Natural History Wanderings

I was back at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden yesterday as it seems to my favorite place to photograph flowers and see California native wildflowers.  There are a number of species of Fritillary and Trillium in bloom.  Also the species that I have seen in the last few weeks have more flowers as the season progresses. My favorite flower of the day was the Coast Fawn-Lily Eythronium revolutum.

I  learned that the Brook Trillium has a new scientific name.  It has been changed from Trillium rivale to Pseudotrillium rivale. It is the only specie in the genus Pseudotrillium.  According to Wikipedia’s entry on Pseudotrillium:

This species is endemic to the Siskiyou Mountains of southern Oregon and northern California, usually on soils of ultramafic origin, such as serpentine.

Pseudotrillium is a rhizomatous perennial growing up to 20 centimeters in height. The three bracts have generally lance-shaped blades up to 11 centimeters long borne on petioles. The blades are glossy blue-green with silvery venations. Atop the whorl of bracts is a single nodding non-fragrant flower with green sepals and pink-blushed white petals up to 3 centimeters long by 2 wide.

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