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My first butterfly of the year! Landed in this forest edge / opening I now call "The Butterfly Meadow", here in Lincoln Park, that I have been developing it as butterfly habitat, and habitat for locally lost, or locally rare plants, for about 6 years. This Satyr Comma / Anglewing failed to visit the patch of nettles I started for it, and for the 4 other Seattle butterflies that can lay eggs on it, but last year I did have one Satyr Comma, as well as one Red Admiral, lay eggs on the nettle patch! Today's Satyr Comma was right on time, as I usually see my first here just before the Spring eqinox.

Jepson Key to Amsinckia (Fiddlenecks): https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=8753

Bristly Fiddleneck (Amsinckia tessellata) COMPARED TO Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii):

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Bristly Fiddleneck (Amsinckia tessellata) Native, annual, stiff-bristly plant in the Borage (Boraginaceae) family that grows in sandy, gravelly soil. There are several subspecies. Inflorescence consists of golden yellow-orange, tiny, tubular flowers arranged on spike-like cymes with coiled tips. Corolla has 20 veins just above base. Peak bloom time: March-June. The back of the nutlet or "seed" is tessellate like a mosaic.

Per Jepson eFlora: "calyx lobes unequal in width, reduced to 2--4 from fusion below middle, notched at tip; corolla 8--16 mm, yellow or orange, tube 20-veined near base"

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=13151
Jepson Key to Amsinckia: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=8753

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Amsinckia%20tessellata%20tessellata

Calflora https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=332

Calflora lists 16 possible species of Amsinckia: https://www.calflora.org/entry/psearch.html?namesoup=Amsinckia&countylist=any&plantcomm=any&format=photos&orderby=taxon

California Desert Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz, 1975, p. 101.

Flora of North America http://beta.floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page (species not listed as of 3/1/24)

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012

Southern California Plant Communities: http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html

Leaf Shape and Arrangement diagrams: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leaf_morphology.svg

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COMPARED TO

Common Fiddleneck (Amsinckia menziesii) Native, annual plant that grows in open, disturbed areas at forest/woodland edges. Stems are bristly and ascending to erect. Leaves are linear to oblong, margins entire, surfaces sparsely hispid to hispid-hirsute. Inflorescence is shaped like the head of a fiddle (violin-like instrument). Tubular flowers are yellow and may have orange spots at the base of the 5 lobes. Peak bloom time April-August. Seeds and foliage may be poisonous to cattle.

Link to confirmed observation showing classic fiddleneck shape: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/112776149

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=13145
Jepson Key to Amsinckia: https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_keys.php?key=8753

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Amsinckia%20intermedia (lists two subspecies not one species)

Calflora https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=326

Calflora lists 16 possible species of Amsinckia: https://www.calflora.org/entry/psearch.html?namesoup=Amsinckia&countylist=any&plantcomm=any&format=photos&orderby=taxon

Flora of North America (species not listed as of 3/1/24)

Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, pp. 90-91.

Monterey County Wildflowers https://montereywildflowers.com/boraginaceae-amsinckia/

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 332.

Oregon Flora https://oregonflora.org/taxa/index.php?taxon=2726

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Borage (Boraginaceae) Most plants in this family are bristly or sharp-hairy with hairy leaves. Leaves are alternately arranged, or a combination of alternate and opposite leaves. Leaf blades usually have a narrow shape and many are linear or lance-shaped. They are smooth-edged or toothed, and some have petioles. Most species have inflorescences that have a coiling shape (scorpioid cymes). The flower usually has a 5-lobed calyx. The corolla varies in shape from bell-shaped to tubular. There are five stamens and one style with one or two stigmas. The fruit is a drupe, sometimes fleshy.
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=69

Saw a small orange beetle flying clumsily through the air and scooped it up with my hand. iNaturalist suggested the ID as tribe Anthophagini, from which I narrowed it down to this species using BugGuide.

The larva was found in a water sample with freshwater sponges (Spongillidae).

A water sample was taken from the shore of lake Istok. The air temperature was 24°C (75.2 °F). The sample was stored at room temperature and observed 4 days after collection.

Dr. Priscila Chaverri and her teaching assistant, Efraín Escudero-Leyva of the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico, were the course’s resident ascomycetologists. As this initially resembled one of the green Hypocrea/Trichoderma spp., I passed it off to them, thinking light work would be made of the ID process. After some microscopy and reference checking, Efraín returns with the name Dactylospora, a (mostly) lichenicolous genus in the Lecanorales.

This is one of the most beautiful fungi I have ever seen, and I greatly look forward to discovering the rest of its name.

UPDATE 8/28/16: Believed to be a member of the genus Abrothallus by multiple members of the “Ascomycetes of the World” Facebook group. Name updated accordingly.

Substrate: unk. foliose lichen (Observation 249900)

Habitat: Costa Rican Páramo

Ecoregion: Talamanca Montane Forests (NA0167)

Collector(s): D. Newman

Collection #: n/a

Collected for the 2016 Organization for Tropical Studies “Fungi and Fungus-Like Organisms” Course

Spores about 8-10 microns (a little small for P. vulgaris per Ascomycete Fungi of North America, listing at 12-14 and closer to P. cupressina listed at 9-12). Spores round, granular within, uniseriate, which excludes similar species (from AFoNA) Pseudopithyella miniscula with elliptic spores and Hymenoscyphus epiphyllus with narrowly elliptic spores. Originally thought this was Pithya vulgaris, but the lowland growth area and Thuja host (not Abies or Sequoia as in P. vulgaris), as well as smaller spore size are a better match for P. cupressina. Micro photos mounted in water after rehydrating in KOH.