Tag: plants

at the beach

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duneplants

I went to Ormond Beach in Oxnard with the Channel Islands Nature Journalers. It’s an interesting place, a little hard to get to, bounded by a port, a Naval Air Station, a power plant, and a superfund* site—a former metal smelter—that is high in aluminum, magnesium, and other metals. Some of the waste contains radioactive thorium and radium.

Sounds yucky, but because of its lack of appeal to the beach-going public, it’s a great birding site! There’s a protected lagoon and wetlands, and more shorebird species are known to use Ormond Beach than any other site in Ventura County. Two endangered species, the Western Snowy Plover and the California Least Tern, nest there. We went with a guide from Audubon, so it was primarily a bird-watching event, but as usual, the plants called my name.

*I learned why highly polluted locations are called superfund sites. It’s because that’s the amount of money that is needed to clean them up. Check here to see if you have one near you (US only).

Polygala myrtifolia

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Polygala myrtifolia

Gorgeous flowers. Happy bees. Invasive shrub. Two out of three ain’t bad 🙄

Actually, this species has something going for it besides its beauty—it is noted for its antibacterial and antifungal properties. Research conducted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal found that aqueous extracts of P. myrtifolia are effective against Candida albicans, the yeast that causes candidiasis or thrush.

cuscuta

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cuscuta

Cuscuta—commonly called dodder or amarbel—is a genus of more than 200 species of parasitic plants, typically yellow, orange, or red (and only rarely green). It occurs across temperate and tropical regions worldwide. The plant grows as long, thin, twining stems that coil around host plants, drawing nutrients by inserting tiny, straw-like structures into the host’s phloem. Dodder is able to locate suitable hosts by sensing airborne volatile organic compounds, which may explain why we saw it growing mostly on black sage during today’s hike.

Its many folk names include strangle tare, strangleweed, scaldweed, beggarweed, lady’s laces, fireweed, wizard’s net, devil’s guts, devil’s hair, devil’s ringlet, goldthread, hailweed, hairweed, hellbine, love vine, pull-down, angel hair, and witch’s hair—curiously linking it to angels and devils, ladies and beggars, fire and hail, love and hell.

Paeonia californica

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Paeonia californica

This peony is endemic to southwestern California (USA) and northernmost Baja California (Mexico). It grows on dry hillsides in the coastal sage scrub and chaparral communities of the coastal mountains.

The plant dies back in the summer, and tolerates little or no water while dormant. It puts forth its compound leaves after a good winter rain, which this year happened in mid-November. So we’re seeing the flowers already, before the end of the year. Nice!