rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Jul 31, 2016 19:01:03 GMT -8
Thanks, foxalo . By the way, a little more careful reading shows those Turk's Cap lilies don't grow out here. What I have is some variation of the tiger/leopard lily.
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 1, 2016 4:04:02 GMT -8
Turk's Cap lilies don't grow out here. Maybe but your inverted flower with the petals curled back sure looks like Turk's Cap to me. Maybe it's just rare?
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bp2go
Trail Wise!
California
Posts: 1,329
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Post by bp2go on Aug 1, 2016 5:22:41 GMT -8
some variation of the tiger/leopard lily Some variation, indeed! It sure could be a Humboldt's lily, but there are several other possibilities in California! It would only take a little close-up work at the flower to determine, but that ship has sailed. Here is Humbolt's Lily: www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=4804Just for fun (for me, anyway), the botanical name is Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatun, and ocellatum means spotted! And by the way, Penstemon is the botanical name! And there are 99 species in California: www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?where-genus=PenstemonI knew you'd all want to know! I used to spend all my free time roaming the Sierra for wildflowers. Plant ID is not all that hard, I wish I could encourage more people to simply learn 10 flower parts that will help get the ID to Family, probably to Genus! Species is a little more work. And botanical names look intimidating but they tell such a story when you can interpret the Latin! Okay, jumping off my nerdy soapbox now...
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 1, 2016 5:53:15 GMT -8
bp2go , you may be a plant nerd but I always enjoy your posts. It makes me wish that my highschool or college biology teacher had been a little more passionate. Maybe I would have paid more attention. But then again, maybe not, since I found biology was nothing more than being able to memorize pages and pages of facts. I much preferred math/trig/calculus etc. where very little memorization was needed. LOL
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bp2go
Trail Wise!
California
Posts: 1,329
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Post by bp2go on Aug 1, 2016 6:41:38 GMT -8
biology teacher had been a little more passionate Coolkat, I want to let you know that I didn't pick up an interest until I moved to the Sierra foothills and started wondering what I was seeing? I bought a Peterson Guide to West Coast Wildflowers, and it was a good starting book, but it seemed I kept finding flowers that were not listed! Not really surprising when it only covered a few hundred flowers for the whole west coast! My local forest contains more than 1200 species. I had some work to do. A Peterson Guide to your region would still be a good start because it has really clear drawings of the basic "vocabulary" of plants. The 10 major flower parts (stamens, pistils, petals, etc) which you must recognize to start a plant ID. Beyond that, you might want to look for a copy of Newcomb's Wildflowers for the Northeast. I bought mine simply because the artwork is so great. For clarity, I must point out the botany is a sub-set of biology. I taught myself botany with a book and a hand lens. I confess I also soon bought a decent dissecting scope, but a good hand lens will serve you well. It's late in the season but you could Google "native plant society" for your area. If you're lucky, you may have one close enough to attend some meetings, maybe a field trip or two? It's free, painless, and interesting. The Latin names are nice, but I know may amateurs who simply don't bother trying to say them. And you wonder if a Turk's Cap is rare? Well, one very good reason to get tuned in is to be able to recognize anything that may need to be protected (make local USFS aware), or reported (invasive weeds) that might need attention. Anyway, botany is really fun. And if you're standing there looking, you might as well get to know what you're looking at!
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bp2go
Trail Wise!
California
Posts: 1,329
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Post by bp2go on Aug 1, 2016 6:46:58 GMT -8
This is worth a look:
Botany
There should be no monotony In studying your botany; It helps to train And spur the brain-- Unless you haven't gotany. It teaches you, does Botany, To know the plants and spotany, And learn just why They live or die-- In case you plant or potany.
You learn, from reading Botany, Of wooly plants and cottony That grow on earth, And what they're worth, And why some spots have notany.
You sketch the plants in Botany, You learn to chart and plotany Like corn or oats-- You jot down notes, If you know how to jotany.
Your time, if you'll allotany, Will teach you how and what any Old plant or tree Can do or be-- And that's the use of Botany!
--Berton Braley Science News Letter March 9, 1929
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 1, 2016 8:38:49 GMT -8
And if you're standing there looking, you might as well get to know what you're looking at! I like that!
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rebeccad
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Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 1, 2016 9:10:38 GMT -8
This is worth a look: BotanyThere should be no monotony In studying your botany; It helps to train And spur the brain-- Unless you haven't gotany. It teaches you, does Botany, To know the plants and spotany, And learn just why They live or die-- In case you plant or potany. You learn, from reading Botany, Of wooly plants and cottony That grow on earth, And what they're worth, And why some spots have notany. You sketch the plants in Botany, You learn to chart and plotany Like corn or oats-- You jot down notes, If you know how to jotany. Your time, if you'll allotany, Will teach you how and what any Old plant or tree Can do or be-- And that's the use of Botany! --Berton Braley Science News Letter March 9, 1929 I'll have to share that with my father-in-law, our family botanist and long-time guru in the CA Native Plant Society
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 1, 2016 10:24:11 GMT -8
Hey bp2go , as long as you don't showing of your plant nerdiness again I'm wondering what is the difference between Humbolt Lily and the Turk's Cap lily that I found on my side of the states? Outside of the color they really do look alike to me.
