Theme of the day yesterday: Yellow Mariposa Lily

Theme of the day yesterday: Yellow Mariposa Lily
(Calochortus luteus)

I call this a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bloom. I have been traversing Annadel since the mid-1970's and have never seen such a display of Gold Nuggets! They are everywhere! A particularly nice display and view is at the top of North Burma Trail among the medium boulders looking down over Coyote Meadow AKA The Serengeti, towards Lake Ilsanjo below and dead-center.

In years past, I recall enjoying Gold Nuggets here and there, a few stalks at a time, generally ooohing-and-ahhhing over single plants. They remind me of California poppies, only with a touch of flamboyance in the dots and spots and bi-colored edges. Bright flashes of sunshine in otherwise golden grasses.
Also known as Golden Orb, this California endemic is a perennial herb grown from a bulb, but available from native plant nurseries in seed form. It requires good drainage where it is mostly dry all summer. The plant is a host to the White-lined Sphinx and Orange Tortrix Moth. Goldenrod Crab Spiders use the blossom as a hiding place to catch unwary prey. The plant and bulb were traditional food for Indigenous Peoples

Want to see this display while it lasts? Visit Annadel State Park and hike up from the North Burma Trailhead on Channel Drive ($7 day-use fee or use your California State Park pass). At the junction with Live Oak Trail, stay left on North Burma and continue to the top where you burst out of mixed woodland and manzanitas to open grasslands looking over meadows towards Bennett Mountain to the south. When you continue on North Burma back into the forest cover, keep watch on both sides of the trail for other treasures such as Golden Fairy Lantern, Pink Honeysuckle, Rein Orchid, Cliffbrake Fern, Chamise blossoms masquerading as Leather Oak, Orange-bush Monkeyflower, Wood Rat Condos to the left of the trail and about 20-feet out on the forest floor, St. John's Wort, and more!

The piles of basalt rock chips are left-over from the quarrying era of about 1875-1913-ish. Italian laborers chipped quarried basalt blocks into large "bricks" or paving blocks in a prescribed size. It is said that each man averaged 500 blocks a day, chipping away with hand-tools, and leaving these huge piles of "tailings." The blocks were hauled down to Annadel (AKA Melita) Station and taken by train to Hayfork Landing in Petaluma, then transported over to the ever-growing city of San Francisco. The blocks paved the streets here, Sacramento, and shipped to Paris as ballast in ships and to pave the streets there. When automobiles came on the scene, the paving blocks were too rough, and someone discovered macadam (or asphalt) which made for a smooth ride. So ended the quarrying era in Annadel.

Author Sarah Reid, California Naturalist and Annadel Addict
June 6, 2023

Publicado el junio 9, 2023 02:52 TARDE por