181. Discovery: Think of something you’ve recently discovered and use it as inspiration.
This week, not only did I learn that a Snow Plant is a parasite, I learned the name of a plant that has eluded a name since 1994 when I moved to Santa Barbara. I started hiking our foothill trails immediately upon arrival and marveled at the variety and color of local wild flowers. After a baby loss in 1995, I distracted myself with learning all names of the flowers with the help of the guide book Flowering Plants: The Santa Monica Mountains, Coastal and Chaparral Regions of Southern California. I would sit down next to a flower and look through the book to find its name and then note in the book which trail I had found it on. I was able to identify all plants but one so I’ve been annoyed for years about this. I noticed last month that one had been planted on the UCSB campus so I knew SOMEONE knew what it was called. This past week I visited the student farm and the mystery plant was in the garden!!! I excitedly asked the manager and she identified it as a California Bee Plant, Scrophularia californica. I am satisfied that this riddle has been solved.
photo credit: The Nature Collective https://naturecollective.org/plant-guide/details/california-bee-plant/
