{"id":4684,"date":"2011-06-22T17:27:57","date_gmt":"2011-06-23T00:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=4684"},"modified":"2011-06-22T17:27:57","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T00:27:57","slug":"the-end-of-the-rainbow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=4684","title":{"rendered":"The end of the Rainbow"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ranunculus lobii <\/em>might be the most elusive plant on Fort Ord. R. lobii<\/em>, alias buttercup, aka RALO, has had me on a wild goose chase for the second summer in a row. I prefer to use the name RALO when referring to this plant, buttercup being too sweet of a name for RALO\u2019s real character: deceptive, secretive, and terse.
\nIt all started last summer. It was a sea of gold; a veritable ocean of RALO. All who passed would stand in awe at the display. I had the perfect plan; I would wait until the color faded, and collect. It would be a golden bounty of seed! I would pass the field daily, but the color did not fade. Then one day, without notice, the meadow was dark green, no gold in sight. I ran from my truck, bags in hand ready for the most lucrative collection of all. I walked into the meadow, high stepping the tall Carex<\/em> sp, but all I saw were sharp blades of the sedges. I swam through the thick grass on hands and knees looking for any sign of RALO- nothing! Unsettled by the enigma of the vanishing sea of gold, I returned again and again, but my bags remained empty and my dreams unfulfilled. I held on to my measly collection determined to solve the mystery in the following season.
\nThis year, I was prepared. I monitored all known RALO populations; I watched, recorded, measured, photographed, and waited. Then, one day, RALO was gone. I searched mountaintops and savannas, looking for the remnants of what once were. I scrutinized fields once full of RALO, only to add another measly hundred seeds to my bag. Despondent and forlorn, I abandoned my dreams of collecting 20,000 RALO seeds.
\nHaving moved on to other seeds, my spirits started to rise. I visited Butterfly Valley- a lovely place! Here species are abundant. I filled my bags with seeds from not one, but three species! Happy with my success, I packed my bags and headed for the truck. Just then, something caught my eye. There at my feet, hanging on a delicate perch, a head of brown, little, hooked fruits. On my hands and knees, I recognized this plant as none other than RALO. As I looked around, I realized that it was not just this one individual, but a field of mature RALO seed heads! I had come to the end of the rainbow. I collected until I could collect no more.
\nDreams fulfilled, mystery solved, I feel better about RALO as a species. However, I will warn those of you who intend on collecting this species. You never know what might happen when you turn your back on characters like Ranunclus lobii.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ranunculus lobii might be the most elusive plant on Fort Ord. R. lobii, alias buttercup, aka RALO, has had me on a wild goose chase for the second summer in a row. I prefer to use the name RALO when … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4684"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4957,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4684\/revisions\/4957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}