These plants were encountered on a CNPS manzanita field trip, whose participants were unsure as to the species here. Initially, the numerous relatively long, horizontally-positioned corolla spurs near the top of the plant seemed to suggest Piperia transversa...but the yellowish-green color of the flowers, together with the reflexed spurs of most the flowers lower on the inflorescences, pointed to either P. elongata or P. michaelii. I returned a couple of days later to take these photos and try to resolve the species ID.

After going through the Piperia keys in the Jepson eFlora, the FNA, and others (e.g. the CNPS floras for Marin County, Monterey County, and Mt Diablo)...I was fairly well convinced (erroneously!) that this was P. michaelii. I had (mis)assessed the lower lip as being relatively widely deltate; and the lateral tepals as mostly spreading (rather than strongly reflexed)...and this seemed to fit better with the descriptions of P. michaelii than P. elongata.

But apparently individuals of P. elongata and P. michaelii can be fairly variable, making them sometimes hard to distinguish (in Ackerman's 1977 paper, michealii was treated as a subspecies of elongata). One clear character separating these two species is seed color (blackish brown for michaelii vs. pale brown to cinnamon for elongata), but unfortunately I wasn't aware of that when I was in the field (...frustrating to realize now, since mature fruit capsules were right in front me!). For what it's worth, between these two species, the closest CCH record to the locale here is Randy Morgan's collection from near Rockaway Beach.

I was curious about one couplet in the FNA key that referred to the shape of the ''viscidia'', a sticky structure attached to the pollinia...but I wasn't quite clear on how to discern a viscidium from the pollinium. Searching for an answer to that question led me to the 1977 paper on Piperia by Ackerman (direct link to PDF here). On pg. 251 of that paper (pg 8 of the PDF), Fig. 1F shows a pollinium of P. 'elongata ssp. michealii' with a viscidium attached its upper edge. I couldn't find anything matching that figure in my photos...except perhaps one flower which had a small whitish-yellow blob attached laterally to a pollinium, which I had earlier guessed was some sort of insect egg (see 2nd flower from upper right here). It looks like that blob is at least twice as long as wide (as the viscidia of elongata and michaelii are described in the FNA key); and the blob fits the most extremely elongate viscidium shown for michaelii in Ackerman's Fig. 1C...but I'm not sure it really is a viscidia, rather than something else!

It wasn't until I saw the Piperia key in Coleman (developed with Randy's assistance) that I realized the lower lips in the Montara plants here are not as widely “ovate deltate” as they should be for michaelii…and the edges of the lower lip appear straight rather than (convexly) rounded. Also, the inflorescences are mostly more than half the length of the plants (i.e > than the scape).

This led me to inquire with Randy on the correct ID. Here was his response:

'Yes, this is P. elongata, no question. Long spike vs. scape, relatively late flowering time, overall shape of plant (P. michaelii much shorter/fatter cigar-like, w/ relatively wide fistulous scape), and mainly the lip edges which are if anything on the concave side of straight. The viscidium(?) is drying and +/- edge-on so looks narrower than probably was.'

So with Randy's collection record of P. michaelii at Rockaway Beach, and my image of P. elegans from the bluffs just south of Rockaway...it seems at least three species of Piperia are present in the Pacifica area.