Menzies' fiddleneck ~ 03/26/14 ~ Ahwahnee Hills

Menzies' fiddleneck / common fiddleneck

Amsinckia menziesii

Boraginaceae

I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but there is something structurally appealing to me about the fiddlenecks.  We saw expansive patches along the road side of grazing pasture fences and only a small patch at Ahwahnee.  These are lush compared to the skinny ones I took pictures of at Pinnacles.  Even though I inherited a very nice jeweler's loupe, I never use it.  It's a lot of trouble during what's supposed to be a hike to take such a close enough look at these tiny flowers to count their calyx lobes.  Plus, they're prickly.  I'm not absolutely positive about this ID, but I'm going with what's shown on the Ahwanee Hills Regional Park's flowers page.

common fiddleneck ~ 03/04/11 ~ Pinnacles

common fiddleneck
Amsinckia intermedia
Boraginaceae

This is the first time I've taken an up close and personal look at fiddlenecks. Maybe it's the yellow or the spiny parts that makes me relatively adverse to this reasonably cute flower. Calflora lists 18 species and varieties of Amsinckia. Btw, what an awful genus name; sounds like "I'm sick of ya." For the record, I'm abandoning my usage of common names according to Jepson's that I started doing this year. Who the heck really calls this finger weed?

ps 04/05/14 - I updated the name from Amsinckia menziesii var. intermedia.  There was a little bit of shuffling in the genus.  I'm noting how skinny the whole plant is compared to what I consider A. menziesii.  I really don't know how to tell them apart.

fiddlenecks ~ 03/04/10 ~ Carmel Valley Road

fiddlenecks
Boraginaceae

This is the same hill as taken on April 8, 2008. I assumed back then that the deep yellow was poppies, but maybe I was wrong. Since fiddlenecks were out in bloom during this year's drive, the color on the hill more closely resembled those of fiddlenecks, rather than the bright orange of poppies.

bush lupine ~ 03/04/10 ~ Carmel Valley Road

bush lupine and fiddlenecks
Fabaceae & Boraginaceae

I'm feeling too tired to look up the genus species names for these flowers right now... just want to go through some of my hundreds of pics from several outings the past few weeks. I'll edit this post at a later date.

bush lupine and fiddlenecks ~ 04/08/08 ~ Carmel Valley Road

bush lupine and fiddlenecks
Fabaceae and Boraginaceae

This was an incredible color combination on the hillside.

ps 04/05/10 - I originally labeled this with poppies. After looking at pictures from March 4, 2010, I now believe the deep yellow are due to fiddlenecks, not poppies.