MAY FLOWERS

The grass is turning slowly with temperatures in the mid-80s, the ground still moist in most places from the last rains. It’s been a month since I’ve been to the Top and Sulphur, so I took salt, mineral and my camera up into Greasy, most all day. Cattle and feed look great, a few strays. We’ll be gathering to wean in the coming weeks, we’ll get them then.

I decided today that this is the most diverse wildflower year since I been trying to learn their names. But you’d never know it looking from the road because the green feed has been so tall these last few weeks, it’s outgrown the flowers. Two new ones today, plus some more Kaweah Brodiaea that has just begun to bloom. Though the Monkeyflower looks a little like the ‘Kaweah’, another ‘Rare and Endangered’ wildflower on CNPS’ list, it probably is the more common Manyflowered Monkeyflower.

Kaweah Brodiaea – May 3, 2012

Kaweah Brodiaea – May 3, 2012

Pearly Everlasting – May 3, 2012

Elegant Clarkia – May 3, 2012

Pink Spineflower (Chorizanthe membranacea) – May 3, 2012

Windmill Pink – May 3, 2012

Pretty Face, Golden Brodiaea – May 3, 2012

Ithuriel’s Spear, Grass Nut – May 3, 2012

Common Brodiaea, Wild Hyacinth, Blue Dicks – May 3, 2012

Manyflowered or Kaweah Monkeyflower? – May 3, 2012

Silver Bird's-foot Trefoil - May 3, 2012

Silver Bird’s-foot Trefoil – May 3, 2012

American Booklime (Veronica americana) – May 3, 2012

3 responses to “MAY FLOWERS

  1. Beautiful flowers and photos, John! Wish I was there to see them. Never have heard of the A. Booklime or the Spineflower. Any chance you might know the Botanical Latin for them? Are you using the book specific to your area? I have two I used when I would visit Bob and Connie….Also, the second pic from the bottom with the yellow flowers has no name????

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  2. Thanks Heather, it was past my bedtime when I posted these.

    I refer to Arthur Shahzade’s “Wildlfowers of California’s Central Valley and Neighboring Sierra” and Audubon’s “Field Guide to North American Wildflowers” most when I can’t find what I’m looking for @ the Calflora site among the 600+ species for this County and terrain. In a few instances, like those under the ‘Unidentified’ tab, some have not been recorded here. Unfortunately, my botanical expertise is extremely limited, so I have to match the pictures up which can become quite tedious and frustrating.

    I was tickled to get the ‘Rare and Endangered’ Kaweah Brodiaea yesterday as their extremely short bloom period has just begun.

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  3. Just contacted the only photographer to have contributed photos of the Kaweah Monkeyflower to Calflora. For the record, this is not the Kaweah Monkeyflower!

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