Small group.  Big fun.  So many flowers!  Kate, Eva and I had such a great time flummoxed by fiendishly unfamiliar flowers -- even Eva had to resort to iNaturalist, and that's saying something.   Last year's wildflower list needed a major update.  Total speeches count: 68!  The mind boggles.  To save time and space, I'll mention different plants we saw at each spot even though lots were found throughout.

Starting at the Botanic wayside boardwalk and adjacent meadow we spied: Blue dick, Mariposa lily and its adorable Calochortus (uniflora) pink cousin the Pink star tulip, Flatstem onion, Blue-eyed grass, Blue dick, California buttercup, California pink, California pitcher plant/Darlingtonian, Western azalea, Del Norte iris, Flatstem onion, Grand/Large camus, Harvest Brodiaea, Henderson's shooting star, Narrowleaf blue-eyed Mary, Parry's hawkweed, Small-flowered death camas, Pine violet, Roezil's penstemon, White rush lily, White tritellia,/brodiaea, Yellowleaf iris, Indian dream fern, Siskiyou mat/Dwarf ceanothus.

Just across the road from the wayside turnoff, we took a short loop on the Jeffrey Pine trail: Dwarf checker bloom, Big-seed lomatium, Nine-leaf lomatium, Serpentine bedstraw, Slender madia, Wedgeleaf violet, Varied-leaf collomia, Western ragwort, and  a lot of the flowers mentioned above. 

Then heading down the road to the Illinois Little Falls trail: Bell catchfly, Bastard toadflax, California gromwell, California lady slipper, Common Whipplea, False bindweed California milkwort, Deltoid balsam root, Howell's lomatium/biscuitroot, Josephine horkelia, Common Whipplea/Modesty, Oregon sunshine, Q-tips, Siskiyou Indian paintbrush, Phloxleaf bedstraw, Pine violet, Upland Larkspur, Western starflower, Wooly groundsel, Utah serviceberry, plus some  of the above.

Our fen bushwack did not produce any more California lady slippers, unfortunately, but lots of azaleas, Darlingtonians, Sparse/Few-flowered bog orchid, and Bigalow's sneezeweed. We continued up the Howell botanic road to find the rare white(!) Bleeding heart, Showy phlox, Western wallflower, and stately Lemon fawn lily.  WHEW.  Probably missed a few.

Respectfully submitted, Your Flower Floozy Liz