Kipp, finally got a chance to look at your posts & want to thank you for both the photos & descriptions. You must be a very dedicated fan to have traveled so far & show an excellent knowledge of the species. Again thank you Karl Church Dinuba z9b On Aug 3, 2015 4:14 AM, "Kipp McMichael" <kimcmich@hotmail.com> wrote: > Greetings, > I previously mentioned on the list that I had been focusing this year on > catching the native Calochortus of California in-bloom. I also promised to > post some images from my trips. Hopefully you won't mind me cluttering up > the links to images with my narrative in-between: > My season began at Pt Reyes National Seashore in late May. On the barren > hills and bluffs overlooking the ocean, Calochortus tolmiei grows no higher > than 6 inches. That lofty 6 inches is in the shelter of a shrub; these > plants grow in large populations on barren rocky spots where the flowers > open only an inch above the soil. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > After my delightful success at Pt. Reyes, I planned a trip soon after to > the grassy prairies of the Santa Cruz Mountains just north of UC Santa > Cruz. As with my Pt Reyes trip, this trip was an early morning excursion > before I started a late working day at lunch. The meadows where Calochortus > uniflorus grows are surrounded by redwood and madrone forests. The delicate > purplish pink flowers were heavy with dew on stems as tall as 8 inches. > Crowded, but not too much by grass, both the Calochortus and many other > geophytes (Brodeia, Dichelostemma) were fairly common here. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > On my way home from Santa Cruz that morning, I stopped in the hills > above Woodside, CA to catch the southernmost race of Calochortus tolmiei. > Unlike the thickly-hairy blooms of the plants at Pt. Reyes, the flowers in > this population are very sparsely haired. Additionally, the plants here > grow in the shade of redwoods, madrones and tanoaks along a park trail - > thriving even in the packed, gravelly "tailings" of the downhill side of > the trail. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > I am lucky to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, given my interest in > Calochortus, as it happens to be the center of diversity for the genus. > Just 45 min east of Berkeley is Mount Diablo in Contra Costa County. I went > there in mid April to catch Calochortus pulchellus in bloom along the > trails in Mt. Diablo State Park. I found a large population spread along a > half mile of trailside slopes and ledges with most plants having several > flowers each. This was the first example of a Calochortus population that > seemed unaware we were in our third and worst year of drought. I would see > several more. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > On a Sunday drive southeast of the Bay Area, I happened to have my first > encounter of the season with Calochortus venustus. This plant was 2 feet > all and growing on the sunny, boulder-strewn slope of a roadcut. I would > encounter this taxon again and again throughout the season. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > My first long-distance roadtrip of the season included a friend and > started with Figueroa Mountain in San Luis Obispo County. We saw seed pods > of Calochortus catalinae (no photos though!) - one of the few Calochortus > that can be identified in seed because of its distinctively rounded > capsules. Higher up the mountain on a serpentine outcrop, we found a > population of Calochortus clavatus. Many of these plants were 10" tall or > less but nonetheless had large, yellow blooms 2-3" across. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > On our way back north from Figueroa Mtn, we stopped in San Luis Obispo, > CA to see if we might catch Calochortus obispoensis in bloom in its > preferred rocky, serpentine hillside habitat. We were too early for that > species, but we did find Calochortus argillosus growing in the moister > saddle between serpentine hills. The southern populations of C. argillosus > often have a rich magenta outer petal. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > I wrote previously of the very special bluff north of San Simeon, CA > where 4 different species of Calochortus grow side-by-side. Alas, but the > plants do no bloom synchronously - so catching them all takes trips across > 3 or so months from April to June. My first visit in late April was too > late for the bloom of Calochortus uniflorus here, but I did catch a seedpod > ripening. Much more common, and just coming into bloom, was a delightful > dwarf population of Calochortus luteus. There are tens of thousands of > plants along Highway 1 where the discerning eye can pick them out from the > more orange poppies and more golden compositae in this coastal grassland. