Date: May 3, 2022
Location: Mount Tam East Peak
The latitude is 37.9290002°N and the longitude is -122.5778103°W. The approximate elevation is 2, 570 feet.
Site description: The general topography was hills and mountain peaks with lots of vegetation and many scenic outlooks. San Francisco city and the SF bay was visible out in the distance. There was a drivable road almost to the top of the east peak and a dirt, loop trail around the east peaks. The general habitat is a open woodlands and a serpentine grassland. The dominant species on Mount Tam East Peak are interior live oak, gold cup live oak, poppy, madrone, manzanita, toyon, and tan oak. California goldfields are a dominant species on the serpentine site.
Site descriptions and digital collections:
Platystemon californicus (Cream cup): Cream cups are a native, annual herb in the family Papaveraceae. They have a yellow color inflorescence standing about a foot tall. The leaves are opposite and have a linear or oblong shape with a hairy texture and entire margins. The stem is very hairy and thinner with a red color. The cream or yellow inflorescences are a lighter color towards the middle and has six petals with darker, yellow tips. The center of flower has a cluster of thick, yellow stamens. Its microhabitat is a serpentine, open grassland and can be found in recently burned areas.
Hypericum concinnum (Goldwire): Goldwire is a native, perennial herb in the family Hypericaeae. Goldwire has yellow inflorescences standing about 6-8 inches. The leaves come out in opposite nodes and are simple, linear shaped leaves with entire margins. The stems are a thick, brown, and very short. Goldwire has a bunch of bright yellow flowers with five, long petals that kind of have a fold back appearance. The center of the flowers have many thin, yellow stamens and pistils. Its microhabitat is on the bottom of a short cliff in a moist, shady, or slightly sunny area.
Whipplea modesta (Modesty): Modesty is a native, dicot, small shrub or vine in the family Hydrangeaceae. Modesty is a small shrub that has white inflorescences standing about a foot tall. They have opposite, sessile, and ovate leaves with serrated margins and tiny hairs. The stems are thin and green with clusters of white, dense, and terminal inflorescences on top. The white flowers have 5-6 petals with 5-6 styles and 5-6 stamens in the middle with white anthers on top of the filaments. Its microhabitat is a shady area on the edge of a mini cliff.
iNaturalist observations:
Cream cup link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115419143
Goldwire link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115419700
Modesty link: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/115420087
Narrative: We left at 12:55 pm and arrived at 1:55 pm. The weather was very nice and hot! We hiked a loop around part of Mount Tam’s east peak. This hike had many amazing views from every part of the trail and also had many bugs! Then, we drove to a serpentine site to look at a few more plant species and saw a huge grasshopper! I observed many plants that we had previously seen on the first hikes and a few new plants with purple inflorescences at the serpentine site. I reflected on how I really need to distinguish between some of the plants because a lot of plants look very similar.
Additional photos:
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.
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.
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.
Claytonia perfoliata (Miner’s lettuce): Miner’s lettuce is a native, annual herb that is in the family Montiaceae. It is a herbaceous flowering plant that stands at about 0.3 meters. This plant has many different shaped leaves that are edible, fleshy, bright green, platform-like, and spade shaped. Also, there is a rosette of leaves at the base of the plant with long green and reddish petioles. Miner’s lettuce has pink tinted and white flower inflorescence that are born into the top of the leaves. The tiny flowers have five rounded petals, 2 sepals, five stamens, and three stigma. The flowers are bisexual and radially symmetrical. Its microhabitat is a shady and moist spot often under healthy oak trees.
Primula herndersonii (Mosquito bill): The mosquito bill is a native, perennial herb that is in the family Primulaceae and is often called a shooting star. The stem of the mosquito bill is a reddish brown color and is about one foot tall with several flowers at the top. This species has a basal rosette of leaves that are fleshy, ovate shaped, and deciduous. The leaves have a very distinct primary vein with an entire margin and are glabrous. The flowers are bright purple and point downwards with four or five petals that are reflexed and sepals that are bent backwards. At the base of the petals there is a white ring with a yellow ring below. The reproductive structures are exposed at the bottom with dark colored anthers and a pistil emerging between the anthers. Its microhabitat is near a shady and wet area, usually at the bottom of a hill where there is water runoff in grasslands or open woodlands.
in the family Melanthiaceae. It is a white flowering plant that is herbaceous and stands at about 2 feet tall. This plant has super long, basal, and grass-like leaves with parallel venation. The stem is thicker and light green color. The deathcamus has 6 white creamy petals (3 petals and 3 sepals) with stalk-like raceme inflorescence. It has 6 yellow-tipped anthers, 3 parted stigma with the ovary being superior, and nectar rings at the base of the flowers. It can be found on grassy or woody slopes with a good amount of sunlight.
