Baylands: Sarcocornia pacifica recovering from overindulgence

Pickleweed, S.pacifica, Palo Alto Baylands, San Francisco Bay, CA

Please CLICK ON THE PICTURE ABOVE 
to take in a fuller view of the beauteous pickleweed in her dormant winter clothes

I've included other pieces and pictures in my January Art Journal, from a recent walk at the Palo Alto Baylands at the edge of the San Francisco Bay. They include: A Baylands Bouquet, Baylands is for the Birds,  A Taste for Tidal Salt

A few days back I wrote in this journal about how exotic I found the San Francisco Bay marshlands when I first located here in the late ‘seventies. Pickleweed is one of the things that gives our bayland zone it’s distinctive look.

I’m partial to a pickle myself. S. pacifica likes that salty taste even more than I do. In fact, she relies on it to keep her roots happy. She filters that salt out as it reaches her upper limbs, but after a while she just over-salts. Too much of a good thing, I guess. Then even her fleshy little tips looses their oomph and drop off.  That happens in the winter, as you can see in my recent photo.

She’s a perennial plant so recovery, not death, is in order. Does this sound familiar after a month where a body may have overindulged just a tad?

I’m rather partial to the pickleweed’s colorful, dormant winter look.