"Hmmm," I said. "DYD I don't remember seeing before." DYD is a botanical euphemism meaning "Damn Yellow Daisy," a counterpart to DPD in instances where the suspect is purple. The Asteraceae comprise one of the largest (perhaps the very largest) family of flowering plants. DYDs and DPDs fill a high percentage of the family. A little further down the trail, my brain kicked in. "Madia...Madia somethingoranother." After mentally exploring several options, I was none the wiser, but its long, slender leaves suggested that I might not have to dig too deeply into Hitchcock to identify it. Indeed, it was fairly easy to narrow it down to Madia gracilis, Slender Tarweed. I sent photos off to the Burke Herbarium for inclusion in the database. For once, I'd had my GPS with me, and could pinpoint the location. That said, it's a fairly common plant, which is probably why it escaped my notice previously. Familiarity breeds contempt, as the saying goes. But photos of the plant were not the only thing I brought home with me. I picked up two ticks along the way. You may ask, "What's so unusual about that?" if you live in other parts of the country. Ticks were never something we used to worry about here in the Pacific Northwest, but they are becoming much more prevalent with the warmer, drier shift in the climate.
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