Hemlock

 Hemlock in Kit Carson park, Escondido

Ah, the famous plant that was used to kill Socrates. Hemlock plant belongs to apiaceae (or umbelliferae) family. Also known as carrot or parsley family. Umbelliferae means "umbrella" because the majority of species form clusters of small flowers that look like little umbrella. The thing about this family is that lots of species do indeed have family resemblance and it mights be difficult to tell one specie from another. What adds to confusion is the fact that lots of them are edible while others are poisonous. Hemlock is the example of the latter.

Hemlock flowers

The plant that resembles hemlock the most is wild carrot (also known as Queen Ann's lace or Daucus carota). Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the latter for comparison. Actually I have not seen that many hemlocks around but there was one patch where it was flourishing together with other bunch of plants.

Hemlock leaves

Remember that hemlock is highly poisonous and even a little dose might kill you. Be very careful and make sure to identify any plant of the carrot family correctly as lots of them are very good medicinal plants, for instance angelica or spices like coriander.

There are actually two genera commonly known as hemlock: Conium that is discussed in this article and Cicuta (water hemlock). Both are highly poisonous, Cicuta is even more deadly than Conium.

Henbit

 Henbit

Henbit is a rare plant. It grows wild but it has beautiful flowers though a very small ones. The picture shows an extreme close-up.

Filaree

 Filaree in Escondido

Filaree (Erodium) is the plant that took me some time to identify. It's very common in Southern California but only in the spring. It grows pretty much everywhere where the common grass grows. Filaree blooms in small delicate 5 petal flowers. The leaves are serrated though there are several species of filaree with different degree of serration. Later in the season  one can see long seedpods. They resemble storkbill which  is another name of this plant.

Curly Dock

 Curly dock in Felicita park (historic photograph)

Curly dock is a great plant. Not only does it grow wild in commons and wastelands but it is also an edible plant and quite tasty at that. Just saute it with onions and tomatoes.


So we found some good looking curly dock in Felicita park when we first came. We harvested some leaves (always leaving the majority of the plant intact). The same common or meadow had sweet alyssum and nettle growing there as well. So you could get on a foraging expedition and be in and out in no time.

But something terrible happened. They (the park authorities) decided to use this common for the parking lot. They have not paved it but they destroyed all the plants. Curly dock was the first one to go. Then nettle, even it grew only on the hillsides and was not even visible. This all happened within one year. We witnessed the destruction of wild plants firsthand and it does not feel good.

There was still plenty of nettle in the park but you had to look in different places. But the park was getting to look more and more like a sports part: just the mowed grass and no more wild plants that do not look like the grass. That's the way things are.

Sweet Alyssum

 Alyssum in Felicita Park, Escondido

alyssum is well... sweet. It is a plant of the mustard family with very small flowers that have a pleasant smell. Like most plants in the mustard family it is edible. You can add it to salads to add a little zest to your dish.

The flowers had 4 white petals and dark purple center. Here's a close-up

The Latin name for this plant is Lobularia maritima, formely known as Alyssum maritimum. However nowadays this genus is considered separate from Alyssum genus though the common name is still alyssum. 

Salt Heliotrope

 Salt heliotrope in Kit Carson Park, Escondido

Salt heliotrope (Heliotropium curassavicum) is a common plant that grows in parks and wastelands. It had small white flowers that grow in oblong clusters.

Here is a close-up on the flowers. Notice that the  flowers have dark purple center. The plant is easily recognizable.

 Salt heliotrope flowers

Eucrypta

 Eucrypta in Felicita Park, Escondido

So another plant, eucrypta, looks similar to cryptantha to me, not to mention they have the same root linguistically. Eucrypta is a Greek word, meaning 'true secret", refering to the hidden inner seeds.

Here's another picture, profile view:

Eucrypta plant

Both eucrypta and cryptantha have tiny white flowers and fuzzy stems. Eucrypta have lobed leaves while cryptantha have long leaves. They are easy to confuse because the flowers look very similar and their names have the same root meaning "hidden" or "secret".

