Mystery of the Puffy White Ball Thingies

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:45 pm

Anybody know what this is? I saw it growing along the Mt. Lowe East Trail today. Kinda unique and cool.

cougarmagic · Post by **cougarmagic** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 6:59 pm

I don't know, but I've seen them and think they're cool too. Something out of a Dr. Seuss story!

jfr · Post by **jfr** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 7:19 pm

They remind me of the Western Anemone post-flower seed pods that I saw up in Banff, Canada two summers ago. And it appears that there are some to be found in California:

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species ... recnum=357

https://www.google.com/search?q=western ... 87&bih=952

sesshin · Post by **sesshin** » Sun Feb 23, 2014 8:30 pm

That first photo looks really cool!

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Tue Feb 25, 2014 6:41 pm

jfr- thanks for the info on the Western Anemone. Although there are some similarities, the things I saw were growing on a woody shrub/tree roughly the size of a fair sized manzanita (see, second pic). They were growing on a south facing slope at approximately 5,000 ft. elevation. Looks like the Western Anemone is lower to the ground and more herbaceous, no?

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:45 pm

So I think this stuff is Virgin's Bower. What do you think?

http://www.pbase.com/dancinec/image/115217308

tchester says it grows in the San Gabes.

http://tchester.org/sgm/plants/climbers.html

Calflora entry here:

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species ... ecnum=2255

jfr · Post by **jfr** » Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:48 pm

Yep, now that you mention it, that second picture pretty much rules out the anemone. The anemones were all green and non-woody, just another low flowering plant growing in a grassy meadow.

Now if only you could remember which plant this was next year during the spring and summer, and the ID might be easier.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Sat Mar 01, 2014 9:01 am

I've been wracking my pea brain on this... I did identify it once apon a time

scottawr · Post by **scottawr** » Sun Mar 02, 2014 10:48 pm

We get these flowers (virgins Bower) all over the santa ana mountains usually in the 3-5k ft range.

mattmaxon · Post by **mattmaxon** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:46 am

http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species ... ecnum=2254

Without a specimen in hand I would lean much more toward this variety.

chaparral clematis, pipestem, pipestem clematis

Post by **Uncle Rico** » Mon Mar 03, 2014 6:12 am

Yeah, looking at the "communities" in which it primarily grows and scrolling through some of the pics on Calflora, I think you're probably right matt. Input much appreciated.