Field Journal Entry#8 Edgewood Par

Edgewood Park & Natural Preserve

10 Old Stage Coach Rd, Redwood City, CA 94062

Coordinates: 37.4732° N, 122.2782° W

Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve is a 467-acre protected area located in San Mateo County and is best known for its spring wildflower displays. It has variety of habitats of woodlands, coastal shrubs, wetlands and grasslands perfect for hiking or walking dogs. There were great amount of poison oaks on the side of the trail that had to be looked out for. The overall trail difficulty was moderate since there were some big slopes in between. There were great amount of new flowers we learned at this field trip. The tidy tips, pineapple weed, blue eyed grass, shepherd’s needle were some of the flowers we have encountered.

Layia platyglossa

Layia platyglossa, also known as Tidy Tips, is a native annual wildflower that is part of the Asteraceae family. This plant was mostly found in grasslands. The habit is decumbent to erect, glandular, not strongly scented. The stem is not generally purple-streaked. The leaves were linear to lanceolate or oblanceolate, proximal lobed. The inflorescence was peduncle less than 13cm. The flower is yellow inside and white on the perimeter. The fruit is glaborous or sparsely hairy. It lives in the elevation less than 2000m. The flowering time is between Feburary to July.

Matricaria discoidea

Matricaria discoidea, also known as pineapple weed, is a part of Asteraceae family. The stem is generally branched from base. The leaves is glabrous and sessile. The inflorescence is having heads generally 1cm diameter shatting at maturity. It has 1-2mm corolla, and fruits narrow brown glands extending to bottom of fruit. It lives in elevation less than 2250m. The flowering time is from February to August.

Scandix pecten-veneris

Scandix pecten-veneris, also known as Shepherd’s needle, is a nonnative that is a part of Apiaceae family. Their leaves are parallel with petiole about 2-10cm. The blade is 2-10cm, 1-5cm wide. The inflorescence is penduncle about 1-6cm, lance-linear to obovate, ciliate. The fruit is wide and rounded that has body about 6-15mm, 1-2mm wide. It lives generally in grassy slopes or roadsides elevation around 15-1000m. The flowering time is from April to June.

Narrative

We left on time around 1pm at the parking lot. This field trip was quite a drive that it took longer than the others. There was a giant hill right at the beginning of the hike that completely burned my thighs. There were many poison oaks on the side of the trail, so we managed to stay inside of the trailroad. We saw many wildflower plants that we haven’t seen in the previous field trips. My favorite one was the pineapple weed because it really looks like a mini pineapple. That was the first time that I actually agreed on how they named the plant. I wish the weather could be better since it was cloudy all the time.