Friday's Outing, Part 2

 I only saw one of these in a distance of over a mile of dirt road.  Not sure how I spotted it, but up close it is quite an elegant flower.  Diamond Clarkia, or Clarkia rhomboides, is a close relative of Farewell-to-Spring, coming up later.

 If these tall stems of Wild Hyacinth, Dichelostemma multiflorum, hadn't been swinging in the wind, I never would have seen them among the neighboring grasses.  Up close, they are quite an attractive flower.

 Dichelostemma is one of several genera that were once classified as Brodiaea and were once considered to be lilies.  Now they are divided among at least three different families and their classification is still under discussion.  Out of habit, I tend to still call them all Brodiaeas. Note the Common Checkered Clerid beetle hiding among the blossoms.

 This tiny crawler is Spanish Clover, Lotus purshiana, (below).  Very difficult to spot.  I never would have seen it if I hadn't already been crawling on my hands and knees looking for something else.  Probably a bug.  Click on the photo to enjoy the detail of the pea-like blossum.

 The Blue Gilia, Gilia capitata, is actually sometimes blue although in this patch they were nearly all white.  This one is being paid a visit by a Common Checkered Clerid beetle.  They appeared this past week and are already found in great numbers on many different species of flowers.

 The Farewell-to-Spring, Clarkia dudleyana, was first spotted (by me) last summer on the last day of spring.  So, this one has bloomed a month earlier.  I think we're in for a hot, dry summer. If you Google this one, you'll find that several different species of Clarkia share this common name.

 I found one patch of Yarrow blooming near Tollgate Creek between the railroad track and the corral.  This one has a visitor that is one of the Longhorned Beetles, Family Cerambycidae.

There will be at least two more posts based on this one outing last Friday.  Lots of new flowers blooming this week.  The overall look of the forest while driving by is hot, dry, and brown.  I needed to walk slowly through the underbrush to spot this most of these flowers.