A rare/endangered plant. I came across this plant in the frigid dawn, before the sun hit the trail -- this image was captured at 6:33 am. As the sun rose and the day warmed up, insects became more active, as the following images show. Toni Corelli writes in "Flowering Plants of Edgewood Natural Preserve": "A synonym is 'M. arcuatus' listed in 'CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants of California' on List 1B, Plants Rare, Threatened, or Endangered in California and elsewhere. This species was lumped into M. fasciculatus in the Jepson Manual. After a fire in the area where several plants occurred, hundreds of plants germinated, indicating that this species responds to fire or disturbance."* Tentative ID by Helen Quinn. Toni Corelli confirms: "Correct, you can remove the ? - this is true for this series of plants that are identified as M. fasciculatus."

The macros that follow, up to and including the spider exoskeleton, are all of insects etc. on this plant.