Salsify is also called John-go-to-bed-at-noon. Yep, you guessed it. The flowers close at midday. So if you saw the purple flowers late in the day that would effectively rule out salsify. Salsify also gets seed heads that look like dandelion blow-balls on steriods - that is if the finches and other seed eaters don't get to them first! FataMorgana

This species of Sparaxis, often called the harlequin flower, is just the tip of the iceberg in this genus, they are almost all wonderful, and do so well in coastal California that they can survive in the wild, and naturalize in gardens. As they mostly come from the winter rainfall areas of South Africa, they can be planted out in areas that do not receive irrigation and do just fine. I would also recommend seeking out S. grandiflora, and the Dutch bulb growers are some of the best sources for South African bulbs in general. It is amazing to me that more gardeners don't plant South African bulbs such as Ixia, Sparaxis, species Gladiolus, Romulea, Freesia, Nerine, etc., when they do so much better year after year with minimal care than the hybrid Tulips, which aren't adapted to our mild climate.

To me, it looks like Trollius (globeflower), based on the spiky things that stick up from the center of the flower. How large are the flowers? Ranunculus repens flowers would be 1/2 to 3/4 inch across, while Trollius flowers are much larger -- 1 to 2 inches across. Here is a link that might be useful:

Maybe the leaves are alternate... A better way to describe it is that the leaves grow directly from the stems on opposite sides of the stalk; they are NOT compound leaves. I don't know if they are "alternate" or "opposite" persay. It kinda looks a bit like common lowland loosestrife, but I'm not sure... thanks for the link... any other thoughts?