May 1, 2021

innocence

innocence

Collinsia heterophylla, or innocence, is another one of my favorite flowers. Every May, it pops out in towers of purple flowers that sometimes cover entire hillsides. They are native to California and here they grow best in the shady oak and buckeye forest just above the creek.

Because of these towers, it has another common name, purple Chinese houses, but that feels like another 19th century term that could probably use retirement. Yes, they do sort of resemble pagodas, but pagodas are built in many Asian countries for predominantly religious reasons, not as houses, and really, words matter.

Fun pagoda fact? Most are built with an odd number of stories, between 3 and 13. And 13 is my lucky number. :)