I took this the day after the others. I went back to check on the Matilija poppies and had to step through a ring of bushes to reach it, though it was not necessary to stand very close. It’s an interesting bloom, somewhat ordinary until one realizes that the purple part is about ten inches across. It’s on a dangerous looking plant with pointy leaves and petals on the end of a thick stem unfolding like an artichoke. Perhaps it is an artichoke, or at least a relative. It’s astonishing in some ways, but not what I would call inviting. One wonders if the purple is poisonous. I doubt that it is, but I’m not willing to put much faith in that. What I did was to snap this picture and carefully retreat. It’s an eerie but interesting moment that I find myself reluctant to remember.