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.

big berry manzanita ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

big berry manzanita

Arctostaphylos glauca
Ericaceae

Don't these look a lot like olives? At last, here's a manzanita that I can identify! Las Pilitas Nursery says, "Partially ripe berries make good manzanita jelly." Hmm...

common deerweed ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

common deerweed / California broom
Acmispon glaber var. glaber (formerly Lotus scoparius var. scoparius)
Fabaceae

I've been wondering what this plant is, because I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere I go this summer. I finally got around to looking it up. I'm using the variety name as listed in the Pinnacles plant list.

ps 07/13/11 - For a good blog entry summary on deerweed, see Curbstone Valley Farm.

pss 05/12/13 - I've updated the scientific name to the 2012 Jepson Manual Treatment.

Pacific gopher snake ~ 06/09/11 ~ Pinnacles

Pacific gopher snake
Pituophis catenifer catenifer

This individual was huge. Later this same day as we were getting dinner ready at our campsite, Andy noticed motion in a tree and something take off. At first it looked like a kite (the toy, not the bird) with a long tail that kept circling around in large sweeping motions. As we kept watching, it became clear that it was a very large bird of some sort with a long snake in its talons, about twice as long as the wingspan of the bird. The bird soared around with the dangling snake, hardly flapping its wings at all, for a good 15 minutes or so. We guessed it was an immature golden eagle based on a "Mantenga sus ojos en el cielo" condor pamphlet the park ranger gave us (she was out of the English version). Does anyone know if this is typical behavior? It reminded me of the coat of arms of Mexico that is used on the national flag.