Cassandra Odulio

• Date: March 21, 2019
• Location: San Bruno State Park, 37.697167, -122.433824
• Habitats seen: grassy hills, rocky walls, shrub stands
• Weather: sunny, clear

San Bruno State Park had a beautiful hiking trail with plenty of plants for us to identify. We were able to practice identifying Brassicaceae, Apiaceae, Montiaceae, Fabaceae, two new types of Arctostaphylos, and a lot of ridiculously miniscule flowers. Also saw some caterpillars, spiders, and a huge mound of ants, which was a very cool thing.

Sidalcea malviflora – Checker Mallow

This plant is in the family Malvaceae, and its a pink flower with five petals. Each petal has stripes pointing to the center of the flower, considered to be a landing path for bees. The stigma is feathery and multilobed. The leaves are palmately veined and lobed.

Cardamine californica – Bitter cress

This plant is in the family Brassicaceae, and it has small white or pink flowers with four petals. There are four tall stamens and two short ones on the sides. The fruit would be a silique, meaning it’s a long fused fruit.

Claytonia perfoliata – Miner’s Lettuce

This plant is in the family Montiaceae, and it has small white flowers that grow through a circular rubbery bract, making it easily recognizable. It is an edible wild plant, historically eaten by California Gold Rush miners to prevent scurvy, as it contains Vitamin C. I remember learning about this on my fifth grade field trip to Old Sacramento! We all got to eat some. Tastes like spinach.