Tag: nature journaling

leaves

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
hondo canyon

‘Twas a grand day to hike Hondo. I spotted a new caterpillar, and learned more about it when I got home. The genista broom moth, Uresiphita reversalis, is light to medium brown with a dark spot on each top wing. The hindwings are yellow or orange with some brownish-gray shading toward the edges. Genista caterpillars feed on acacias, brooms (Genista spp., thus the common name) and lupines, among other species. They ingest and store alkaloids from their host plants, which make the worms bitter or even toxic to mammals, birds and some insect predators. So don’t try eating them!

limuw

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
limuw

After all these years of living nearby, I finally paid a visit to Santa Cruz Island (limuw) with the Channel Islands Nature Journalers. I was keen to spot the extremely cute, iconic Island Fox, and was not disappointed. Urocyon littoralis is a small fox species that is endemic to six of the eight Channel Islands of California, with a unique sub-species occupying each island. They are generally docile, show little fear of humans, and have figured out how to open backpacks to get at your sandwiches.

It was a lovely day spent with like-minded, happy folks. Thanks to Karen and Jeyla for organising the trip.

Me at Potato Harbor overlook, Santa Cruz Island
Photo by Jeyla

Solanum lycopersicum

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
cherrytomato

I’d never noticed that a tomato’s seeds were arranged radially inside the fruit.

Tomato seeds are remarkably resilient, surviving the heat of the compost bin and the acids of the mammalian digestive tract. Every time I spread compost on my garden, tomato seedlings pop up, and I’m happy to let these volunteers grow*. Given the competition from other hungry critters, I usually pick the fruit at first blush and ripen it indoors.

*Squash/pumpkin seedlings, on the other hand, are plucked at first sight. I don’t have room for their sprawl.

Oenothera elata

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
Oenothera elata

Oenothera elata (Tall/Hooker’s/Hairy/Western/Marsh Evening Primrose) is a tall biennial native to much of western and central North America, with one or more upright stems bearing a profusion of large bright yellow flowers, 3 in (7 cm) across. I was intrigued to see a bee burrowing deep into the flower’s throat, rather than gathering pollen from the prominent stamens and pistil.

Pyrola picta

Published on by Hashi1 Comment
Pyrola picta

On my last morning at the retreat, I sat beside another unfamiliar plant to nature journal. We had no cell reception there, so no checking iNaturalist, but I’ve since ID’d it as white-veined wintergreen or whitevein shinleaf, Pyrola picta. This perennial herb in the heath family is native to western North America from southwestern Canada to the southwestern United States.

It is not a source of wintergreen oil; that comes from plants in the Gaultheria genus.

Veratrum californicum

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
Veratrum californicum

Veratrum californicum (California corn lily, white or California false hellebore) is a beautiful but extremely poisonous riparian plant that I encountered in the Sierras. Its steroidal alkaloids can cause serious birth defects in animals such as sheep, horses, and other mammals that graze upon it. I’m guessing pregnant humans shouldn’t munch on it, either.

Letharia vulpina

Published on by HashiLeave a comment
spotlights

Wolf lichen is my new favourite lichen. The Klamath Indians in California soaked porcupine quills in a chartreuse extract of Letharia vulpina to dye them yellow; then wove the quills into their basket patterns. The pigment is actually vulpinic acid, which is relatively toxic to meat-eating mammals as well as insects and molluscs (but not toxic to rabbits and mice). It’s been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes.

Just one of the many new-to-me wonders in the Sierra Nevada.