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Health & Fitness

Blog: Wild Sweet Pea, Giant Coreopsis Blooming Now

In spite of the lack of rain, the blooms have been able to keep coming. Here are a few more seen in late March and that will also be seen into April.

Eucrypta (Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia) has fern-like foliage and tiny, white, bell-shaped flowers.  It is up to 18 inches tall and is common along trails in the chaparral.

Wild sweet pea (Lathyrus vestitus) is a vining plant three to ten feet long, with flowers and foliage that resembles domestic sweet peas.  Look for it in shady places in chaparral, coastal sage scrub, and oak woodlands.

Indian warrior (Pedicularis densiflora) bears some resemblance to Indian paintbrush, but the flower stalks grow from a basal rosette of leaves.  Flowers are a pinkish red.  Plants are 6 to 15 inches tall and grow in the shade in the chaparral.

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Red-stemmed filaree (Erodium cicutarium) might be considered a weed and this non-native plant appears here to stay.  The fern-like leaves form a basal rosette and the small pink flowers have five petals.  This very common plant can be found in sunny places along trails and other disturbed areas.  

Giant coreopsis (Coreopsis gigantea) is one of the more unusual and special plants in the Santa Monica Mountains.  Globes of shaggy foliage and yellow flowers top bare, woody stems of this shrub, which can be up to 10 feet tall.  Look for it along PCH west of Point Dume, in La Jolla Canyon of Pt. Mugu State Park, and along the Conejo Grade.  

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