fields of orange and green

This past weekend, I headed out to Lake Amador in Ione, California. My husband is a big fisherman, and he went up to participate in their annual Trout Derby. I joined him after a few days, after I got off work on Saturday night. When I got to the lake, it was cold, dark, wet, and windy. The rain had turned our campsite into a slushy, muddy mess. So I made quick work of  setting up the canopy and getting our sleeping situation figured out, and we went to bed, crossing our fingers on both hands for a clear morning.

The next day, I woke up to a beautiful surprise. Fields of orange wildflowers surrounded our campsite, dotting the grassy hills with color. The flowers stood on tall, slender green stems, and the inflorescences reminded me of young, curled fiddlehead fern fronds. I went to work identifying these blooms the lazy way (aka Google Image Search). The results I received pointed me to the genus Amsinckia.

This genus is native to western North America and south-western South America, and are commonly called Fiddlenecks, due to the curled shape of their new flower infloresences. ​They are in the Boraginaceae family, making them relatives of Forget-Me-Nots and Borage. They, like Borage, are somewhat edible; Native Americans ate the leaves, shoots, and seeds. Before you go eating them, however, do keep in mind that they are bristly, and that their sharp hairs can be irritating to skin. I also have come across some information about seed and other toxicities in some species, as well, so make sure you do a boatload of research before stickin' anything in your mouth. The flowers of most species are yellow-orange, and the stems grow to reach between 8 and 50 inches tall. All species are annual, and there are twelve of them.

Because the species hybridize easily and are difficult to differentiate, I'm not exactly sure which one I've stumbled upon. My first and easiest clue in determining the species is the location and many have different native ranges, though some overlap. I was in southern Ione, California when I found the plants (see the red marker in the upper left map), which is right on the outer edge of the Central Valley. This piece of information cuts out eight species from consideration.

Flowers on the plants I found had five petals, were definitely more orange than yellow, and had darker orange marks toward the center of the bloom. Stems and flower buds were bristly but not overly so, and leaves had smooth margins and were slightly fuzzy. Each plant had a terminal inflorescence, with another close to the top, as in the photo above. Taller plants had other infloresences appearing at intervals going down the main stem. Leaves were lanceolate. I tried to use these clues to compare them to the remaining four species on the list:

Amsinckia lycopsoides (Tarweed Fiddleneck, Bugloss Fiddleneck)
This species is a common wildflower native to much of western North America from California up through British Colombia. They flower from April through July, and have yellow flowers

​Amsinckia menziesii (Common Fiddleneck, Intermediate Fiddleneck, Small-Flowered Fiddleneck)
Common in western North America, these plants produce dark yellow, yellow-orange, or orange flowers in May through July. 

Amsinckia tesellata (Bristly Fiddleneck, Tessellate Fiddleneck, Checker Fiddleneck, Devil's Lettuce)
​​This species produces yellow to orange flowers March through June, which commonly have fewer than five petals. It reaches between 8 and 24 inches tall, and is native to dry regions of western North America.

​Amsinckia vernicosa (Green Fiddleneck, Waxy Fiddleneck)
This species is similar to other Fiddlenecks, and has orange to yellow flowers that bloom March through June. Stems have a pale pink color, and foliage is grey-green.

I think it's safe to rule out Amsinckia vernicosa; the stems on the plants I found are clearly not pink or as thick as those in that species. Just on looks alone, it is most similar to Amsinckia menziesii, and since that species is the only one whose range map includes Amador County (the others only come close), that's another mark towards its positive identification. It may be a hybrid between A. menziesii and one of the two remaining species, as well. Not having an identification guide, I think it's as close as I'm going to get.

I'm so happy to have discovered a new species for my books, and have learned a lot about these plants along the way. Hopefully I'll be able to go back over to Amador soon, so I can take more pictures and do a little more investigating.

Until next time, 

Kristi