Date: April 26, 2022
Location: Ring Mountain
The latitude is 37.909691528 and the longitude is -122.485779814. The approximate elevation is 603 feet.
Site description: The topography was many vegetated hills with a road to an entrance with many amazing houses. The hills were covered in many invasive grasses. The general habitat was a serpentine grassland. The dominant species on Ring Mountain are California poppy, Hayfield tarweed, sedges, buckwheat, Chinese house, and yarrow.
Species descriptions and digital collections:
Eriogonum nudum (Naked Buckwheat): Naked Buckwheat is a native, perennial shrub that is in the family Polygonaceae. It has a pinkish and brownish inflorescence standing at about a foot tall. The flat, green leaves are at the base in a basal rosette with parallel venation. The under side of the leaves are very bright with a white color. The stem is green, rounded, and leafless. The inflorescences are tightly clustered with a head-like structure and are a white and pink color with many bright pink anthers sticking out. Its microhabitat is on a sunny slope with many invasive grasses and can be found in wet coastal areas as well.
Hesperolinon congestum (Marin dwarf flax): The marin dwarf flax is a native, annual herb in the family Linaceae. It has a pinkish white inflorescence standing at about a foot tall. The tiny leaves are evergreen and linear. The stem is a reddish green color and is very thin. The five petals are a light pink toward the top and are a white color in the middle and toward the base. The petals are free and there are greens sepals underneath each petal. The flowers are congested at the tips of the stems. There are five bright purple anthers in the middle and a long ovary coming out of the stamen in the center. Its microhabitat is on serpentine soils with many invasive, dry grasses and needs to be protected.
Hemizonia congesta (Hayfield tarweed): Hayfield tarweed is a native, annual herb in the family Asteraceae. It has a yellow inflorescence standing at about a foot and a half tall. The leaves are a basal rosette and are long, narrow, and pointed with parallel venation. The reddish green stems are very thin and hairy. Hayfield tarweed has yellow, head inflorescences that are very hairy and has yellow florets in the middle with dark tips. The dark purple spots in the center are its anthers and there are white pistils surrounding the flowers in the center. Its microhabitat is in an open, disturbed area of a grassland.
iNaturalist observations:
Naked buckwheat link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113693125
Marin dwarf flax link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113693252
Hayfield tarweed link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113693343
Narrative: We left at 12:55 pm and arrived at 1:30 pm. The weather was supposed to be windy and a little chilly, but it turned out to be very nice and hot! We walked around Ring Mountain at a reasonable pace and didn’t have to walk to far. I observed a new species called the cardinal catchfly, which was a very pretty red color and got to observe Chinese houses. I really enjoyed getting to see the Clarkia rubicunda and its bright pink color! Also, we got to see a snake!! I reflected on how there can be unique species to an area and how they should be protected!
Additional photos:
Medicago polymorpha (Bur clover): Bur clover is a native, annual herb (legume) in the family Fabaceae. Bur clovers have yellow inflorescences and are weed-like with plant stems that grow up to 2 feet and sprawl along the ground. The leaves are trifoliate with a clover-like shape and have slightly serrated margins. The stems are green and thin. Bur clovers have small, bright yellow clusters of flowers with a yellow banner on top and a keel with ten stamen hidden in the middle. The fruit is a bur and is very prickly. When burs are young they are a green color, but will eventually turn a brown color. Its microhabitat is in open land within many invasive grasses.
Lysimachia arvensis (Scarlet pimpernel): Scarlet pimpernel is a non-native, annual herb in the family Primulaceae. They have bright peachy pink colored inflorescences that grow low to the ground. The leaves are green, ovate, simple, and sessile with opposite nodes. They have thick, green, glabrous, and sprawling stems. The flowers have five petals with five, yellow anthers in the center and a narrow stigma with a superior ovary that is a pinkish color. Its microhabitat is in a open, flat land in a moist and sunny area with many invasive weeds and grasses.
Calandrinia menziesii (Red maids): Red maids are a native, annual herb in the family Montiaceae. Red maids have a bright purple inflorescence that stands about a foot tall. They have alternate nodes with linear shaped, simple, and entire margin leaves. The stem is thick with a light green color. Red maids have determinant and raceme inflorescence with bright purple flowers that have 5 petals and 2 sepals that are beneath the petals. It has a light yellow center with many orange anthers sticking up from the middle. Its microhabitat is on a grassy, sunny slope with many invasive grasses.
Linum bienne (Pale flax): Pale flax is a dicot, annual herb that is non-native to California and is in the family Linaceae. Pale flax have a light purple or white inflorescence that stands about 60 centimeters tall. They have many tiny glabrous, sessile leaves with entire leaf margins that wrap around their long and narrow stalk. Pale flax have green sepals and five light blue or light purple, round petals that become more of white color toward the center. Also, there are dark blue/purple streaks that come toward the center. In the center they have five stamens with white filaments and blue anthers with a green ovary beneath the male reproductive parts. Its microhabitat is a dry, sunny grassland on an open slope.
Amsinckia menziesii (Common fiddleneck): The common fiddleneck is a dicot, annual herb that is native to California and is in the family Boraginaceae. The common fiddleneck has apricot inflorescence that stands about a foot and a half tall. It has linear leaves on alternate nodes that are very hairy. The leaves are simple and have entire margins. The stem is long and thin, and is very hairy at the top where the inflorescence starts. The apricot (yellow) inflorescence is funnel shaped like a violin or a fiddle, hence the name. The flowers are in parts of five with a fused corolla. The fused corolla has bright orange dots that lead toward the center. There are five stamen with yellow anthers. Its microhabitat is dry, open grasslands that are possibly roadside.
Allium peninsulare var. franciscanum (San Francisco onion): The San Francisco onion is a native, monocot perennial herb (bulb) in the family Alliaceae. This onion has purple inflorescences standing about two feet tall. They have deciduous leaves that are simple with parallel venation and entire margins. They have long, thick, smooth, and rubbery stalks and also lack leaves where the bulbs are sheaving off. The San Francisco onion has purple, umbel inflorescence and is in parts of three with six triangular tepals. The three outer tepals are longer than the inner tepals. It produces a bulb of an onion underground. Its microhabitat is in an oak woodland or serpentine grassland on a sunny slope.
Quercus lobata (Valley Oak): The Valley Oak is a native oak tree in the family Fagaceae. This oak is the biggest in California, standing about 60-100 feet tall. The deciduous leaves are deeply lobed and a bright green color with a light green underneath, but will turn brown in the fall. The Valley Oak leaves give a more open feel in comparison to the Coast live oak that is more dense. The bark is deeply fissured with a dark brown on the base and lighter color toward the top of the fissures. They have many brown catkins (tassels) hanging from the tree as the male pollen structures. Its microhabitat is in open foothill woodlands with lots of sun.
Lonicera hispidula (Pink honeysuckle): The Pink honeysuckle is a native vine or shrub that is in the family Caprifoliaceae. This honeysuckle has pink florescence and can be around four feet long. They have opposite nodes with deciduous, simple, and sessile leaves. The leaf shape is obovate or ovate with pinnate leaf venation. The Pink honeysuckle is a climber that is vine-like and usually grows over coast live oak. The stems are a reddish or purplish color and are very thin/ vine-like. The inflorescence is terminal with pink flowers that have long, yellow anthers and stigma that stick out of the center of the flowers. Its microhabitat is usually on oak trees in the foothills or on a shaded slope, possibly surrounded by poison oak.
