Tag Archives: floor

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Rattlesnake Grass, Spring

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Rattlesnake Grass, Spring

Rattlesnake Grass, Spring. Point Lobos State Reserve, California. April 26. 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Seed heads, stems, and blades of Rattlesnake grass growing in the pine forest at Point Lobos State Reserve, California.

On the last weekend of April I found time to head down to Point Lobos for a half day – that ultimately stretched a bit longer that that – day of shooting. I almost didn’t go. I had the radio on as I drove toward Monterey, and as I drove through Castroville a traffic report announced that Highway 1 was closed for a marathon south of Carmel – a couple miles before Point Lobos. I almost turned around right there, but then they announced that the highway patrol would “convoy” cars through the area about once every two hours. I decided that since I was almost there anyway I might as well go on down and see what would happen. When I arrived at the intersection south of Carmel the road was completely blocked and traffic was shunted into the nearby shopping center parking lot. I saw a sign for “convoy” parking so I drove over – and it turned out that I had about a half hour before the scheduled southbound departure. I had time to grab a cup of coffee and line up.

The convoy finally worked its way onto the “course” (otherwise known as the coast highway) and then slowly started south past hundred or thousands of runners. At Point Lobos I was the only drive to leave the convoy, and when I entered the park the ranger told me I was only the second car to enter that day! If you have visited Point Lobos you may know that on a typical spring day the place will be so packed that it can be hard to find a spot to park – but I did not run into a single person in the whole park until early afternoon! (I did see one other visitor in the distance.) So what started out to look like very bad timing ended up being quite special – I had “my own private Point Lobos” for the day!

In the early afternoon I decided to walk a trail through the pines that traveled away from the shoreline. Lots of lush spring growth was still flourishing and these grass seeds caught my attention.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: Briza maxima, rattlesnake grass, seed, leaf, stem, blade, head, plant, forest, floor, foliage, flora, point lobos, state, reserve, park, california, usa, monterey, peninsula, carmel, coast, pine, forest, grove, nature, stock

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Andrew’s Clintonia

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Andrew's Clintonia

Andrew’s Clintonia. Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Newly emerging spring Andrew’s Clintonia (Clintonia andrewsiana) plant at Muir Woods National Monument, California with immature flowers.

I hope I have correctly identified this plant – with the help of a few people who contacted me after I posted the photo along with a request for plant ID help on my dan’s outside blog. The flowers are the tricky part. All of the photographs of this plant that I could find during my search for identification look different – but the plant apparently doesn’t actually blossom until a few weeks or a month after I made the photograph, so here we’re just seeing the early buds. The leaves look right. It grows in the right place – in the redwood forest and Muir Woods. And I found one online example with mature flowers that has the same single leaf near the top of the flower stalk. So I’s sticking with Andrew’s clintonia until someone comes up with a better idea!

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: Andrew’s Clintonia, Clintonia andrewsiana, andrews, flower, plant, stem, leaf, green, stalk, forest, woods, grove, redwood, floor, bud, bloom, nature, foliage, spring, muir, national, monument, park, golden gate, recreation, area, travel, scenic, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature

Fairy Lantern (Calochortus albus) Flower and Buds

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Fairy Lantern (Calochortus albus) Flower and Buds

Fairy Lantern (Calochortus albus) Flower and Buds. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 18, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A fairy lantern flower in bloom with several buds on the plant yet to bloom.

I photographed this flower over the weekend along a trail at Almaden Quicksilver Park that I visit about this time every year… to photograph this flower. While I occasionally see the Fairy Lantern flower in other locations – if I look carefully – a small valley along the New Almaden Trail near the Mockingbird Hill entrance to the park often contains hundreds of these flowers. I thought that this weekend (April 18 and 19) would mark the peak of the bloom, but my hike their yesterday left me thinking that it may be another week – while some of the flowers had bloomed, many more were still only buds, as are the majority of this specimen.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: fairy, lantern, chinese, flower, bud, bloom, wildflower, pale, pink, round, green, leaf, pointed, stem, plant, bokeh, nature, foliage, forest, floor, almaden, quicksilver, mines, county, park, santa clara, san jose, nature, stock, Calochortus albus

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Fairy Bell Wildflowers (Disporum hookeri)

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Fairy Bell Wildflowers (Prosartes smithii)

Fairy Bell Wildflowers (Disporum hookeri). Muir Woods National Monument, California. April 11, 2009. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring Fairy Bells flowers among the plants on the forest floor at Muir Woods National Monument, California.

This plant grows on the forest floor beneath the Redwoods at Muir Woods National Monument and, no doubt, in many other similar places on the west coast. This is a rather subtle flower – its color is not that different from the color of its leaves, it grows in areas where the light tends to be somewhat dim, and the flowers hide beneath the spreading leaves. It isn’t a flower that I spot right away – unlike, say, trillium – and it is a bit tricky to photograph.

This photograph is not in the public domain. It may not be used on websites, blogs, or in any other media without explicit advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

keywords: Prosartes smithii, Disporum smithii, Fairy, Bells, flower, wild, wildflower, leaf, green, yellow, wihite, plant, foliage, nature, forest, floor, insect, bug, muir woods, national, monument, golden gate, recreation, area, park, marin, county, california, usa, stem, bud, bokeh, stock, Disporum hookeri