Fetid Adder’s Tongue
In February and early March, the Fetid Adder’s Tongue (the botanical name is Scoliopus bigelovii) appears in shady areas in coastal California. This unlikely member of the lily family is small, perhaps and inch across. So the flower petal that dominates this picture is perhaps 3/8 of an inch all together.
Thoroughly improbable and full of grace, this surprising, tiny, and ganglious flower must smell bad (hence the “fetid” in the name). But I didn’t notice any odor at all when I photographed this Fetid Adder’s Tongue on the Cataract Trail just above Cataract Falls.
