This photograph of goldfields (Lasthenia spp.) was taken on a run on Lasky Mesa in Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve almost exactly one year ago. This April I haven't seen any goldfields on Lasky Mesa. The soil is too dry for the seeds to germinate. The drought in Southern California has suppressed or delayed the growth of these, and many other species of wildflowers.

Bush monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus) readily hybridizes, producing a myriad of forms and colors, and some interesting work for botanists. This plant pictured above may be a hybrid of local salmon and scarlet colored forms.

From a run near Sage Ranch on March 26, 2007.

Ants forage among the blossoms of Eastwood manzanita on the Chumash Trail in Rocky Peak Park. From a run on Wednesday, March 21, 2007.

Some related posts: Chumash-Las Llajas Loop, Chumash-Hummingbird Loop, San Fernando Valley from Rocky Peak, Chumash Trail Snow.

A Winter bloomer, California prickly phlox (Leptodactylon californicum) likes warm, rocky, southwest facing slopes where it can bask in the afternoon sun. The flowers have a subtle, musty-sweet fragrance that is especially pleasant when encountered on a still evening, in fading twilight, near the end of a run.

Shooting stars are among the first wildflowers to bloom following soaking Winter rains. These appear to be Dodecatheon clevelandii ssp. patulum.

The flowers produce a semitransparent, otherworldly seed capsule that traps moisture. This is an adaptation to an environment that may be cool and damp one day, and then hot and dry just a few days later.

From a run at Sage Ranch Park.

The inflorescence of Canyon Liveforever (prob. Dudleya cymosa).

From a run at Sage Ranch Park on June 2, 2006.

Related post: Chalk Liveforever.

An ant forages among the florets of a wreath plant.

I've run past wreath plants thousands of times in the chaparral of local open space areas. At a glance, the nondescript wiry brown plant isn't very appealing. But, it's one of a few plants you'll see blooming in the chaparral in the Fall, so on a run this last November I took a closer look. This revealed a lavender-tinged composite flower that is anything but mundane. And, as I was to discover, a case of probable mistaken identity, and an example of one of the ways new species occur.

Chaparral Mallow (Malacothamnus fasciculatus) from a run at Sage Ranch Park on November 2, 2006.

On a chilly October morning, following a cold night at 9400 ft., a Seven-spotted Lady Beetle is slow to move from her bivouac amid the blossoms of a Rabbitbrush.

The photo is from the North Backbone Trail Revisited hike and run.

A photograph of Christmas Berry (Heteromeles arbutifolia) taken on a run on Thanksgiving Day. My route was a pleasant 7.5 mile figure eight course that starts at the south end of Reseda Blvd. at Marvin Braude Mulholland Gateway Park, goes up to near Eagle Rock via Fire Road #30 and the East Topanga Fire Road, and then returns via the Garapito and Bent Arrow Trails. Here's a Google Earth image and a Google Earth KMZ file of a GPS trace of the route.

Also see: Ferns Along the Garapito Trail

Fanged and clawed, death waits,
On a highland of lavender, near a saffron spire.

The silhouette of a crab spider on the petal of a back lit Purple nightshade (prob. Solanum xanti). The blossom is about 0.8 inch (~20 mm) wide, which would make the span of the spider's crab-like grasping forelegs about 0.25 inch (~7 mm). From a run at Sage Ranch Park on November 2, 2006.

Note: This is not a photo of Deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna).

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A native of the Mediterranean, Milk Thistle is an invasive weed that appears to be increasingly profuse in roadside areas of Upper Las Virgenes Canyon Open Space Preserve. Generally considered detrimental in the wild, the plant has been used medicinally for at least 2000 years, and is cultivated in Texas, Canada and Argentina.