Slatsz Wildflower Walks 2013 #1: August 23, 2013 - Chondrilla juncea, Malva neglecta

I hope you will enjoy 5 views of August dawn.

I didn’t set my timers so I don’t know who long we were out. Not long. I took 28 photos. 20 keepers some double cropped.

I invited Gary Larribee to walk with me on a morning walk. We both need the exercise.

I was short of sleep, of course.

I parked at the north access to the park. Gary observed that it was a low maintenance park. No water bill. No lawn to mow.

I looked for the patch of Centaurea diffusa, diffuse knapweed, to add to my collection of Asteraceae photos. Someone, presumable the nearest neighbor, had torn them out.

Later I looked for the bull thistle along side the fence. It was gone too. So was the flannel mullein. Vandalism by the lawn mower people.

There were lots of Chondrilla juncea, rush skeleton weed full of blossoms at the east end of the north side trail. They are an Asteraceae.

Gary had left his hay-fever pills behind and was quite uncomfortable. My role as tour guide didn’t interest him much. He carried my two buckets and that made life a lot easier for me. I added a slightly smaller bucket this time, empty, to serve as a stump to sit on. It’s a lot safer than the trying to sit on the 2x4 across the top of my ‘tool’ bucket.

Polygonum douglasii, Douglas’ knapweed, was in bloom. Even the stems are almost invisible … well … one doesn’t notice them. The blossoms may be even smaller than Draba verna. I tried once again to get a full face photo of a blossom and failed. But it’s the best so far.

It’s all over the park.

Epilobium brachycarpum, autumn willow herb was in bloom everywhere.

These almost leafless plants seem to be thriving in the heat and drought.

I’ve been watching for blossoms of Malva neglecta, pigmy mallow, in the park for a couple of years. Yeah, I could have got it else where but I wanted to get it here. There were good blossoms available the day of the walk. Unfortunately I carried the specimen I took too far and it’s leaves were wilted. The blossom was somewhat battered. I opened it. The reproductive organs look quite different. I’ll improve these photos when I can.

I saw a plant I could not identify and photographed it. There was only one. My efforts to identify it on the internet failed.

We weren’t out long. Even so, I probably walked Gary farther than I should have. We got down past long rock ridge and circled back up the main trail.

THE PHOTOS

00 dawn from my window August 22, 2013

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