I actually observed a centrally oriented sucker this time (on the ventral surface, no photo, sadly). My cursory searches didn't turn up any pics of this species out there, so if my ID is right, you're welcome, Internet.
Since Brenna was collecting for her phycology class, I asked her to teach me one sea weed, so of course she insisted on doing two, neither of which I've been able to remember over the course of the weekend, despite many attempts. The feathery one at the top is Microcladia coulteri (I did write them down). It's an epiphyte, and here it's growing on a species of Pyronitis.
These are two different species of Mazzaella. I think the brown one is splendens, but I need to confirm. I should really learn them since I use them both as nudibranch backgrounds all the time.
M. flaccida is the green one on the right. M. splendes is the brown one on the left.
Wasn't aware they made it this far west.
Pretty sure the leaf is dissected and not truly compound.
I guess this is right. Looks pretty different from the last time I saw this species, but maybe it's a different subspecies.
I'm pretty sure this was a garden escape, since I just saw it growing in someone's front yard in Berkeley. But, wot izit?
I was glad I drove up Refugio Rd, or I wouldn't have seen this! I think it's pretty common, but it's still a pretty awesome sage. The road supposedly goes much farther, but I was runing a bit low on gas. Maybe next time.
I'm thinking Encelia californica, but I'm not sure it was really a bush. Growing in shade near chaparral.
Another one for my ever-lengthening bugguide queue...
Actually maybe this is P. cicutaria. So confusing!
Pretty sure I've got the right Datura here. Flowers were massive.
Not making any progress on CalFlora. Growing coastal grassland/scrub right above the beach. Some kind of lily-ish thing...
The similarity to some of the classic Loch Ness Monster pics is wonderful. Earlier in the day some folks on the beach pointed out what they said was a whale at the north side of the beach. I saw what looked like a baby whale fin flapping out in the kelp, so I excitedly ran and got my camera and hustled up the beach to try and get a pic. My baby whale turned out to be a diver's flipper. I laughed. Later, I saw a grebe, lifted my binocs, and, in classic grebe fashion, caught a great look at some post-dive ripples. "Well," I thought to myself, "at least there's a nice whale in the background there. Hm, whale. WHALE!"
