Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: trichostema dichotomum

This flower blooms from late June through August. The plants stand up to about 6", usually shorter and the flowers are very small, only about 1/4" in size. The leaves and stems are all covered with sticky resin droplets. Thanks to Art (Leapfrog) for figuring out what kind of flower this is!

As I looked at this image, I suddenly said, "OHHHH!!! I GET IT!!!!" Now I understand why the stamens grow the way they do! They come out from behind the flower and arc up and over the flower. An insect will land on the front to sip nectar and the weight causes the stamens to bend forward and brush pollen onto the head of the insect!! INGENIUS!!!! I sat and observed this patch of flowers for a little while and could see that the most common visitor are these lovely orange skippers, which flit quickly from blossom to blossom. And now we can see that every time they visit another flower--hundreds of them every day!--they pass the pollen around to the other flowers! Isn't that fascinating?!! :D Just another reason I'm overjoyed to have this amazing camera and lens!

2 more pictures above in notes! :) After our seasonal pond dries up, many different flowers grow through the summer. This is a very tiny one that I've always had a hard time photographing. It's very small--about 1/4"--but takes up a large area, so it's hard to get everything in focus while letting the background go soft. A frustrating challenge!! I am not entirely happy with this side view, but it's a lot better than past attempts! One of the problems is that it's an odd shape and difficult to understand what you're looking at. The stamens come out from the back and come up and over the top of it! Thanks to Art (Leapfrog) for solving the mystery of this flower!!! About Blue Curls: Bloom: June–October Description: Annual herb, 4–24". Flowers small and unusually shaped, delicately beautiful. Curved corolla tube is twisted, so that the long, curving stamens point toward the stem. The flower is blue except for the lip, which is white with blue dots leading inside (in our subspecies; some are entirely blue). Leaves are narrow and opposite. Special: Native. Strong odor. Natives crushed fresh leaves and threw them into the water to stun fish.