Last year Mel Smith found three rare Groundcones on a neighboring property. I've been looking ever since to see if there might be a few on Rick's and my land. A few days ago, I was rewarded. I present to you this rare sighting of Groundcones, Kopsiopsis hookeri.

There is a lot of sandstone where we live, and these parasitic plants are growing in the sandy soil.

Our neighbor's property shares several other sightings with our land - matsutake mushrooms in the winter, Sugarstick, another unusual parasitic plant, and mixed forest and shrubs, which include manzanita, huckleberry, Bishop pines, Tan-oak, Redwoods, Douglas Fir, and more. Sugarsticks, Allotropa virgata, are just barely peeking through the forest duff. Here is a photo from a previous year of these beautiful plants.

There is something magical going on underneath our feet!

It's a beautiful spring day on the Mendonoma Coast. The wind has died down, and the clouds are gone. There is some much-needed rain coming in late this weekend. Fingers crossed!