I took several photos of this wildlife and botanical refuge but none turned out as well as this photo. However, it doesn't give the feeling of a large meadow (very large to be exact) that is blooming with this beautiful wildflower. Does anyone know what kind of wildflower this is?
Have a good day!!
Thanks,
Chuck
Here is another nice one.
Thanks,
Chuck
Do you have any closer shots of the flowers? I'm going to guess the pink one is one of the spring-blooming mallows, possibly a species of Eremalche http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?orderby=taxon&where-genus=Eremalche or Sidalcea http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?orderby=taxon&where-genus=Sidalcea I suppose it could be a Clarkia as well but it seems a bit early for them to be blooming (at least up here it's a bit early) and the flowers don't look quite right from what I can see of them.
The white ones I can't see the flowers well enough, although there are white flowering species of both the above genera as well.
Calandrinia ciliata came to mind for the pink onehttp://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&testing=123&query_src=photos_flora_index&rel-taxon=contains&where-taxon=calandrinia&rel-namesoup=matchphrase&where-namesoup=&where-lifeform=any&rel-location=matchphrase&where-location=&rel-country=eq&where-country=any&rel-state=eq&where-state=any&where-county=any&where-collectn=any&rel-photographer=eq&where-photographer=any&rel-kwid=equals&where-kwid=
Are the white ones single flowers or groups of florets? If the latter maybe one of the pincushions like Chaenactis stevioides:
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-genre=Plant&testing=123&query_src=photos_flora_index&rel-taxon=contains&where-taxon=Chaenactis+stevioides&rel-namesoup=matchphrase&where-namesoup=&where-lifeform=any&rel-location=matchphrase&where-location=&rel-country=eq&where-country=any&rel-state=eq&where-state=any&where-county=any&where-collectn=any&rel-photographer=eq&where-photographer=any&rel-kwid=equals&where-kwid=
Close ups would confirm (or rule out!)...
Is this the Santa Rosa up above Palm Springs?
~'spin!~
I agree, might be Calandrinia...that was actually the first thing I thought of, but the name was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn't quite remember it!
Dear 'spin',
Santa Rosa Plateau is near (if not in) Wildomar. It is not above Palm Springs.
Dear Ecrane3,
Sorry! I don't have any closeups. The intention of the photos were to show the immense spread of the blooming plants.
We were actually in Santa Rosa the first time about three weeks ago with my Plant Biology class. The instructor mentioned something about Popcorn Flowers. Is that the common name of one of these plants?
Thanks,
Chuck
Popcorn flower would be the white ones -- one of the larger Cryptantha or Plagiobothrys species. That was going to be my second guess!
~'s!~
