This whimsical plant gets its common name from its woolly, tubular flowers, which open to look like a kangaroo’s curved fingers. Although they’ve become a common site in California gardens, kangaroo paws are native to southwestern Australia. There they grow wild in sunny areas that get winter rain, and can be seen growing along roadsides. They’re pollinated by birds and small nectar-feeding possums. As a bird (or possum) feeds on the nectar deep inside a flower, pollen rubs off the anthers and onto its head. As the bird flits from flower to flower, it distributes pollen onto the stigmas of other flowers while picking up more pollen.