8/12/2016
19:28
Wildflower Walk 26, August 07, was a short walk. I only had
my shirt pocket Nikon with me. Its macro feature seems to be defective. My
photographs were all failures … out of focus.
Wildflower Walk 27, August 11, 2016
I was in the park less than three hours.
1420 hours depart. Riverfront Park
38872.
I parked in the shade on the east end of the park and walked
to the north east corner to check for the two late blooming Erigeron I usually find
there. No sign of them. I’m fairly sure the nature lovers have killed them.
This area is very dry. Even so, there are a lot of Grindelia
hirsutula, curly cup gumweed still in bloom.
I saw a single, rather dry Erodium cicutarium, stork’s bill,
full of both blossoms and fruit.
I did find a single Gaillardia aristata, blanket flower.
scrawny as it was, a single plant had inflorescences in four phases, bud, full
bloom, developing fruit and fruit.
Gaillardia aristata,
blanket flower
There was a Chondrilla juncea, rush skeleton weed full of
fruit nearby, close enough that I could walk over on my knuckles.
Chondrilla juncea,
rush skeleton weed
Still no sign of bud or flower on the Toxicondendron
radicans, poison ivy.
I took a specimen of Xanthium strumarium, cocklebur in the
deep shade east of south pond. I photographed it, there, successfully, at 1/400th
of a second, aperture 2.8.
Xanthium strumarium, cocklebur
I feel the need for water, already. The car isn’t far away.
There is a nice patch of Allium acuminatum, taper tip onion,
near the curb, near the main trail at the east end of the park. I saw dark
areas in their husks and though they contained seeds. They didn’t.
Allium acuminatum,
taper tip onion
I pushed through some brush east of south pond. Some Crataegus
douglasii, black hawthorn announced its presence.
Scratch
There was some rather lush Polygonum douglasii, douglasii
knotweed, knuckling walking distance from the patch of taper tip onion. The
flowers are so small I can’t distinguish them. I was surprised to find fruit
protruding from them when I got the images into my computer.
Polygonum douglasii,
douglasii knotweed
Lactuca serriola, prickly lettuce was in fruit, nearby
Lactuca serriola,
prickly lettuce
Back at the car. 39,294 steps. I loaded up with more water
than I wanted. 1534 hours starting out again for the north side of south pond
to improve my photos of plants I found there last walk. [Unfortunately, I
forgot what I knew about the backing sheet I was using so these photos, too,
need to be improved.]
Landscape clouds
There is a large, horizontal stump that makes a good seat
near the north side of south pond.
Bidens vulgata, tall
beggar ticks
Lythrum salicaria,
purple loosestrife
I started down … west … on the main trail hoping the nature
lovers had missed some Madia but I didn’t see any.
I saw only one Centaurea stoebe, spotted knapweed. It was in
full bloom, along side the main trail.
Asclepias speciosa, showy milkweed was past both bloom and
fruit. There were a few fruit showing. I found one nice ball of fruit, only to
destroy it, trying to pick it.
Asclepias speciosa,
showy milkweed
I took a specimen of Chenopodium album, lamb’s quarters, not
in good condition. The indication of flowers is invisible to me. I hoped it was
time and they would appear in my photos when I got them to the computer. The
photos showed some, not much.
Chenopodium album,
lamb’s quarters
There is a comfortable moss covered basalt outcrop by the
twin pines just west of north pond, not far past the trailside patch of showy
milkweed. I sat to photograph my specimen and saw Perideridia gairdneri, yampah
in fruit, almost but not quite in reach.
There is a variety of ‘looks’ to the yampah fruit. I took
one that is quite red.
Perideridia
gairdneri, yampah
I saw only two fly like creatures, one very small, one
medium small. Once again, I saw very occasional grasshoppers. I saw one black
looking bee looking creature almost underfoot, flying from plant to plant.
1626 hours back at the van. 39986 steps.
1646 home.
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