PATH OF GOLD

If we have plenty of rain in the Winter, in our area, we sometimes 
have "super blooms" of wildflowers in the Spring.  This year, we had heavy rain in April, which is unusual; so we might have large areas of 
California poppy, (our state flower), & several kinds of native Lupines growing in profusion.

Whenever we have rain, I go looking for this "Path of Gold" to photograph, because it is stunning, but a cautionary tale.   It's beautiful, and  this super bloom looks like wild flowers; but it consists of BLACK MUSTARD 
(Brassica nigra), an invasive annual that grows profusely & prevents the germination of native plants.  It is also fuel for wild fires when the heat & dry winds turn it into tinder.  This is wildfire country.

You can see it growing in many areas of our state, but how it arrived is a mystery.  There is a theory it was brought by the Franciscan padres, who cast the seeds about to mark the El Camino Real, the road that connects the string of California missions.  

Beautiful can be deadly.....