Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Calliandra californica--Baja Fairy Duster



Those highly divided leaves look like a plant in the pea family, which Calliandra is. But the flowers don't look anything like sweet peas, they are mostly stamens, so they resemble "fairy dusters." Flowers on the bottle brush, Callistemon, are also mostly stamens, and also red, but that is in the Myrtaceae family. Interesting. Then there is mimosa, that tree with the pink puffs that is also blooming now. That is in the pea family. Although the species epithet is "californica" this species is native to Baja California. So the common name is more accurate than the scientific name, in a way.

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