Mamie and Pearl accompanied me on a hike up the Mt. Wilson Trail to First Water to see if any blooming has started in our local foothills. It has. It's interesting to observe the changes in the trail and the trail flora from year to year, especially as a result of such things as the fire of 2008 and the heavy rains we have had recently. I would estimate that there is now at least 10 times as much blooming wishbone bush as I have ever seen before, and whereas I have only observed perhaps a dozen stinging lupines on this section of the trail previously, there are now hundreds. I also encountered a species I have never seen before on the trail, fiddleneck. It's also nice to see the trail having recovered its green character. Mamie and Pearl enjoyed their hike and now feel that they will make good trail dogs. As always, an asterisk indicates a non-native species.

Wild cucumber
Marah macrocarpus var. macrocarpus
Cucurbitaceae

Mamie and Pearl *
(11 months old)

Mulefat
Baccharis salicifolia ssp. salicifolia
Asteraceae

Sow-thistle *
Sonchus oleraceus
Asteraceae

White nightshade
Solanum douglasii
Solanaceae
[Named for David Douglas, 1798-1834]

Canterbury bells
Phacelia minor
Boraginaceae

Common beggar-ticks *
Bidens pilosa var. pilosa
Asteraceae

Red-gland spurge
Chamaesyce melanadenia
Euphorbiaceae