Monday May 15, 2023 Guerneville CA.
Trail work
I wanted to get this one last part of the trail done today, so I rode the bike up to the ridge top and parked here.
Then I walked on out this part of the trail to where the work needed to be done.
I worked on improving this part of the trail today. I tried to limit myself to two hours of work to keep from getting so tired out, but I was working away and before I knew it, I had four hours in on it.
Weird plant
On the way back to the bike, I spotted this weird plant. I’d passed by it before and just thought it was a dried out fern, but a closer look proved that to be wrong. It’s about a foot high.
It was growing right in the middle of the trail and had little balls on it.
A closer look showed the little balls where likely flower buds. I have no idea what it is but I’ll be watching it to see what the flowers look like.
Spring
On the way home, I stopped at the water spring I worked on yesterday to see about tapping it’s water. The water is coming out of the hillside all along there.
Maybe about two gallons a minute are coming out of the hillside. I’ll measure it eventually. Springs like this slow down later in the summer.
This is the main spot where it’s coming out of the hillside and where I need to dig a hole, but not today.
I continued on towards home and then spent the rest of the day taking it easy in the yard.
Nice day.
I’m thinking Pinedrops.
Glad somebody has made a guess on the rather weird plant. And that you have survived yet another day…
There is an interesting free app. called Seek by iNaturalist. You take a picture of a plant or animal and it identifies your photo.
I think the plant is Pinedrops, a parasitic plant.
Yup that’s a weird plant. Never seen anything like it. I’ll be interested to see what it looks like if it blooms. Springs always fascinate me … where does the water come from?
Google thinks your mystery flower is Coral Root. If it is, then it will flower but does not have leaves.