Eucrypta used to belong to Waterleaf family (Hydrophyllaceae). However according to the lates phylogenetic studies the genus is now placed in the Borage family (Boraginaceae).

Cryptantha

 Cryptantha in Felicita Park, Escondido, CA

Today I am going to present to you a plant that is fairly common in Southern California but it's so tiny and inconspicuous that most people probably would not even notice it. However I managed to identify it. Cryptantha has small white flowers and fuzzy leaves. If I remember right, the stems and leaves are prickly.

Tomorrow I am going to show you the plant called eucrypta. To me it sounds like a twin of cryptantha. They even look kind of similar. Cryptantha means "hidden flower", probably because the flowers of some species self-fertilize without opening. Cryptantha is part of Borage family (Boraginaceae).

Coastal Sage

 Coastal sage (Artemisia californica), Escondido, CA

So we had black and white sage on this site. There is another plant known as coastal sage, purple sage or sagebrush. In spite of its name "sage" this is not a true sage (salvia). It's a very popular plant, it grows pretty much everywhere.

The plant in the above pictures is Artemisia californica and it is not part of the mint (Lamiaceae) family but aster  (Asteraceae). Like salvias it has a nice smell especially it you crush a leaf between your fingers. This plant can be also used to spice up a dish.

Veronica

 Veronica in Felicita Park, Escondido, CA

Veronica is a little wild plant growing in parks in meadows. I first noticed it in one of the city parks but I did not know what it was. It has four petals.

White Sage

As you probably know, there are several kinds of sages out there, the most common being black sage, white sage and purple sage. These are the major varieties and of course withing each one there are subspeices like Cleaveland sage and so on. For me the above categories are good enough. We already had black sage, so today the features plant is white sage.

It's not really white but it gives the impression of the light color when viewed on from the distance. In spring you can also see sages covered with tiny flowers.

A view from above:

The plant is very aromatic, especially if you crush a leaf between you fingers.

N.B. Note the resemblance to the Indigo bush. Sage does not have stiff stems sticking up.

Chickweed

Chickweed is a small white flower that grows wild. Though I saw the description pretty much in every book I only found one a couple of years ago. Here it covers big grassy areas in the park. The plant is edible too: you can eat it raw as salad or add to some other dish (it's tender so it does not require any cooking).

Chickweed (Felicita Park, Escondido, CA)

A feature that is helpful to identify chickweed is that is has 5 petals but each petal has a deep cleave so it looks like the flower has 10 petals.

Chickweed's Latin name is Stellaria media and it belongs to the pink or carnation family (Caryophyllaceae). 

The Indigo Bush

A while ago we went to Anza-Borrego desert, which is one of the biggest deserts in the country or to be more exact is the biggest National Park that covers this particular desert.

Well, desert is deceptively empty. True, the habitat is not as rich as, say, wetland or forest, however the life forms in the desert are numerous and their adaptations to the cruel heat climate are amazing. For example, some spend lots of time underground hiding from the unbearable heat of the day and going out at cool night. Others developed ability to suck the little moisture they find in plants so they don't need water. Yet others change their anatomy to adapt to living in extreme heat. Fascinating stuff.

We visited a museum that is located in the Visitors Center in Borrego Springs, little town right in the middle of this desert. The mountains around look desolate but the chaparral around the country is full of life.

Anyway, I was very impressed with this museum. It was small but full of interesting information and numerous exhibits, mainly kids-oriented but what's the heck! Information is information. For example, here is a riddle for you: which is the oldest plant on the planet? If you answered bristlecone pine, WRONG! At leat that was what I thought. Turns out the oldest plant on the planet  is a creosote bush, which is more than 9 thousand years old! They did not, however, reveal the location of this marvellous plant or even mentioned whether it was still living.

The Visitors Center also had a nice garden with typical desert plants. I am a sucker for botanical gardens so I took some pictures. For today's exhibit I chose the Indigo Bush, because it's not a famous plant yet it is quite numerous in that garden. So meet out friend:

Indigo bush (Anza-Borrego National Park, Borrego Springs)

This is the best looking bush I found, most of them do not look that luscious. I wonder if this is the plant from which the famous indigo paint comes.