Spiny Gumplant Blooms on Mount Diablo Slopes
Saturday, May 30th, 2026 at 2:51:33 PM · 2026/Mt Diablo Camping - Juniper Canyon
This close-up photograph captures several Grindelia (gumplant) flowers in various stages of bloom along the trails of Juniper Canyon on Mount Diablo, California. The central subject shows a yellow composite flower with a distinctive spiny, resinous green involucre beneath the ray petals, a hallmark characteristic of the Grindelia species common to California's dry hillsides. One flower is in full bloom displaying bright yellow ray florets around a brownish-orange disc center, while two other buds remain tightly closed in their spiny green bracts. The background is softly blurred, revealing dried brown stems and additional yellow blooms, conveying the late-season dryness typical of a California summer landscape. The overall mood is naturalistic and quietly detailed, evoking the sun-baked scrubland environment of the Mount Diablo State Park backcountry.
Chronologically Adjacent
