USA - Pacific States forum: Santa Monica Mountains, California - July 2011 - Not So Hot
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| We don't usually go hiking if they are calling for it to be over 85F. They were calling for it to be 88F this particular day, but I wanted to get out. The place where we went turned out to be not hot at all. some of the last paintbrush of the year  Purple nightshade has purple flowers but the berries are green  laurel sumac  If you lick your fingers after handling the berries of sugar bush, you might think it should be called "needs-sugar bush". It tastes like lemon.  There were a number of places marked off by yellow ribbon like this. It seems to be a message to the maintenance crew that this needs to be trimmed and it is poison oak.  bush mallow  redberry   oaks  This is an English walnut. Earlier in the year we thought it was dead. It has a few walnuts on it. They won't get as big as commercial walnuts because these trees don't get any care.  climbing penstemon    California buckwheat   rocks and poison oak  Giant ryegrass is a native perennial grass that stays green all year. Most of our grasses are non-native annual grasses that die at the end of spring.  Everlasting smells like maple syrup  lichens    white nightshade has purple berries  wild cucumber (laying in sagebrush)  harding grass  rabbitfoot grass  crimson pitcher sage starting to go dormant  This is a different view of the Nicholas Flat pond than what I usually show you. I am on a strange rocky ridge at the end of the flat.  The pond is to the north, the ocean is to the south. The breeze from the ocean comes up through here and it would probably get chilly if one was to sit for a while.  Indian pink  lichens  up on the ridge    The rocky ridge is on the other side of the pond   the red stuff is azolla  This is the typical view of the Nicholas Flat pond. The reeds will soon completely surround the pond.  This looks like it would be a good place to see deer in the evening  the willows are forming buds already  poison oak berries  toyon  This is extremely late in the year for Ceanothus spinosus to be blooming   purple sage  summer is fall for fuschia-flowering gooseberry  |
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Mornin' Kelli! All of your pics are Great! I love the 'different view' of the pond! THank you so much for sharing! Gorgeous! Wonderful!  Joey Our minds, as well as our bodies, have need of the out-of-doors. |
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| Some great photos there Kelli. We have a native species of Azolla here too. And the "nightshade", are those a species of Solanum? We have 2 local Solanum species which are very toxic to people but further south, in the desert country, they have species that are edible. |
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| Thanks Joey. I would say that I'm sorry there are no ferns, but azolla is a fern. Zig, yes, the nightshades are solanum. I have never read anything about how the Indians used them, so I assume they are poisonous. I think I'll live longer that way.  I never saw azolla in this pond before. Birds must have spread it. I would have assumed that it is a non-native plant, but it turns out that it is native. If I had had a container with me, I would have brought a little bit home to put in my backyard pond. (Actually, there was a container but I didn't think of it at the time. Someone had forgotten a jar of salsa under a tree. I could have cleaned that out and used it.) |
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Thanks, Kelli, for another series of great photos! Such an infinite variety of wild flowers and plants! I especially like the bush mallow. The Everlasting is pretty neat--does the fragrance make you want to eat pancakes?  Thanks for giving us the opportunity to go along on your hikes with you!!  |
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| I don't really think about pancakes in warm weather, but if it was around in the winter, I probably would. |
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