I spent a few hours Sunday afternoon on Refugio Road, where a number of early spring flowers were seen and photographed. Amongst them, Bigpod Ceanothus, which I was able to identify now with the alternate rule – in fact it seems like the branches are alternate as well. In the photo below, the clusters of flowers are arranged alternately on the stem.

(Bigpod Ceanothus – March 2, 2008)

Bigpod Ceanothus was blooming profusely, as well as a few Green Bark Ceanothus plants.

(Bigpod Ceanothus – March 2, 2008)

I was happy to find some other early bloomers of which I had previously taken mediocre photographs – Wishbone Bush and Indian Warrior. One of the most surprising plants was a California Fuschia.

(Indian Warrior – March 2, 2008)

(Wishbone Bush – March 2, 2008)

Most of the early bloomers were lower down on the mountain; as I drove higher, no flowering plants were seen, and this dearth was made even sparser by the roadside clearing that appears to have been done this winter. I turned around before going too much further, and spent some time walking along a part of the road where I had photographed a Broomrape in a previous year. While photographing a number of ferns, I spotted a probable fungus growing in a downed log. Normally, I don’t see or notice those kinds of growth, but this was bright orange – hard to miss. It was not very close, and I used the zoom lens to take a photo.

(Fungus – March 2, 2008)

Please click on link below to see a slideshow of all photos taken along Refugio Road.

• Refugio Road Slideshow on Flickr