June 13, 2009

volunteer oats and pickleweed


click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

No shortage of volunteer oats here in Marin County, California...



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

Pickleweed has a unique ability to filter salt out the small amount of water it needs by using a special membrane, very similar to the way modern-day water-desalinization works.

Any excess salt that making it past the membrane filtration system gets stored in the outermost tips of the plant, which eventually turn red and fall off.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

This very hairy orange plant is normally green, so it goes unnoticed in the pickleweed, but for some reason, this time of year the hairy plant -- I'm clueless about it's name -- turns bright orange.   If you enlarge the photo you can see how it winds itself tightly and constrictively around it's host.



click photo for full-size image
photo by Donald Kinney

I should know the name of that little island, but I don't.   Maybe Mindy Pines at f-stopMarin.com knows, but I am going to make that one of my first questions if I ever get into any sort of in-depth conversation with Frank Quan.


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5 comments:

Jo's-D-Eyes said...

Hi Don,
I love all each individual photo you made here, the bright colours, seen through your camera is a joy!!


Thanks for your visit Don,
(as you can see in my blog), I am back again , as you say "its not easy to stop blogging" also because we cannot stop being creative, at least I can't.

Greetings from JoAnn

Si's blog said...

And more great photos.

I have a bunch of volunteer wiregrass but it would not make a good picture unless you could capture my mood at trying to get it out.

Love the still life at the top. Now you are opening more horizons.

Marvin said...

Harsh growing conditions -- like saltwater -- certainly make for some interesting vegetation. Great shots, Don.

Heidi said...

If I'm not mistaken that stringy plant is parasitic and called Cuscuta. I'm viewing via iPhone so the image is pretty small & I can't be sure.

Jane said...

Nice shots of pickleweed. I think the orange plant is dodder (common name) and its genus is Cuscuta.It's an invasive parasite, but pretty. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuscuta

 
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