Sambucus racemosa (Red elderberry): The red elderberry is a woody, treelike shrub that is native to California and in the family Adoxaceae. This shrub has white clustered flowers that produce very bright red drupes and stands at 4 meters tall. The stems are soft and are a light green color. The bark is a light brown color and has dots that look like warts. The red elderberry has pinnately compound leaves with opposite nodes and dentate margins. It has white clustered inflorescence with 5 tiny petals, many yellow anthers on top of the flowers and 3 fused carpels. Its microhabitat is moist areas with high nutrients and can grow in shady or open spaces. The red elderberry is edible and is mostly used for making jelly.
compound leaves that are attached to thicker stems. The palmate leaves have 7 leaflets per leaf with a obovate shape and also include fine hairs. The beach blue lupin has purple flowers with each having a specialized part called a keel and has terminal inflorescence. The stigma and stamens are an orangish color with the stamen on top of the ovaries. Its microhabitat is a sunny coastal slope and can grow very quickly. This species was found at the beginning of the trail.
up to 0.15 meters and is a herbaceous plant with glossy, evergreen leaves to help retain water. The beach strawberry has trifoliate compound leaves and reddish thick stems. The leaf shape is mostly rounded at the base and apex and the leaf venation looks reticulate with a dentate margin. The beach strawberry has a classic, big, and white rose flower with five petals and pointed green sepals. There are numerous parts of five of yellow stamen in the middle of the flower. The beach strawberry produces very tiny red strawberries. This plants also has rhizomes, which are drop roots that allow them to spread. Its microhabitat is sunny coastal slopes.
grows up to 1.2 meters tall and 3 meters wide and is herbaceous with terminal inflorescence. It has evergreen leaves with opposite node arrangement and reticulate venation with a purplish red colored stem. The California bee plant is widest at the base and has dentate leaf margins with truncate leaf bases. Also, this species produces red little flower clusters at top of stems that have parts of five sepals and two petals pointed upwards and three pointed downwards. The flowers are bilateral symmetrical and bisexual. The reproductive parts are at the top with yellow stamens and a single style. This plant is bee pollinated. Its microhabitat is at the bottom of a slope or on the side of a slope with some moisture and sunlight, usually in coastal sage scrub or chaparral vegetation.
plant with purple petals and a narrow stem with large leaves. The stem is a lighter green at the bottom and is purple toward the top. The height is around 1 and a half feet. The leaf arrangement is alternate and the leaves are larger and more bunched toward the base. The leaf venation is pinnate because of the secondary veins arising from the single primary vein. The leaf shape is ovate and has an acute apex shape with base being more round. The leaf margin is unlobed, meaning entire. Each blade is rough and pubescent (hairy). Houndstongue is a flowering plant with purple petals of multiples of 5. Flowers toward the top are more mature compared to the lower ones that are blooming. The flowers of the houndstongue are considered a complete flower with terminal inflorescence and have a light colored structure in the center surrounding the carpel and stamens. Its microhabitat is shady regions in woodlands.
Scoliopus bigelovii (Slink pod): The slink pod is a native species and in the family Liliaceae. It is a herbaceous plant and a monocot with petal-like sepals that have a white outline and black stripes. The stem is narrow and about 6 inches long. Also, the stem is a darker green at the bottom and a lighter green at the top. There are two large basal leaves and flowering stems with no leaves. The leaves have dark modeling dots and parallel venation with an unlobed leaf margin. The perianth is in parts of three with three sepals and three petals that are white and black that stick upward. Slink pods have stigma with three branches and three stamen toward the bottom, making it a complete flower and hypogynous. Its microhabitat is shady, moist slopes with closed canopy in a redwood forest.
