Home»Gallery»Portola Valley Ranch, Windy Hill, Etc.»6/1/2017 Late Spring Wildflowers

Late flash: this is Clarkia, I will say C. unguiculata. Betsy Carpenter: "Clarkia elegans--I saw them in the same places on Thursday last week." Miriam Sachs Martin: "Clarkia unguiculata, locally native! Definitely not spamming, love your pics!" CalFlora: C. unguiculata; alternate name, C. elegans. THANKS, everyone! (Images 1-3, 4?, & 10)

Now we just need an ID for the flowers and plant in images 7 & 8.

A walk along Blue Oak Trail, circling back via Los Trancos Trail to home in Portola Valley Ranch. Late spring flowers -- including fragrant buckeye flower spurs.
Are these Clarkia? Are they native, or planted? If planted, how did they get to Blue Oaks Trail, across a ravine from PVR, far from houses? And how can they show so many colors, from white through pink and red to dark purple? The same plant shows up a long way away, next to Los Trancos Road, near a house.

To see Stanford Professor Tad Fukami and learn more about the sticky monkeyflower's amazing ability to show whether it has been pollinated this season, navigate to Jasper Ridge, A Day at a Time, 7/6/2011. (Hint: check out the white stigma at the center. Is it open or closed?)