I'd noticed some Leopard Lilies in bloom while biking up to Mt. Tam along Panoramic Highway a week or so ago, so when I drove up to Rock Spring the other day I visited a spot nearby where I figured I could find more.
It was still early in the morning and the sun had yet to shine in the ephemeral creek drainage where they grow among rushes and hedge nettle, California hemp and giant chain ferns, and also stinging nettle. Just as I was setting up on this blossom, a ray of sunshine beamed right onto it. Later in the day, when the sun pours in, the flowers will attract butterflies and hummingbirds.
Despite the fact that I was wearing short pants, I managed to get in and out without brushing up against any of this stuff. I don't mind terribly if I do get zapped by stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), and I even take a kind of perverse pleasure in continuing to feel the sizzle on my skin when I'm back at home in the city downloading and processing the pictures I took back on the mountain.
* * *
