Botany Blog – Tiny Hand's Botany Adventure

Seventh Trip; Seven Weather Changes

Date: 6 April 2017

Location: Edgewood Park (37.4712, -122.2857)

Where Ya At: Edgewood Park is known for their serpentine grassland that span over 467 acres. The park consists of wetland, grassland, oak woodland, and chaparral plant communities. It is densely packed with ferns, mosses, woody and herbaceous plants.

What Did You See:

Family: Pteridaceae

Genus and Species: Adiantum jordanii

Common Name: California Maidenhair

Description: The stipe of the leaf is black usually 20 – 50 cm. The blade is 2-3 pinnate. The pinnules are unevenly lobed. This has sori and false indusia. We can usually find this in shaded hillside and moist woodlands.

Family: Pteridaceae

Genus and Species: Pentagramma triangularis

Common Name: Goldback Fern

Description: It has a rhizome tip. The blade of the leaf is adaxially glabrous, not sticky, and has uncurved margins. Abaxially, the leaf is yellow cream to white in color, It is proximally pinnae. The habitat that it’s usually in is shaded woody/rocky areas.

Prof Paul: Drake should be wearing these on his neck!

Me: @ me next time!

Family: Asteraceae

Genus and Species: Wyethia angustifolia

Common Name: Narrow-leaved mule ears

Description: This is a Perennial herb from stout taproot and caudex. The stem is generally erect and branched basally or distally. The leaves are basal and cauline, alternate, basal largest, and present on flowering stems. The heads of the inflorescence are radially outreaching. The ray flower is usually yellow.

What Did You Do: There was a lot of sleeping on this trip to and from our site. The day before our trip I did a full body workout so my hamstrings were extremely tense. There was a lot of uphill but such steep downhills where I could feel my hamstrings being put the test. This is our first trip where we had multiple “Little Debby Challenges.” I think they best part of the challenge was that these snacks were filled with sugar for people going on a hike. Alec also touched some poison oak (laughing my booty off). The weather so outrageously bipolar: it switched from rain to shine to super windy more than seven times. Another good part was that Patricia and I killed that bag of popcorn.

Sixth Trip; Six Fries

Date: 30 March 2017

Location: San Bruno State Park (37.6851, -122.4341)

Where Ya At: San Bruno State Park is a landmark of local and regional significance, standing as a unique open-space island in the midst of the peninsula’s urbanization at the northern end of the Santa Cruz Mountain Range. The parks has 14 species of rare or endangered plant life.

What Did You See:

Family: Lamiaceae

Genus and Species: Salvia Spathecea

Common Name: Hummingbird sage

Description: This perennial flower is mostly hummingbird pollinated. As most plants in the lamiaceae family, it has a square stem and is pubescent. The blade of the leaf is oblong, puckered, has teeth, and hairy. The inflorescence has bracts that are usually green to purple and 1.5 – 4cm in size. The upper lip of the flower is usually entire while the corolla tube can be red to salmon.

Family: Polemoniaceae

Genus and Species: Gilia Clivorum

Common Name: Purplespot gilia

Description: These purple flowers have disected leaves with seven green sepals. When looking at the plant’s branches are spreading out. The leaves are lobed narrowly linear and ascending. The flower is funnel shaped, yellow, and purple spotted.

Family: Orobanchaceae

Genus and Species: Triphysaria eriantha subsp. rosea

Common Name: Pink Butter-n-eggs

Description: The corolla is white with a fading pink. It’s usually found on coastal bluffs and flowers from March until June.

What Did You Do: This has to be one of the funniest field trip that we’ve taken so far. Prof Paul told us during lecture that this would be the field trip that we would finally go to In n Out. Our class was a hot mess even before we left the parking lot. We couldn’t even find the car! Prof Paul kept saying that we might be too late to get In n Out but all of us pushed and pushed until we could go. WE GOT IN N OUT. Best reward for identifying plants. This field trip honestly felt more like a bonding experience with everyone.