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > In the hills west of Templeton, CA, the population of Calochortus albus > produces a range of pink to deeply wine-red blooming plants. The mild > climate here allows for a long blooming season we would return to a few > times in April and May. Informally called Calocortus albus var rubellus, > the darkest colored plants have sumptuous deep wine-colored blooms (a fact > not unnoticed by a local winery that boasts of this local lily). > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > Lake Berryessa is about an hour north of Berkeley and it was my > destination as I headed out for another early morning roadtrip on a > Thursday in early May.I was headed for a serpentine meadow north of the > Lake where I had seen seed pods of 2 species of Calochortus in 2014. About > an hour into the trip along twisting roads in the hills near the Lake, I > came to road construction and had to wait 25 minutes for the next escort. I > decided to make the best of the wait by exploring the slope above the road. > There I was delighted to find Calochortus amabilis growing on a ledge and > gully near the road. It was my first unexpected encounter of the day. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > Once the escort vehicle arrived, it began what turned out to be a 9 mile > escort through a seemingless endless workzone. Just before the end of the > escort, as we came to a short bridge over an arm of the lake, I caught some > beautiful white blooms standing tall in the grass on the roadside. I could > not stop, as I was being escorted, but the other side of the bridge was > where the construction closure began in the other direction. When I > returned later in the morning (the serpentine meadow that was my intended > destination was having a fallow year) I asked to wait for the escort at the > other end of the bridge to observe this fine example of Calochortus > superbus. These 2+ foot tall plants held large 3" across blooms. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > Having wet my appetite with day trips within a few hours of Berkeley, I > lasooed a fellow bulb enthusiast for a full weekend trip to catch species > in southern California. We left on a Friday after work and spent the night > in Rosamond, CA at the western edge of the Mojave desert. The next morning > we got up early to catch Calochortus striatus just east of the town. Having > heard it had been a "light" bloom year and that we "might catch a few > stragglers" we were delighted to find the population in near-peak bloom in > what must certainly have been as good a reason as this colony ever sees. > Every visible plant showed multi-bloom stalks and every plant not in active > bloom held ripening capsules. I would estimate 5000-10000 plants were > blooming or fruiting in this colony. > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We left the Mojave and headed southwest toward Soledad Canyon in > northern LA County to visit an area home to a few dryland-loving > Calochortus species. We hoped to catch a large population of Calochortus > plummerae, and perhaps see Calochortus kennedyi or C. clavatus var > gracilus, along a short section of the Pacific Crest Trail. Unlike the > banner year in the Mojave, the population here - which had bloomed and > seeded en-mass in 2014 - was virtually fallow. We located a handful of > blooming plants of C. plummerae scattered in the area where thousands of > plants were undoubtedly dormant. On our way back to the car via a fire > road, we also found a very meager bloom of Calochortus clavatus gracilus > (and I took a very mediocre photo!). > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > From the old cowboy movie set terrain of Soledad Canyon, we headed south > toward the hills northeast of Temecula, CA to a colony of Calochortus I had > visited long after the blooming season in 2014. Given the area and the > herbarium info I could find, I had thought this was a population of > Calochortus weedi (either var weedi or var intermedius). We arrived at the > access road into the National Forest to discover the gate had been closed > to prevent vehicle access while a storm front moved through the area over > the weekend. We were left with a decision: Hike the 2.5 miles along the > road to the population or give up and move on to our next destination. We > stayed true to the cause and headed off on foot to the ridgetop locality. > We were still a few feet from the car when we saw the first of the > Calochortus davidsonianus. We would see hundreds of these plants, mostly in > seed, on our way to the locality. When we arrived, I discovered that what I > had thought was a colony of mostly C. > weedi was in fact a large colony of Calochortus davidsonianus. Although > not a banner year, the plants here were nonetheless quite common and most > had maturing capsules. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We hiked back to the car and headed for Casper's Wilderness Park near > San Juan Capistrano. Our hike in Casper's started with another colony of > all-but-done Calochortus davidsonianus. As we reached the ridgetop on the > east side of the park, we started seeing a few struggling Calochortus weedi > var intermedius. Another 1/2 mile of hiking brought us to a much better > stand with robust blooms on stems over 2 feet tall. These plants were in > fairly dense chaparral on a sandy ridge top growing near Yucca whipplei - a > near constant companion of Calochortus species in Southern California. