near the Salton Sea. There are several species of dates planted in the area. I just had to try a date milk shake after being told about them.
Euphorbia Family I took this photo from the car window with a telephoto lens at a pull out on the highway going up to Big Bear Lake because it was pouring down rain (the only rain we saw on the 2 week trip). Castor bean plants are quite common in southern California. The fruits are the source of the deadly poison, ricin, so this would not be a good plant to have growing where children would have easy access to it. Castor bean plants are non-native. The flowers are monoecious. It is easy to see the red pistillate flowers at the top of the flower stalk and the opening yellow staminate flowers below.
Sometimes you have to do a doubletake when you see the "trees" in southern California, this isn't a tree at all, it is a well disguised Cell phone tower! I had seen another one near the Salton Sea that was a date palm. What a good idea to make those eyesores look a bit more pleasing! This day was the only day during our 2 week trip that we had a big rain.
