Scotch Broom

 

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Late Spring and early summer we get a lot of wildflowers blooming in the mountains. This yellow one was very profuse this year. A friend told me I needed to drive up the mountains with my camera so I did. What I saw was the Scotch Broom plant which is an invasive noxious plant the people would love to get rid of. Scotch broom - Cytisus scoparius - is a prodigious seed producer. The seeds have hard coats enabling them to survive in the environment for up to 80 years. The seeds are transported from place to place in mud stuck to vehicles, equipment, shoes and the feet of animals. Seeds may be carried via runoff from roads into streams and gullies. Then seedlings may establish along streamsides and along gully walls.

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Locally we see it wherever the soil has been disturbed and there is more and more of it every year. With its brilliant yellow flowers and dense, bushy stands along highways, Scotch broom is one of the most recognizable plants in California. It is also one of the most threatening to native plants and landscapes. Some BLM agencies will even lend you tools to defeat or remove Scotch Broom.

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But the trip did make for some nice photographs and a pretty day. Driving up the south side of the mountains was all socked in with fog but once we crossed over the the north side it was a very pretty sunny day.

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