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We finished at Casper's around 6PM and resolved to shoot for a room for > the night near Lebec, CA. We left the Motel 6 early the next morning and > headed for Mt.Pinos. This area boasts brilliant red Calochortus venustus as > well as the alpine-loving Calochortus invenustus near the summit of the > mountain. Alas, we were far too early for either Calochortus - but the > plants growing in the alpine meadow of the summit were nonetheless a treat > to observe. The grasslike leaves of Calochortus invenustus were common in > the alpine meadows and we resolved to return again later in the season to > catch them in bloom. As we drove away from Mt. Pinos on Lockwood Valley > Road, the brilliant vermillion of Calochortus kennedyi leapt out at me from > the roadside. We stopped the car and explored the sage brush hillside to > find a handful of plants - many of which had flowers opening at ground > level on stems 1/2" tall. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We headed west toward the most Calochortus-rich county in California - > San Luis Obispo County. As passed a roadcut hillside south of Hwy 166, we > saw a few big stems of Calochortus clavatus clavatus. Stems 2 feet or > taller held aloft the yellow bowls - many of which were blushed a darker > rust-orange on the outer petals. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > Our final stop on this weekender was a return to hills west of Templeton > to see Calochortus albus var rubellus. We found the colony nearer to > peak-bloom than out first visit. Clearly the genetics of color in this > taxon is complicated. Growing side by side were plants from nearly pure, > greenish white all the way to deeply-wine red - and all shades in-between. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > During the weekender, we had tried and failed to locate Calochortus > simulans while we passed through SLO county. Armed with better google map > planning, I returned on a solo day trip to the Los Padres Natl Forest east > of Arroyo Grande. There I found a few colonies in the peak of their bloom > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > In a return to morning trips close to Berkeley, I set my sites on stands > of "Calochortus splendens" growing in serpentine soils in east Lake County. > I use the name in quotes because, from my experience in the field, there > are 2 different taxa contained with the official species Calochortus > splendens. The previously mentioned Calochortus davidsonianus is the > distinct morphotype of C. splendens that grows in southern California. (see > an example of the "real" C. splendens further below). Intriguingly, the > supposed Calochortus splendens that grows in northern California looks much > more like Calochortus davidsonianus from southern California than it does > the Calochortus splendens from areas between southern California and the > Bay Area. I therefor call this taxa Calochortus davidsonianus. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > I then returned to that geophyte-rich bluff north of San Simeon > mentioned above,where there also grows a very rare sub-population of C. > clavatus - Calochortus clavatus var recurvifolius. Looking very > appropriately like stocky, darkly marked Calochortus clavatus, these plants > grow within a few feet of the eroding bluff edge. The exposed plants I saw > were no more than 5 inches tall. This population is extremely small and > quite literally grows within spitting distance of the bluff's edge. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > The most geopgraphically confined Calochortus taxa is most likely > Calochortus tiburonensis on Ring Mountain in Tiburon, CA. For an > ultra-local, federally-protected endemic, the plant is both fairly common > and easy to access on the beautiful serpentine mountain top, overlooking > San Francisco Bay, that these plants call home. Many trails wind through > the serpentine rocks and gravel fields where these intriguing lilies find > protection from burrowing rodents. C. tiburonensis flowers are an acquired > taste with greens, creams and browns the norm - but the population is > highly variable and especially striking plants are not hard to locate. I > was especially delighted to find an anthocyanin-free plant in bloom as well > - the hairiness of its petals accentuated by the uniformly pale chartreuse > of this unusual flower. Given the size of this taxon's entire population, > this red-pigment-free variant might be the only plant like that in > existence! > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > The next destination in my season of Calochortus pursuits was a very > special population of Calochortus venustus in the central Sierra foothills. > On drives in the foothills from Copperopolis to Camp Nelson, you can find > mostly white C. venustus populations intermixed with variant individuals of > deeper pink, red and fuschia tones. The rarest of these color variants have > brilliant petals fully painted inside and out with deep shades from magenta > to rust. These flowers were some of the highlights of my season. