wildflower

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 123 (Wildflower – California Sweetshrub)

Jeff

California Sweetshrub

Calycanthus occidentalis aka California Allspice or California Sweetshrub near the Arch Entrance at Yosemite

While pulling off the main road into Yosemite from the El Portal access, known as the Arch Rock Entrance (click HERE for a picture), I entered a staff parking lot. In many of the wooded spaces surrounding the parking area, there were numerous bushes of California Allspice also called California Sweetshrub.

At first I thought it might be a type of rhododendron, but I was able to make a positive identification using a field guide. The pretty red color against the lush green foliage was very striking. Some of my favorite moments during my hiking trips are discovering a wildflower or wild plants such as these.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 123 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 10:06:06 AM
Capture date: June 10, 2016
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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 115 (Lupines – Valley Loop Trail)

Jeff

Lupines along the Valley Loop Trail 

A wet spring brought wildflowers to Yosemite and the lupines were abundant!

As YOY followers probably know by now, one of my favorite subjects to record as I hike are wildflowers. The diversity and tenacity of nature to have flowers of such beauty that fend for themselves in the wild leaves me in wonder.

As we hiked the Valley Loop Trail, we would come across pockets of lupiines, but this particular specimen appealed to me because of the colors of the nearby ferns and the lupine leaves. The leaves have a unique (palmate) form and dark green color with lighter highlights along the ridges. Not only that, but lupine leaves have a water-gathering quality. If you look at them after a rain (or watering) you can see that the water beads and collects in strategic places on the plant.

A careful examination of the flower might remind you of a pea. Yes, it is a member of the pea family.

My wildflower ID skills are only “fair” so I am guessing these are Gray’s lupine, but they could be Brewer’s lupine. I am providing links to each below so you can decide.

Gray’s Lupine

Brewer’s Lupine

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 115 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 12:16:43 PM
Capture date: June 8, 2016
Exposure: 1/60 sec @ f/13
Focal Length: 38mm
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Nikon D3300

 

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 106 (Owl’s Clover – Hetch Hetchy)

Jeff

Owl's Clover at Hetch Hetchy 

Owl’s Clover (Castilleja exserta) at the Hetch Hetchy section of Yosemite National Park

It was very interesting for me to see this variety of Owl’s Clover at Hetch Hetchy because we have a variant of this plant in our Sonoran Desert. It looks slightly different, but the relationship is unmistakable.

The plant is not really a clover although it does look a bit like one. An interesting fact about this plant is that it uses host plants to derive some of its sustenance. It may not be parasitic, but it does have a symbiotic relationship of some form.

The purple against the brown grasses made for a pretty setting on this overcast day.

Learn more about Owl’s Clover at the California Native Plant Society

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 105 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 12:03:30 PM
Capture date: June 11, 2016
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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 88 (Mariposa Lily – Hetch Hetchy)

Jeff

Mariposa Lily at Hetch HetchyMariposa Lily at Hetch Hetchy, Yosemite NP

One of the wonders of Hetch Hetchy when we visited in early June, 2016 was the fields of wildflowers still blooming in large numbers enveloping the Wapama Falls Trail at times. Among them was the Mariposa Lily pictured above. As you can note from the photograph it wasn’t alone on this canvas as other wildflowers were vying for attention all around.

If you look closely, you can see an insect in the bottom-right of the flower. It is yellow and black and the antennae can be seen raising above the insect.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 88 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 12:02:50 PM
Capture date: June 11, 2016
Exposure: 1/160 sec @ f/6.3
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Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 55 (Green Horsetail)

Jeff

Equisetum hymale segmented grass 

Light coloring Equisetum hymale

Equisetum hymale is an interesting wild, yet ornamental segmented grass. It is also known as Horsetail or Scouring rush. The sun filtering through the woods illuminate the stalks so they appear to be lit from within. They are very pretty in this presentation.

The photograph was taken during our hike around Mirror Lake at Yosemite.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 55 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 11:42:21 AM
Capture date: June 5, 2016
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Focal Length: 38mm
ISO 110
Nikon D3300

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 53 (Purple Wildflower)

Jeff

Brodiaea elegans - purple wildflowerBrodiaea elegans a beautiful purple wildflower

While hiking at Hetch Hetchy along the Wapama Falls Trail we saw a number of pretty wildflower. These purple Brodiaea elegans blooms against the backdrop of the brown hay-like growth created a lovely scene (IMHO).

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 53 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 2:08:36 PM
Capture date: June 11, 2016
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Canon SX50 HS

Year of Yosemite (YOY) – Day 16

Jeff

Beautiful White Wildflower

White wildflower (Triteleia hyacinthina) photographed along the trail at Hetch Hechy

On Saturday we anticipated that Yosemite Valley would be more crowded so we headed north to Hetch Hetchy to hike the Wapama Falls Trail. Hetch Hetchy is a man-made dam created by flooding one of Yosemite’s other pretty valleys. This was a controversial move at the time. You can read The Drowning of Hetch Hetchy—and What Was Lost to find out more (scroll down on the page).

Nevertheless, there was an abundance of wildflowers along the trail on this day and this white beauty flowering against a darkened puddle made for a very pretty shot.

Wikipedia Information about the flower:

Triteleia hyacinthina is a species of flowering plant known by the common names white brodiaea, white tripletlily, hyacinth brodiaea, and fool’s onion.

 
Do you have a question about our visit to Yosemite? Ask it in the comment section.

 

JBRish.com originally published this post
*All photographs Copyright by Jeffrey B. Ross with all rights reserved.

 
See previous Year of Yosemite (YOY) posts HERE. If you want to read the introduction to the YOY series, CLICK HERE.

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Meta Data – Day 16 YOY – Year of Yosemite

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Capture time: 12:23:13 PM
Capture date: June 11, 2016
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