Several years ago I was with botanist on a plant collection trip at the UC Davis McLaughlin Reserve. She spotted and identified a tiny yellow blur that streaked passed us on the drive. We were probably traveling at about 20 mph.

On Sunday, I hiking on Mt. Tamalpais at about 2 mph when I spotted this yellow beauty off the trail. I immediately recognized it as a member of the boom-rape family (Orobanchaceae), and I asked my friend Neovenator to take this picture of it. I forgot to ask  him to take more photos at different angles, but this one was adequate enough for me to key it out with the California Jepson Manual. I believe it’s clustered boom-rape (Orobanche fasciculata), and it is parasitic. There are no leaves or other chlorophyll-stuffed goodness for photosynthesis. Just above-surface flowers and below-surface roots tapping into some poor botanical soul. I also forgot to take note of the plants around it, so I can’t tell you which plant it might be leeching off of.

I was giddy about this find. The last time I saw any kind of boom-rape was five years ago in my Sierra Nevada flora class. My teacher identified this as California broom-rape (Orobanche californica):

In case you didn’t notice, I haven’t updated in four months. I blame it on a combination of school, apartment robbery, transition to a new job and a very long commute. Once I move in a few months to be a lot closer to my job, I will free up a lot of time and hopefully I’ll direct some of that to this blog.