buckwheat ~ 08/09/10 ~ Garland Ranch

buckwheat
Eriogonum sp.
Polygonaceae

Given my difficulty in separating out and identifying buckwheat, I'm posting without a positive ID... but I like how pretty the blooms are here, especially in close-up. Seriously, there are at least 266 species of buckwheat in CA!!!

Thanks to Am I Bugging You Yet?'s recent blog post, I started this morning looking at my recent buckwheat pics and am giving it up to a lost cause... unless someone can provide some helpful hints on how to identify this genus of plants.

ps 11/19/14 - I now believe this is seacliff buckwheat (Eriogonum parvifolium).  Newer seacliff buckwheat posts have more detail.

Yadon's piperia ~ 08/09/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

Yadon's rein orchid
Piperia yadonii
CNPS 8th Edition Inventory
Orchidaceae

Do you like the dirt and grime on this orchid? I guess that's what you get when it grows 5 feet away from the road. Too bad they mow so heavily in the area to keep the roadsides clear. I wonder if there'd be more Yadon's piperia if they didn't mow.

elegant piperia ~ 08/09/10 ~ Skyline Forest Drive

elegant rein orchid
Piperia elegans
Orchidaceae

I'm making an early ID, even though this isn't in full bloom yet. I've been documenting this particular individual with posts on August 4 and July 25. Amazingly, it looks very similar to Yadon's piperia. Simply based on the timing of the bloom, I'm guessing it's a different species.

naked lady ~ 08/08/10 ~ Rec Trail

naked lady
Amaryllis belladonna
Amaryllidaceae (formerly Liliaceae)

With all the August fogville gloom around here, I'm happy to post something bright and cheerful. The cool, wet weather sometimes gets me down, but I'd rather pull on a sweater than have to endure the 90-100+ temps inland. While I suspect these naked ladies were purposely planted along the rec trail, I'm keeping them under my non-native plants label for now because I have seen them growing wild. I may have to rethink this later as most I've seen lately have been in yards and should be labeled under garden plants. You may notice many of my label categories seem arbitrary, but they make sense to me and I do try to be consistent.

ps 03/19/14 - For an excellent post of this March lily, as they are known in South Africa, check out Elephant's Eye.