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > I returned to San Luis Obispo County 7 times this season to catch its > rich flora - and such a sample would not be complete without the eponymous > Calochortus obispoensis. Growing on rocky serpentine hillsides right in the > middle of San Luis Obispo, this distinctively sparse Calochortus is more > anthers and brightly colored hairs than it is showy petals. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > After enjoying the earliest blooms of C. obsipoensis, we returned to the > north-of San Simeon bluff to catch more diminutive Calochortus luteus and, > we hoped, more blooms of Calochortus clavatus var recurvifolius. We found > more of both and were particularly happy to see more C. clavatus > recurvifolius than we had detected on our earlier visits - though the > population was still well below 50 individual plants. The buttery-yellow C. > luteus were having a good year and just as we left, I found a color variant > with petals of palest yellow. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > Having packed-in Calochortus trips in April and May, I slowed the pace > in June - more because of the natural waning of the Calochortus season than > for any decline in my interest. My next trip was another morning jaunt a > few hours from Berkeley along Hwy 88 in El Dorado County. Here in scattered > spots, and after fires sometimes in huge stands, grows Calochortus clavatus > avius. This geographically disjunct taxon has robust yellow flowers on tall > stems. I did not see plants to rival the reports of 6 foot monsters after > forest fires - but even so the flowers I did find were certainly the > largest of any taxa of Calochortus with blooms 3-4" across. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We left the relatively towering stands of C. clavatus var avius for a > nearby "lava cap" habitat where an ancient volcanic ash deposit had > hardened and weathered into a distinctive, nutrient-limited soil type. As > is commonly the case in such places, geophytes were common and in addition > to Brodia, Bloomeria and Fritillaria we also found a few small plants of > Calochortus ceoruleus near the southern limits of its range. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > My final Calochortus trip of the season was another overnight roadtrip > returning to Mt. Pinos and the hills north of Santa Barbara. We returned to > Mt. Pinos for the beautiful, bright red variant of Calochortus venustus > that grows near the base of the mountain. Unlike some of the > freely-blooming populations of Calochortus we had seen despite the drought, > the red C. venustus were severely affected. We were able to find perhaps 10 > plants in an area where thousands of bulbs could be seen in years past. The > flowers we did find were beautiful, however. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > We returned as well to the summit of Mt. Pinos to see the flowers of C. > invenustus whose leaves we had observed in relative profusion on our > earlier visit. It was a good year for C. invenustus and the alpine meadows > were liberally sprinkled with its nearly stemless, lightly purple-tinged > blooms. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > After Mt. Pinos, we returned to Lockwood Valley road in hopes of > catching the real Calochortus splendens in bloom. Although late for the > season, we managed to find a few plants flowering and were able to observe > the pale pink, conjestedly hairly blooms that were quite distinct from the > dark-centered, nearly hairless blooms of Calochortus davidsonianus. In this > same location, we again saw C. kennedyi but these plants were all in seed. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > Our final destination was the ridge line behind Santa Barbara and > Monetcito, CA. On the undulating ridge spine composed of alternating > sandstone and granite outcrops grows my personal pick for prettiest > Calochortus of them all: Calochortus fimbriatus. These large plants grow > 2-3 feet tall with several blooms per stem, each overflowing with brightly > colored hairs and mottled with beautiful pinks, reds, and purples. We > caught the bloom very early so the true variety of colors and patterns went > largely unsampled. Even from such a "sneak peak" however, we found many > truly beautiful blossoms. > > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > - http://anexaminedlife.net/calochortus_2015/… > > Whew! So that was my crazy season of Calochortus travels - and I virtually > nelglected the California species at the northernmost portions of the > state. You can be sure I am itching to return to these spots next year to > see the effects of what may be the rainiest rainy season we've ever had! > > Until then... > -|<ipp > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >
