Date: March 22, 2022

Location: Marin Headlands – Fire road trail

The latitude is 37.8262 and the longitude is -122.4997. The approximate elevation is 584 feet.

Site description: The general topography includes a hilly peninsula, north of the Golden Gate Bridge. Each hiking trail was able to be reached by car. The fire road trail was a dirt trail that including an outlook of a valley with lots of vegetation and layered rock  formations on the trail sides. Hawk Hill had a scenic view of the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay estuary. The general habitat is a coastal sagebrush scrub. The dominant species in the Marin Headlands are coyote brush, mustard, ribwort, bracken fern, California sage brush, coast man-root, and poison oak.

Species descriptions and digital collections (3):

Vicia benghalensis (Purple Vetch): The purple vetch is a native, annual, and herbaceous legume in the family Fabaceae. This legume has purple, raceme inflorescences and stands at about two feet. The leaves are pinnately compound with each individual hairy leaflet being oblong or elliptic shaped. The stems are thin and angular with green tendrils spiraling off of the ends. The purple flowers consist of a banner on the top and a keel, with anthers and stamen hidden in the middle. The fruit on the purple vetch are bean pods with a narrow, oblong shape. Its microhabitat is on a moist, sunny slope near coastal scrubs, like coastal sage brush.

 

Sisyrinchium bellum (Blue eyed grass): Blue eyed grass is a native monocot in the family Iridaceae. This species is a one foot tall perennial herb with purple inflorescence. The leaves are semi-evergreen and grass-like with parallel venation. The flowers are atop of narrow, green stems with a flattened section on top. Blue eyed grass has a single purple flower with six tepals and dark parallel, purple lines on each tepal. The flower contains pollen and nectar that attracts mostly bees. The center of the flower is yellow with a single stigma pointing out above the anthers. Also, there are fused stamens that surround the style. Its microhabitat is a open, moist meadow with many invasive grasses.

 

 

Sidalcea malviflora (Checker mallow): The checker mallow is a dicot, native, and perennial herb in the family Malvaceae. The reddish stems are thicker and hairy, standing about a foot tall. The bright green leaves are small, palmate, and pubescent. The complete, bilateral flowers have five lobed pinkish or lavender colored petals with dark veins leading toward the middle. There are five green, fuzzy sepals underneath the petals. The fuzzy stigma in the center of the flower is surrounded by white anthers. Its microhabitat is dry, open flats in grasslands, meadows, woodlands, or chaparrals.

 

iNaturalist observations:

Purple vetch link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109317470

Blue eyed grass link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109317575

Checker mallow link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/109317737

Narrative: We left at 12:55 pm and arrived at 1:15 pm. The weather was very nice and hot. The temperature outside was 80 degrees and it definitely felt like it! I really enjoyed the hiking trails and wanted to continue walking to the end. The Hawk Hill view was very beautiful and mesmerizing! I was able to answer many questions on this field trip, which means I got to eat a lot of chocolate! Yum! I observed a variety of lupin and purple inflorescences in the family Fabaceae. Also, observed many white and yellow inflorescences in the family Brassicaceae. I reflected on how much I actually knew of previously seen plants and families. I thought this site was a great review for all the familiar plants that we have learned. Also, I reflected on the showy plants that are in the family Iridaceae and how the Achillea millefolium (Yarrow) species was a cluster of many head inflorescences. The last observation I reflected on was the yellow monkey flower being found in a narrow ditch at the end of a steep slope, which meant that it favors moist environments.

Additional photos: