Hillside walk, 25 January 2014
The two strigose lotus (Acmispon strigosus) that I found last week are no longer blooming. Instead, nearby I found one other plant of this species, and it had a single bloom. As with the others, it was in the middle of a well-used animal trail.
The four o'clock (Mirabilis laevis var. crassifolia) is now blooming well on the north hillside.
Hoaryleaf ceanothus (Ceanothus crassifollius var. planus) continues to bloom, but only in the same limited places as last week.
The one surprise was that rattlesnake weed (Chamaesyce sp.) was very hard to find, being in just a couple of places, with the flowers almost completely finished. It's odd because this species bloomed right through the summer. Maybe the dryness has finally got to it, or perhaps it has completed its season. The oddity is that last week it was in significant profusion, much lusher than it's been since cast spring.
Telegraph weed (Heterotheca grandiflora) is also must diminished in flowering this week, having reduced its flower numbers over several weeks. It may indeed be a good indicator of current weather because over the past year it has bloomed whenever the weather was cooler and/or wetter.
The liverwort (Asterella californica) has some green only in one or two places, and is almost unnoticeable unless one observers closely.
