Location + Site Description:
Batteries to Bluffs’ geographic coordinates are: 37.799997°N, -122.479468°W. The elevation gain is approximately 500 feet which is surrounded by the pacific ocean of Marshall’s beach and offers a beautiful view of the Golden Gate Bridge. We saw plenty of shrubs and flowering plants from the families of Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Rhamnaceae, and Rosaceae! The trail to Batteries to Bluffs was a downhill walk which was about 1.4 miles round trip. This trail was a hour and a half trail where we went at a slow-moderate pace while introducing and learning new plant families and their phenotypes.
Species descriptions + digital collections:
1. Osoberry (Oemleria cerasiformis)
The Oemleria cerasiformis is commonly known as the osoberry from the family Rosaceae. It is found usually as a loosely branched shrub with flowers colored a white or yellow. This specific species has its flowers facing down where they are born in tight groups, but they have five free white petals. This implies that the petals are not closely together. The leaves are rubber-like, alternate, simple, and deciduous with entire margins. As it is still winter, the fruits/berries were not in season yet until early spring.
2. Blueblossom (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus)
The Ceanothus thyrsiflorus is commonly known as the blueblossom that is in the Rhamnaceae family (my family!). The blueblossom is an evergreen shrub that is native to the California coastal which grows on serpentine soils. It is noticeable that this shrub is very woody with flowers that grow in large fluffy clusters, packed with pale blue to purple petals. Flowers start to bloom during the spring which is why not many flowers are present. Leaves are alternate, waxy, simple, and oval shaped. If looked closely, the branches have these ridges growing along their length.
3. Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)
The Toxicodendron diversilobum is commonly known as the poison oak from the family Anacardiacae. The poison oak typically grow as a shrub, but can be a vine plant that grows upwards. The leaves come in a diverse leaf shape of compound leaves of three. The leaves are usually red which contains the oils that are poisonous. However, it is important to note that the entire plant has secreting oils along the stems and flowers. Some of the poison oak have visible red flowers which are currently blooming, as they do not bloom entirely till late spring. The poison oak is quite invasive as seen in the third image, which was located pretty much in many areas in the Presidio. These were found right as we arrived.
Narrative:
We left the USF campus a little after 1pm and arrived at Batteries to Bluffs about 15-20 minutes later. As we got there, you could see the clouds coming towards the area where it continued to rain a little bit. It did eventually hail pretty hard early into our walk which was really surprising. However, as we kept walking along the trail and saw many flowering plants, the location definitely made it better by offering a beautiful view of the Golden Gate bridge and Marshall’s beach. Overall, this location is the perfect location to take a walk and a breather. The best part is that the directions to get there are not complicated at all and recommended for everyone!
