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Dangerous Invader
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| Photo Information |
Copyright: David Michaels (tsumeb)
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Note Writer [C: 17 W: 1 N: 42]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-n-s.gif) (168) |
| Genre: Plants |
| Medium: Color |
| Date Taken: 2005-03-04 |
| Categories: Flowers, Mountain |
| Camera: Nikon Coolpix 8700 |
| Exposure: f/6.0, 30 seconds |
| More Photo Info: [view] |
| Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop |
| Date Submitted: 2005-03-05 14:21 |
| Viewed: 1392 |
| Points: 4 |
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
It’s blooming time in the Southern California Chaparral country and Scotch Broom puts on quite a show. But this is not a welcome sight for many.
Scotch broom (Cytisus scoparius) is a large shrub bearing flowers and flat pods that indicate its affiliation with the pea family. Plants that had supplied Europe with sweeping brooms naturalized in the west and spread like wildfire. You can literally chart the location of every gold-rush settlement by the presence of broom colonies, which remain to this day.
Cheap, springy and readily available, bundles of fresh cut broom were the bubble wrap of the 19th century. In every California gold camp from Sonora to Sierra City, cases of imported whiskey were opened and the broom packing discarded. It is at these points that the broom invasion likely began. Seed pods still attached to the packing material could sprout with the winter rains or lie dormant for up to 30 years.
This species is intensely beautiful in bloom but is nearly leafless on green stems the rest of the year. The tiny leaves are borne on stiff straight sticks that make wonderful brooms.
Today there is a great struggle to stop the steady advance of broom. Aided by runoff, animals and even insects, broom's encroachment is alarmingly rapid where conditions are right. Control can be as seriously challenging because there are no simple solutions. Physical removal--simply pulling or grubbing out--will eliminate plants, but the soil disturbance can result in a plethora of new seedlings.
Fortunately, seedlings are easy to pull while still young. Programs of biological controls have introduced a stem miner and seed beetle with limited success. Goats have proved more effective but require direct management. Herbicides such as Roundup have been widely used, but toxicity, particularly in wildland ecosystems, creates a new set of challenges. An integrated approach of all three methods is being applied in much of California.
-From Maureen Gilmer |
hummingbird24 has marked this note useful
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Magnific image.
Great shot.
I prepared a workshop using NikSharpenerPro 1.0e
Congrats
- Sneza
![Gold Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 94 W: 30 N: 16]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/g-s-s.gif)
(672) - [2005-03-05 16:19]
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Beautiful.
Good composition and DOF.
I like colors of this flowers and water drops.
Good sharpness and details.
Nice shot.
![Silver Star Critiquer/Silver Workshop Editor/Silver Note Writer [C: 49 W: 13 N: 14]](http://i1.treknature.com/misc/s-s-s.gif)
(198)