The Carrizo Plain, one of our most visited sites, is turning many pretty shades of brown right now as everything dries out.

As our season here winds down  (wow, I can hardly believe there are only a couple months left!) Rachel and I have been focusing more intensely on a few late-seeding plants. One of the plants in full bloom right now is Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium, or California buckwheat. Although the USDA plants profile lists this species as “Eastern Mojave buckwheat,” it grows readily in sites within the Bakersfield Field Office boundaries. This shrub has pretty white flowers that fade to red, then brown and orange as the seeds dry. This is a fairly common plant that grows abundantly along roadsides, so we are happy to have a good number of sources. Here is a picture of Rachel collecting seed at a site near Lake Isabella, CA.

A less common plant that we colleced recently was Isomeris arborea, also called Bladder Pod. According to the seeds of success webpage, it hasn’t yet been collected.