Upper Mount Tamalpais

Date: 4/26/2018

Location: Marin County, California

Coordination: 37.9235° N, 122.5965° W

Elevation: 2,572′

 

Directions: 

Site description:

Mount Tamalpais is located in the heart of Marine county in North of San Francisco. The majority of this mountain is contained in protected public lands, including Mount Tamalpais State Park and the Mount Tamalpais Watershed. The climate and habitats vary with the height of this mountain and With its height and the mountain contains many microclimates, ranging from cool and foggy in lower ocean-facing valleys with their redwood forests, to hot and dry on the manzanita slopes, cool and breezy at the summit, and shady on the heavily Douglas fir-forested north slopes near Alpine Lake.

Species description:

 

Family: Papaveraceae
Common name: Bush Poppy
Species: Dendromecon rigida

 

Overall plant and its habitat: shrub or small tree, native to California and Baja, California, 3 metres (9.8 ft) tall

Leaves: The leaves are alternate, narrow lanceolate, 3–10 cm long, toothed margins

Flowers: 2–7 cm diameter, with four satiny yellow petals, plants bloom in late winter to mid-spring, receptacle is funnel-shaped and surrounds the ovary base.

Fruit: cylindric and dehiscent from the base

This plant was found in the early section of our hike.

 

 

Family: Apiaceae
Common name: Kellogg’s umbrellawort
Species: Tauschia Kelloggii

 

Overall plant and its habitat: grows in chaparral, woodlands, forest, and other types of habitat, it is a perennial herb growing up to 70 centimeters tall.

Leaves: have blades which are divided into toothed or serrated leaflets

Flowers :The inflorescence  is a compound umbel of yellow flowers with 10 to 20 rays measuring 2 to 12 centimeters long each

Fruit: rounded in shape, ribbed, and up to half a centimeter long

This plant was seen in the middle section of our hike.

 

Family: Phrymaceae
Common name: Yellow Monkey Flower
Species: Mimulus Guttatus

 

Overall plant and its habitat: annual or perennial plant, 10 to 80 cm tall

 Leaves: Leaves are opposite, round to oval, usually coarsely and irregularly toothed or lobed

Flowers: Each flower has bilateral symmetry and has two lips, the upper lip usually has two lobes, one large to many small red to reddish brown spots, the opening to the flower is hairy

This flower was found in the last section of the hike.

 

Narrative:

We left USF around 1 pm on Thursday 4/26. The weather was sunny and warm. It took us around 30 minutes to get to the upper section of Mountain Tamalpais. This site was surrounded by gorgeous views of San Francisco and there were a variety of wildlife present such as salamanders and lizards. The hike was downhill and not too intense so everyone got to enjoy it while learning about new species of plants.

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