Earlier I noted that sometimes there are flowers that go unnoticed on a daily basis because we have seen them so many times before. We stop paying attention to them because they have become merely background noise. Today I have a prime example of what can happen if we all keep our observational skills up.
In May 2006, Kay Madore, a docent at the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve located just east of Murrieta in Riverside County, CA, noticed something that was a bit out of the ordinary when looking at the same old patch of Brodiaea (bro-dih-ee-uh) flowers. Mind you, what was slightly out of the ordinary was just that…only slightly out of the ordinary. You see, within the patch of Brodiaea, there were a few flowers that stood out slightly as they we a bit larger than their lilac-hued Brodiaea neighbors.
With her curiosity peaked, Kay showed the plants to fellow docents Tom Chester and Wayne Armstrong who have been researching the brodiaeas at the Reserve for the past four years. Chester and Armstrong researched the plant, measured it, wrote about it and submitted their findings to experts. The experts agreed with Chester and Armstrong that what Madore had observed was in fact a brand new species of Brodiaea.
If it were not for Kay’s curiosity and her observant eye, none of us would have ever known that within the more common flora, there were jewels to be found. This new species has been named the Santa Rosa Basalt Brodiaea (Brodiaea santarosae).
Visit the Field Guide to the Santa Rosa Plateau to learn more about this newest “addition” to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve.
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