Last week, I finished my first run of a 50 day field course that I’ll be teaching for hopefully many years. The course (California Ecology and Conservation) runs three times a year and takes me all over the state–which means a whole bunch of flowers. Unfortunately, I won’t really have the time to focus on finding and photographing the rare ones. Therefore I’m going to make this my last post on botanicalramblings.com. I’ll continue to post pictures of flowers and other natural history curiosities on facebook (Tim Miller) and instagram (botanicalrambler).

Each quarter, the class goes to three main sites in the University of California Natural Reserve System. The summer run of the course took me to three very different habitats. The first location was Sagehen in the Northern Sierras (North of Lake Tahoe). Lots of things were flowering here, but I’ll just post a few of my favorites.

Castilleja pilosa (Parrothead Paintbrush, Orobanchaceae). I’ve been on a fuzzy Castilleja kick recently!

A couple of Sierra endemics–Primula suffrutescens (Sierra Primrose, Primulaceae)

Lilum parvum (Sierran Tiger Lily, Lilaceae)

Ivesia sericoleuca (Plumas Mousetails, Rosaceae), a species only found in volcanic meadows in the northern Sierras.

Drosera rotundifolia (Round-leaved Sundew, Droseraceae). Sundews are carnivorous plants that catch bugs on their sticky leaf trichomes (hairs). They secrete digestive enzymes to break down the bugs and extract nitrogen and other macronutrients. These guys were very common in a couple wet meadows around Sagehen. Some were also blooming (they have white flowers they keep well away from their leaves so as to not accidentally trap their pollinators), but it was really hard to get both the leaves and flowers in focus in the same shot.

Our next stop was Rancho Marino, on the western Santa Barbara coast. Back at sea level, most plants were done flowering. However, this Astragalus nuttallii (Ocean Bluff Milkvetch, Fabaceae) was still going strong.

The final stop was in the White Mountains in Eastern California. I had been looking forward to this stop the most, as I had never been to the area before. The field station was over 10,000 feet in elevation, but I took an additional trip to the summit of White Mountain at 14,252. At that elevation, basically all plants are low, mat-forming perennials. Some of my favorite examples follow.

Hulsea algida (High Mountain Hulsea, Asteraceae)

Eriogonum ovalifolium (Oval-leaved Cushion Buckwheat, Polgonaceae)

Trifolium andersonii (Anderson’s Clover, Fabaceae) and Bombus sylvicola (Forest Bumblebee)

and Polemonium chartaceum (Mason’s Sky Pilot, Polemoniaceae). This final plant is endemic to high peaks in Mono County, and has a really interesting funky scent that presumably attracts fly pollinators. It’s beautiful, rare, and a little weird–the three things I admire most in a plant. Therefore I’m content making this plant my final blog photo.