green lynx spider ~ 12/10/11 ~ Los Padres Dam

western variation female green lynx spider on cudweed
Peucetia viridans on Pseudognaphalium sp.
Asteraceae

That's quite a large egg sac she's protecting! She's about 1" or more in size but not very green, eh? While searching for an ID, I looked at other Oxyopidae, and none seemed to match as well as P. viridans. It helped to read that this spider can change color depending on the season or surroundings. As I was getting in close to take pictures, I got a whiff of the lovely scent from the cudweed. Green lynx spiders are not the only things that utilize cudweed blooms; Cindy at Dipper Ranch found American lady caterpillars tucked into her cudweed.

CA cudweed ~ 06/30/11 ~ Fort Ord

best guess California cudweed / California everlasting
best guess Gnaphalium californicum (aka Pseudognaphalium californicum)
Asteraceae

I'm starting to like cudweeds despite my not being too fond of crispy, dried flowers. They remind me of the dead flower bouquets my mother used to keep in waterless vases or baskets about the house. I think the main flower was strawflower, which must have had their peak of popularity as craft fair staples in the 1970's since I don't see them around anymore. One of my assigned chores was to dust weekly and those bouquets were impossible to clean without breaking off petals. I despise dusting, which may explain why I have so few knickknacks in my own home.

I'm pretty sure of this ID. I've seen CA cudweed before at a different Fort Ord location when it was very green. However, with a touch of white fuzz on the stems, I wonder if it might be slender everlasting (Psudognaphalium thermale), although Calflora.org and Jepson disagree over its distribution. What made searching for possible IDs challenging is Gnaphalium cudweeds/everlastings are variously aka Pseudognaphalium, Euchiton, and Gamochaeta.

California cudweed
Gnaphalium californicum (aka Pseudognaphalium californicum)
Asteraceae

It's always fun finding a new plant that I have absolutely no idea what it is. Thanks to Rooted in California, I got a lead and looked into it. This plant is also called California everlasting or ladies' tobacco and can also be found under the genus Gnaphalium - maybe those who are in the know believe this isn't a real cudweed by adding pseudo. Simply based on online photos, the flower is superficially similar to pearly everlasting (Anaphalis margaritacea). I wonder if many online pictures are misidentified which creates some confusion for a novice like me. I do think this cudweed can be distinguished from pearly everlasting by the distinctive way how the leaf bases wrap around the stems and the slightly pointier buds.

ps 07/25/11 - As I've looked into a new post, Gnaphalium is the name used on Calflora.org. I haven't quite figured out why Jepson online is different from the 2nd edition in its acceptance of Pseudognaphalium as an alternative. In any case, I edited the scientific name above to include both possibilities.