Tuesday, June 25, 2019

One cliff a year apart. Ain't nature captious?


Another blog that will be passed over by hoi polloi: no red or orange, I'm afraid. Brown and green--the colors that pretty much guarantee no one (but you wise reader) reads this. But herein is a pretty good story, I think. This cliff is at Tiger Leaping Gorge, I photographed it today  (6-25-2019). More interesting than it appears from a distance. Notice that it's brown brown brown. The monsoons hadn't kicked in yet.

Same cliff photographed Friday, ‎June ‎15, ‎2018, ‏‎10:02:42 PM
 Thank you, metadata: we know this picture of the SAME cliff was taken exactly 1 year and 10 days EARLIER in June: the monsoon had kicked in much earlier last year and all those brown things in the first picture have unfurled...let's take a closer look....


 I blew up the first shot--from todah: notice the invasive Opuntia. Below it, the cliff is peppered with jack-in-the-pulpits! Not sure which species yet (haven't keyed it out)


Here it is from nearby--where I got a slightly closer shot. Interestingly, this wasn't in evidence in the picture from last year!


Slightly closer view showing the two treasures I was most interested in seeing: the resurrection plant (Selaginella tamariscina) and a Gesneriad (Corallodiscus kingii) both were just little brown balls today!


Here's a better view of the Corallodiscus.


And finally, both Gesneriad and Selaginella tamariscina together, along with a fern (which I believe is sold in America as Notholaena argentea E.J. Lowe, but which is a synonym of Hemionitis sulphurea (Cav.) Christenh.)

What a difference a little rain makes! 

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