Spineflower...

This year the pink spineflowers (Chorizanthe breweri) are more common in our chaparral hillsides than we've ever seen.  They seem to especially like small exposed areas on southern-facing slopes.  In places they make pink patches up to 100' or so in diameter that can be seen a mile or more away.  The flowers themselves are tiny - only about 1/8" in diameter.  Both the flowers and the stems contribute to the color as seen at a distance.  We saw these everywhere we went yesterday, but the best patches of all were very close to home, on the eastern flanks of Lawson Peak and Gaskill Peak, as we drove past Barrett Lake on Lyons Valley Road.  Some of those patches looked almost as if someone had accidentally left a pink picnic cloth lying on the ground...