The other day i posted an image that wasn't easily ID'd. Here i make amends with a better visualization of the skipper dujour up here.
Spice Bush (Calycanthus occidentalis), Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, Napa County, California - June 2010. This pretty flowering shrub has aromatic leaves in an opposite arrangement on the twigs and is apparently a California endemic that often grows along streams, as was the case in this park.
Recorded by yuliana negrete fatima olivares Paula chan, Helen Lehman school, IOOBY
California Forest Scorpion (Uroctonus mordax), Bothe-Napa Valley State Park, Napa County, California - June 2010.
Endangered in California; but locally abundant on this side of Hood Mountain.
I've always loved the word fritillary. Are the flowers named in honor of the butterflies, or vice versa? As far as I know, the word means 'checkered'...
The pond's all dried up now. I found one of these on what had been a very soggy bank in February.
They are AKA 'Mission Bells', and the plant viewed from the side does suggest an arrangement of bells.
By the way: the picture includes rosettes of some other species which might seem to be part of the Mission Bells; In fact, F. affinis rises out of the ground on a slim stalk.
These two ferns are different. The one on the right is what I've always called coastal woodfern (Dryopteris arguta). I'm convinced the one on the left is lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina) with its pointier leaves and uncovered sori.