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bp2go
Trail Wise!
California
Posts: 1,329
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Post by bp2go on Aug 1, 2016 11:34:53 GMT -8
what is the difference... Well, yours is in the East, mine is in the West! Okay, yuk yuk, ...on to the botany: Warnin: please do NOT take this as discouraging. What would be needed is a plant key. A plant key is a series of couplets, pairs of statement that only one of which will be true. Based on the true choice, two more statements, etc. Eventually you get to the last pair and with luck, the anseer is revealed. Here is a botanical snapshot of the Humbolt's Lily: Habit: Bulb scales often purple at tip, obscurely (1)2--5-segmented. Flower: perianth yellow or light orange, spots margined lighter red (toward tip larger, with wider margins); pollen +- tan or tan-yellow. Ecology: Oak canyons, chaparral, yellow-pine forest; Elevation: < 1800 m. Bioregional Distribution: s CW, SW. Now lilies are often very similar (dare I say identical?) at first glance, But look at that innocent "spots margined lighter red (toward tip". That's the kind of small feature easily missed unless you have a book with a key. "perianth yellow" is pare of that short list of flower parts I mentioned/ The perianth is under the petals and chances arem nobody looks at that. So since I don't have access to a key for Lilium superbum to compare with L. humboltii. I can't point out specifics. In general, my suggestion is to get the flower parts into your head (10 names, from petals and sepals, stigma and stamens, etc.) and then, armed with a book (Peterson, Newcomb) you will start to at least see FAMILY characteristics. For easy example: Lilies are in the Familiy Liliaceae, but so are 80+ other plants not called lily: agapanthus, calochortus, etc.) Read the rift paragraph on Wikipedia for a good understanding of what makes a flower part of the Lily family. So when you see a flower with 3 petals, you have a lily! When you have a flower with a sunflower look (disk and ray flowers) you have a member of Asteraceae! Want a challenge? Learn about this giant damily! Thistles and clovers, and any daisy-like flower. I'll leave it to you to find why thistles are related to sunflowers! It's eay to find. So before I bore you to tears, get a book or simply Googlr plant parts. Tgen a Peterson will group plants by family, you are on your way. Isn't this fun? Wake UP, Coolkat,....I'm finished here.
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 1, 2016 13:29:00 GMT -8
I dunno, Steve. I've always kind of liked the "DYC" designation for those yellow things with lots of petals...
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Post by autumnmist on Aug 1, 2016 13:41:18 GMT -8
rebeccad , beautiful photos, as always. The first photo of the lily is a nice blend of color and texture - the delicate petals of the lily, also delicate and frothy ferns in the background, and rough rocks/boulders in the background. The photo of colorful flowers softening the starkness of the rock (granite?) slabs and what appears to be an aged tree is really stunning. It's definitely a NatGeo quality photo! Not as scientific as Steve's analysis, but comparing the Humboldt and Turk's Cap, it looks like the former has more spots on the leaves. Wildflower identification is fun. Although I haven't been able to identify all those that appear when my garden goes wild, I have found wild phlox, soapwort, a burgundy trillium, and LadyBells Adenaphora. There were more over the years but I don't recall w/o checking my gardening notes. What I find fascinating is that the yard was "suburbanized" in 1950 when the house was built. Prior owners turned the yard into a large plot of grass. Yet under certain circumstances, these lovely wildflowers provide a welcome surprise. I know they're not started by seeds from neighboring yards b/c their yards are the typical suburban grass.
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rebeccad
Trail Wise!
Writing like a maniac
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Post by rebeccad on Aug 1, 2016 18:59:45 GMT -8
The photo of colorful flowers softening the starkness of the rock (granite?) slabs and what appears to be an aged tree is really stunning. Yes, granite and a snag. Thanks! It's definitely a NatGeo quality photo! You flatter me. There are some depth of field/focus issues that bug me, but...I'm not sure if it's about limits to the camera or limits to my vision (I've gotten terribly far-sighted, so that I depend on my viewfinder with diopter adjustment. But sometimes it's hard to get my head in position to see that...)
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Post by Coolkat on Aug 2, 2016 5:31:45 GMT -8
Here is another one that I don't know much about.
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Post by ashepabst on Aug 2, 2016 6:03:55 GMT -8
weird!
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