Natural History Wanderings

post and photos by Kathi Dowdakin

The thousands of Emmenanthe penduliflora/Whispering Bells in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park have just begun blooming.  This is all along the slope just east of where Lower Bald Mt. Trail meets Bald Mt. Trail, all the way to the top of the hill.  According to one of the park staffers today, the previous fire was 34 years ago, which is a very long time for a seed bank to sit quietly, waiting for the right conditions.

Also along Bald Mt. Trail, on the uphill side in the same area, I spotted what might be Antirrhinum kelloggii/Lax Snapdragon, which has only two reports from Sonoma Co in the Calflora database – one in 1947 by Milo Baker himself, and one in 1975.  Pretty cool!!!!

We scared up one of those cute little coppery snakes, AKA a baby rattlesnake, so be careful in your bush-whacking.

And if you’re a fan of Calochortus amabilis/Diogenes’ lantern, there’s dozens, if not hundreds, of them along the Bald Mt. Trail.  The Streptanthus/Jewelflower I found in April by the rain gauge did not survive the recent weed-eater work around the picnic table there.

See flower portraits of Climbing snapdragon (Antirrhinum kelloggii) and Whispering bells (Emmenanthe penduliflora var. penduliflora) from Sugarloaf by Charlie Russell