Visitors 77
Modified 21-Dec-23
Created 17-May-22
92 photos
Ithuriel's Spear (Triteleia laxa) has its season in the sun. What a gift! A slender stem, rising tall above the surrounding grass, holding a bouquet of blossoms — open to pollinators and giving joy to all. Look around: they crowd the grassland, an excess of beauty. Before European annual grass spread across the state, Ithuriel's Spear and other native wildflowers must have been even more spectacular. (John Muir exulted in the sight as he walked across the Central Valley to Yosemite.)
Like many local wildflowers, Ithuriel's Spear has adapted to our long dry summers. Pulling life force inward, into roots, corms, or bulbs, these plants shelter underground, waiting for the next rain to undertake growth and propagation.
I am sure that we owe the distribution and abundance of these sparkles of joy to the First People, who sheltered, encouraged, spread, and cultivated them for thousands of years. The underground root, a concentrated storage of nutrients, was a resource for them. They did not neglect to show appreciation for this bounty, returning the love with practices that nourished and spread these resources. (Did they also value the beauty as well as the food and other "practical" values? How could they not?)
As a bonus, on this visit we find a white morph Ithuriel's Spear -- with a discreet Crab Spider waiting patiently for a passing pollinator. My favorite spider, Crab Spiders change their coloration and appearance to blend with their ambush hiding place.
Today's birding expedition also encountered a rare flower, Narrow-leaved Onion. At least, rare for the Ridge; it can be found near Searsville Lake.
We see other flowers: Farewell-to-Spring in the grassland, Chamise in the chaparral, Coyote-mint, Golden Yarrow, Tidy Tips, and another fairly rare onion, Brewer's. Butterflies. A curious deer. Birds of course, including swallows and a California Quail keeping watch for his browsing flock.
We pass through many of the ecosystems that crowd this small preserve: grassland — both serpentine and non-, chaparral, and oak woodland.
As we near Escobar Gate and the end of our adventure, another surprise. Check it out!
As always, please add your comment to any photo, to correct a mis-ID or to add information or insight. I am especially uncertain about the ID in #55-56.
