Date: 5/3/2018
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. This week, we visited the lower section, which was dominated by ferns.
Species description:
Common name: gumweed
Species: Grindelia camporum
Overall plant and its habitat: perennial topping 2 m (6 ft.) in maximum height
Leaves: wavy-edged, serrated leaves 2 to 3 cm long
Flowers: The centre of the head is filled with yellow disc florets and there are usually many yellow ray florets around the circumference.
This plant was found in the last section of our hike.
Common name: Western star flower
Species: Trientalis latifolia
Overall plant and its habitat: Low-growing, creeping perennial, reaching 5 to 30 cm
Leaves: 5 to 7 whorled, lanceolate, entire leaves distributed levelly in a single group
Flowers : White or pink, Calyx and calyx is 5- to 9-parted and persistent.
This plant was seen in the middle section of our hike.
Common name: Salmonberry
Species: Rubus Spectabilis
Overall plant and its habitat: shrub, grows to 1–4 m
Flowers: flowers are 2–3 cm (0.8-1.2 inches) in diameter, with five pinkish-purple petals; they are produced from early spring to early summer
Fruits: berries ripen from early May to late July in most of the Pacific Northwest, resembles a large shiny yellow to orange-red raspberry 1.5–2 cm
This flower was found in the middle section of the hike.
Narrative:
We left USF around 1 pm on Thursday 5/3. The weather was sunny and warm. It took us around 30 minutes to get to the upper section of Mountain Tamalpais. We hiked in the lower section this time and climbed down a 10 feet ladder in order to cross to the other side. This site was surrounded by gorgeous views of water and there were a variety of wildlife present such as salamanders and lizards. The hike was downhill and uphill and we got to review many of the species and learn new ones.