Fields of Blue Dicks

The season is zipping by! The jays were already building nests when we arrived in early February and apparently they were only starting to build at this time last year (a more serious drought year). We have around 10 nests with nestlings already. WOW! More on that soon.

We've upped our crew personnel number from three to four, adding my good friend Oliver to the mix. Before Ollie came out, Michael, Kachina, and I drove all the way out to the West End/Fraser Point to check out the fields of Blue Dicks, Dichelostemma capitatum. A few rains this winter (not as many as we need, but enough for wildflowers) facilitated the flowers starting a month early. As the season progresses, we've seen new flowers pop up, the majority of which I didn't even see when I worked out here in 2013.

In Chumash lore, Coyote asked some children who were digging for Blue Dicks bulbs to eat to share with him. The generous children agreed to share their bounty with him so he bewitched the flowers to be plentiful and easy to dig up, but for the stingy kids he bewitched them to be deep and tough to find. Then when they cooked them in the coals of their fire, he bewitched them again so the generous kids had perfectly cooked bulbs and the stingy kids' were burned (Chumash Enthobotany by Jan Timbrook).

3/4ths of the Jay Crew (L to R): Me, Kachina, and Michael, lounging in the field.

Ecstatic for Blue Dicks beauty!

We returned to the fields for sunset, when the western sky blazed with sunbeams and the eastern sky cooled into periwinkle and lavender blue. We were silent watchers, the wind made the flowers dance along with our hearts.

Wildflowers of Santa Cruz Island, Part I

This season I have been particularly interested in identifying wildflowers. I feel like I hardly noticed them two years ago because I was so focused on the Jays--not that I am not as focused on them this year, but I started with a familiarity that I didn't have before, so I can take the extra moment to sit with a Shooting Star or photograph a Larkspur or take a deep breath in a field of Blue Dicks.

Upon returning to the cabins after a day of fieldwork, I often find myself reaching for A Flora of Santa Cruz Island, an intense but incredibly helpful guide to every single tree, flower, grass, and thistle on the island. The text is like trying to read another language (botany has an incredibly unique vocabulary), but the line drawings are simple and beautiful, so I use what knowledge I have of plant families to get me to the right section of the book and then I skim the pages for familiar petals or fruits.

Here are a few photos of what I have found so far.

Shooting Star, Dodecatheon clevelandii subsp. insulare.

Larkspur, Delphinium parryi subsp. maritimum.

 

Larkspur, fully flowering.

Blue Dicks, Dichelostemma capitatum.

In the first month of the field season, the open grassland vistas were glazed with purple Blue Dicks.

Johnny-Jump-Up, Viola pedunculata. This edible flower reminds me of my Grandmother, Kathy.

Wood Mint (or Hedge Nettle), Stachys bullata. The leaves make a delicious tea.

Fremont's Death Camas or Common Star-lily, Zigadenus fremontii. This plant is poisonous to humans and livestock!

One of my favorites: Goldenstar, Bloomeria crocea.

Such a vibrant back stripe on every petal!

Bush Monkey Flower, Mimulus longiflorus.

 

Island Monkey Flower, Mimulus flemingii, possibly a hybrid with M. longiflorus.

Catalina Mariposa Lily, Calochortus catalinae.

Climbing Penstemon, Keckiella cordifolia.

Stay tuned for beach/cliff flowers!