Elegant Clarkia

Recently we made a trip to Lake Nacimiento. Right now it is a dry season there which means the grass is all yellow and not many plants are growing right now. However we managed to find a few and I am going to post about them in this blog.

 The dry trail

 Lake Nacimiento view

One of the plants that I have not seen before was clarkia, particularly elegant clarkia. I saw another variety winecup clarkia in the Southern California. Clarkia (different varieties) is a hardy plant and does not seem to mind desert conditions. The flowers are usually purple.

Elegant clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata) have distinctly  separated petals. It is one of the rare plants that are fairy common in oak forest.

Elegant Clarkia at Lake Nacimiento

Elegant Clarkia flowers

Here is a winecup clarkia (Clarkia purpurea) for comparison.

Clarkia purpurea at Lake Nacimiento

Notice that all clarkias have 4 petals.That is usually the sign of the Evening primrose family (Onagraceae)  and indeed clarkia is a member.

 

Beach suncup

Beach suncup

Beach suncup is a very attractive plant with bright yellow flowers, rather small but not too small. Well, I like suncups. It looks very close to Sierra suncup, a desert plant. Suncups' Latin name is... well, in a minute. First, note that suncup is another name for evening primrose, so it follows that suncups belong to Evening primrose family (Onagraceae). Like other plants of this family it had 4 petal and cross-like shape of the stigma.

So about this Latin name. Well, the whole idea of the Latin name is to have a unique scientific name that is peculiar to one particular species. It is done for ease of identification because common names are a mess. There can be ten or more genera sharing the same common name. So botanists came out with scientific name for every plant discovered on the planet. However, I found that some plants have two or even more Latin names. This genus suncup and this beach suncup species in particular seems to have six (sic!) Latin names.

So, want to know these names? Here goes: Camissoniopsis cheiranthifolia. Then just listing the genus: Camissonia, Oenothera, Agassizia, Holostigma, Sphaerostigma. Six names in total! Could be even more. Obviously, we can't deal with them all. We'll just pick the most popular one: beach suncup or Camissonia cheiranthifolia.

It first forms a rosette and then shoot out a long stem from it.

Beach suncup (Camissonia cheiranthifolia)

Notice that beach suncup like its desert relative has red spots on the petals (never mind the bug):

Camissonia cheiranthifolia. Notice red spot on the petals.

And here is a picture of Sierra suncup, a plant often seen in a desert:

Sierra suncup (Camissonia sierrae) in the desert

Evening Primrose

Evening primrose at the curb of the street

 
Evening primrose (Oenothera) is a showy plant that belongs to Evening Primrose family (Onagraceae). The characteristic features of this family are flowers with 4 petals and stigma with X shape at the tip. The plant is edible: young roots can be cooked and young leaves eaten in salad.

Flowers of an Oenothera usually open within about a minute. They are supposed to open in the evening but the plant in the photograph was always open during the day whenever I was passing by.

Evening primrose flower. Notice the cross at the end of the stigma

The leaves grow in a basal rosette then spiral along the stem. 

Evening primrose leaves in a basal rosette

Note: Shortly after the picture was taken, someone had destroyed the plant that had not been doing any harm. The plant was growing at the curb and only added nice colour to the environment. I might add that the plant is rather rare and it's sad to see this unique and rarely seen plant mindlessly destroyed for no apparent reason. 

Willowherb

Epilobium or willowherb in the Redwood forest

 
Willowherb is a very common plants that can be observed everywhere: meadows, forests, disturbed places, commons, etc. This plant has long avoided identification but finally it is there. So let's look closer at this interesting plant.

Willowherb also known as epilobium belongs to the Evening primrose family (Onagraceae). The flowers of this family have 4 petals and 4 sepals. The stigma has 4 lobes at the end that look like a cross. The stigma is longer than stamens. There are many species of epilobium. The most common around here is Epilobium parviflorum. It is an erect plant about a foot tall with small pink flowers. Each flower has 4 petals that are dissected at the outer edge to the middle of the petal's length.

 Epilobium parviflorum flower

Epilobium parviflorum

This Epilobium parviflorum (small flowered willowherb) is the most common specie around but I have seen another one, Epilobium angustifolium (also known as chamerion, fireweed or rosebay willowherb). This species is much taller and has bigger flowers, also with 4 petals.

Epilobium angustifolium

Epilobium angustifolium bloom

 The epilobium is supposed to be edible and the plant is used in folk medicine.