Favoritos de calloohcallay

Not quite sure which Amanita this one is. It have a nice deep volva, but no partial veil, and a smooth cap with no orange-tan colors, or uni. veil patches.

It was also fairly small. There were three of these, but only one was fresh and worth picking. Unfortunately the stipe broke on the way home with it, but it was a good one.

Not sure what this one is, without the partial veil. It was close enough to A. velosa, but it doesn’t look like that, with the pale cap, and no veil remnants.

A Four-spot Clarkia (Clarkia purpurea ssp. quadrivulnera), photographed along the Ancient Oaks Trail at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve in southern San Mateo County, CA. Note how the stigma extends above the surrounding stamens, which is the one trait that distinguishes this plant from the very similar Clarkia purpurea ssp. viminea.

Chaparral Clarkia (Clarkia affinis), photographed along the Ancient Oaks Trail at Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve in southern San Mateo County, CA. Identified as C. affinis based on the following observed characteristics:

1) Plant is an annual, with open, bisexual flowers available for inspection.
2) Axis of inflorescence in bud is straight; individual flower buds are erect. Inflorescence is open (i.e., not dense).
3) Flower consists of 4 sepals, 4 petals, 8 stamens*, and a single pistil.
4) Sepals are fused to the tip in bud, and after opening, all four sepals remain fused together. In the photograph, one can see that the sepals have been shunted to one side to make room for the emerging corolla, which is typical of clarkias for which all four sepals remain fused after the flower has opened.
5) Petals are more or less entire, obovate in shape, and purplish-pink in color, with darker purplish flecks and markings. Each petal is ~ 1.5cm in length.
6) Stigma is NOT exserted beond the anthers.
7) The anthers for all eight stames are alike.
8) Leaves are linear to narrowly lanceolate in shape and more or less sessile.

• Something weird is going on with this plant, genetically or otherwise, as the picture shows that it has only 6 stamens, instead of the 4 or 8 stamens that clarkias normally have. It did not key out at all for species with 4 stamens only, so I tried key out for species with 8 stamens, ultmately identifying it as C. affinis.

Overall Plant Dimensions:
1) Petal length: ~2.25cm
2) Petal width: ~1.75cm
3) Leaf length: between 2.5cm and 3cm
4) Leaf width: 6mm - 7mm
5) Plant height: ~18cm

References:
1) Key to Clarkia, Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2020. Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=9760 [accessed on 18 June 2020]
2) Harlan Lewis 2012, Clarkia, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, /eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=9760, accessed on June 18, 2020.
3) Harlan Lewis 2012, Clarkia affinis, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, /eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=19563, accessed on June 18, 2020
4) Clarkia affinis, CalFlora Database. Retrieved on 6/18/20 from https://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species_query.cgi?where-calrecnum=2159
5) Clarkia affinis, WIkipedia. Retrieved on 6/18/20 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkia_affinis