora among host plant Arctostaphylos spp.
Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)

I generally tend not to hike towards the sound of chainsaws and weed wackers, but the main reason I wanted to get out to Fort Ord was to see the progress of a particularly prolific patch of Indian warriors.  I didn't get out last year, but I have some spectacular photos from April 1, 2012 and March 20, 2011.  Eh, there's an average showing here and there, but the spot, the exact spot I really wanted to check out in detail was being weed wacked by a team in bright orange.  I was informed by their supervisor to not take pictures of them.  Too late, because I had no clue. Now that I know, I won't post them online out of respect.  I'd like to think I'm colorblind and had a funny interaction with a fellow who asked if I was an environmentalist.  It wasn't until I looked at my photos that I noticed a disturbing pattern, which reminded me of a couple recent award-winning movies that I haven't seen.  It makes me sad, but it's not my story to tell.  These guys can't be too dangerous if they're being given weed wackers and chain saws.  Right?  At least they're being exposed to nature, a soothing salve for whatever troubles a person internally.  This reminds me of the Sustainability in Prisons Project I found while I was searching lomatium recently.  I plan on revisiting this spot again at the end of the month to see how things have progressed, given the drought and mid-season manzanita cutting.

Indian warrior ~ 04/01/12 ~ Fort Ord

Indian warrior
Pedicularis densiflora
Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)

It's a tough call to say these were more prolific than last year's batch.  I would say yes.  There was a definite lushness around what we saw.  The host plant manzanitas look like they've grown some, but not as much as I would have guessed from clearing this fire road two years ago in 2010.

Indian warrior ~ 03/20/11 ~ Fort Ord

Indian warrior
Pedicularis densiflora
Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)

This is the best showing of Indian warriors I've ever seen. Wikipedia says this is a root parasite of plants like manzanitas. Until I read this, I didn't actually notice the low growing manzanitas, during our hike nor in my pictures, along the trail where we found these. My eyes gravitate toward the bright and colorful. To be politically correct, Jepson's recommends the following common names: dense-flowered pedicularis, dense-flowered lousewort, red warrior, or warrior's plume. However, I doubt anyone who's familiar with these plants would know what I'm referencing if I called it a lousewort, so called because there was apparently a belief that a lice infestation would occur if livestock fed on these plants. I was amazed at the variation of Indian warriors we saw within one stretch of trail, from light salmon colored flowers to deep purple leaves; for additional pictures, check out my Flickr set.

Edith's checkerspot caterpillar ~ 04/16/09 ~ Pinnacles

Edith's checkerspot caterpillar feeding on Indian warrior
Euphydryas editha feeding on Pedicularis densiflora
Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)

Edited 05/24/14 - I originally posted this as variable checkerspot caterpillar (Euphydryas chalcedona).  When we went back 3 weeks later (from the westside on May 8, 2009, not the eastside as shown here), adult variable checkerspots were everywhere on flowers and mud puddles!  

Then, last year I went out with our local Monterey butterfly guy Chris Tenney, and he recalled Paul Johnson had told him Edith's feeds on Indian warrior, whereas variable is actually variable in its host preferences.  I have since confirmed directly with Paul that he has observed this host difference between these two look-alike local checkerspots. He's quite good at distinguishing adult Edith's from variable on the wing.  I changed the ID above from variable to Edith's.  Plus, I've seen first-hand both spp. flying together, so that May 2009 visit may very well have both on the wing.  Thanks, Paul!

Indian warrior

Pedicularis densiflora
Orobanchaceae (formerly Scrophulariaceae)

I saw a ton of these under the manzanitas at Fort Ord. It's related to the paintbrushes.