Isn’t that what Wavyleaf Silktassel sounds like? A resident of the Shire?
It is in fact a large shrub that grows all along the coast of Oregon and California, doing well in serpentine and clay soils. I know far less about geology than I do about botany, which is saying something, and as far as I remember, I never encountered the term “serpentine” until I read Always Coming Home, by Ursula K. Le Guin. The people she writes about, the Kesh–who “might be going to have lived a long, long time from now in Northern California,” as her ethnologist alter ego writes–live in groups named Madrone, Blue Clay, Red Adobe, Yellow Adobe, Obsidian, and Serpentine. Serpentine is a group of igneous minerals; that makes sense, since a lot of California has volcanic soil, which is poor for many plants but great for growing grapes. And wavyleaf silktassel.
As with yesterday’s drawing, I am trying to catch the light. I think this one is more successful.
Sermons in Stones 
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June 6, 2022 at 5:12 pm
Karen Skold
i really like your plain pencil drawings. They capture the look of the leaves much better than the ones in color. On serpentine soil–have you ever been to Edgewood Park? It is in San Mateo County just off 280, on Edgewood Road. It has serpentine soil and features plants specially adapted to it. I didn’t know that silk tassel was one of those plants, though we have seen it in various places. I mostly know what wildflowers appear where in the parks we frequent. There are some really pretty serpentine-tolerant wildflowers at Edgewood, but they are mostly gone for this year–except for the Clarkias known as “Farewell to Spring” (an apt name).
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June 6, 2022 at 5:50 pm
Amy Zucker Morgenstern
Color is a whole other challenge.
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