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Flowers of Crystal Cove State Park: The joys of a foggy morning

Biology, California, Orange County, Photography, ,

A few weeks ago I went backpacking with a couple of friends in Crystal Cove State Park’s inland section. We camped overnight at the Lower Moro Campground, and were the only ones there. It was wonderfully peaceful.

Fog rolled in a few hours before the sun went down, so sunset, moon, and starry night shots were all out. But the fog hung around until well after dawn, leaving everything covered in a beautiful shroud of dew the next morning. It made for perfect macro photography, and my companions were patient enough to let me spend some time trying to capture the beauty.

I woke up to a foggy morning at Lower Moro campground in Crystal Cove, and found this beautiful little purple and white flower covered in dew. I love the few strands of spider silk connecting the flower to its stalk, also covered in water droplets. A botanist friend of mine identified this as _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!) (Marc C. Perkins)
A beautiful way to wake up. I love the few strands of dew-covered spider silk connecting the flower to its stalk. A botanist friend of mine identified this as wreath plant, _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!)

The same plant was also covered in tiny flower buds, which the dew accentuated gorgeously:

This small green and purple flower bud growing out of a stem is covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove, and the dew is lensing the background into focus. The few strands of spider silk are also covered in dew. A botanist friend of mine identified this as wreath plant, _Stephanomeria sp._, a plant in Asteraceae. (Thanks Jeremy!)
A small green and purple flower bud (_Stephanomeria sp._) covered in dew on a foggy morning at Crystal Cove.

I also got a picture of the same plant with both a flower bud and flower in the same frame, but I won’t bore you with that in this post.

Nearby there was a shrubby aster covered in bright yellow flowers:

This yellow Asteraceae flower is a composite flower (capitulum)consisting of multiple individual flowers attached to the same base. Here the flowers on the outside of the composite flower (the ray florets) are open, but the inner flowers (the disk florets) are still closed. The ray florets fuse their petals into one giant lobe. See the next picture to see the same plant's flower with the disk florets open. This is most likely one of the several species of tarplant, possibly _Deinandra_. (Marc C. Perkins)
This yellow Asteraceae flower is a composite flower (capitulum) consisting of multiple individual flowers attached to the same base. Here the flowers on the outside of the composite flower (the ray florets) are open, but the inner flowers (the disk florets) are still closed. The ray florets fuse their petals into one giant lobe. This is most likely one of the several species of tarplant, possibly _Deinandra_.

Some of the inflorescences were just starting to open (above), while others were almost fully open (below):

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