Fourth Trip; Four Flowers.

Date: 9 March 2017

Location: Ridgecrest, Mount Tamalpais (37.912957, -122.624790)

Where Ya At: AMt. Tam has deep canyons and hillsides that are covered with cool redwood forests, oak woodlands, open grasslands, and sturdy chaparral. Mt. Tam has a 2,571-foot peak that includes the Farallon Islands 25 miles out to sea, the Marin County hills, San Francisco Bay, the East Bay, and Mount Diablo. Mt. Tam is home to including at least 35 mammals, 184 birds, 11 fish, and 25 amphibians and reptiles.

What Did You See:

Family: Brassicaceae

Genus Species: Raphanus sativus

Common Name: Wild Radish

Description: Wild radish is very common. It has four petals where some are white or yellow and they are flattened/reflexed. Sepals, which are pink in color, cover the main tubules Siliques are present. There are not a lot of vegetation. It has basal rosettes. It has simple, lobed leaves.

Family: Ranunculaceae

Genus Species: Ranunculus californicus

Common Name: California Buttercup

Description: A major describing factor of this flower is that it has a lot of parts. It’s a perennial herb that does not root at the node. The leaves are basal, proximal cauline widely ovate or cordate, 3-lobed or -parted to 1-ternate.

Family: Iridaceae

Genus Species: Iris macrosiphon

Common Name: Ground Iris

Description: Its stem is unbranched. The leaves are basal where the base is colorless and cauline. The two bracts in the inflorescence are opposite. The flower’s perianth is cream to gold-yellow or lavender to deep blue-purple, generally veined darker.

What Did You Do: This was a very relaxed field trip. At the first site that we went to, it had the perfect weather. The view was absolutely beautiful. A lot of the flowers that we identified were yellow. It was a great day for yellow blooming flowers.

At the second site, it was like a scene in the sound of music. Even the park ranger told Sameer to put his drone away. Prof Paul said it was an “easy” and “quick” trail. We really did some hard core weed whacking.

Second Trip: Two Places

Date: 23 February 2017

Location: Baker Beach (37.7963, -122.4797)

Marin Headlands (37.8335, -122.4934)

Where Ya At: At the first site that we went to had primarily all the species that we looked at. We walked a hiking trail right by Baker Beach in the Presidio area. There was an abundance of species that were in the Fabaceae family. At the second site that we went to there were mostly deciduous plants. There was also a lot of the Rosaceae family in the Marin Headlands.

What Did You See:

Family: Rosaceae

Genus and Species: Scrophularia californica

Common Name: California Bee Plant

Description: This is a bilaterally symmetrical flower that has opposite nodes on its square stems. Its inflorescence is axillary and pubescent. It has light to dark green leaves that are cordate at the base and occasionally wedge shaped. In the picture, they aren’t flowering because they usually flower from March to June. The upper lobe of the flower is usually red to maroon in color.

Family: Oxalidaece

Genus and Species: Oxalis pes-caprae

Common Name: Bermuda Buttercup

Description: The stem is usually underground, vertical, and short. The leaves are a basal rosette at enlarged stem tip. The leaflets are usually purple-spotted and axially hairy. Its inflorescence is umbel-like but primarily funnel-shaped with 5 petals. The stamens are deep within the flower. If someone were to eat this flower, they would gain vitamin C.

Family: Themidaceae

Genus and Species: Dichelostemma capitatum

Common Name: Blue Dicks

Description: They have long stems with grass like leaves. The bracks are at the base of the inflorescence. The inflorescence is umbel-like and dense. The flower can be a variety of colors: perianth blue, blue-purple, pink-purple, or white. The flow was narrow-cylindric and its lobes are generally ascending. There are 6 stamens and groups of 6 for the petals.

What Did You Do: Finally, a field trip where the sun is out. We took the huge Mercedes as our form of transportation. James was our designated DJ and played all the good oldies! When we got to the first site it was absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining and the ocean was sparkling. It was so fast paced, trying to keep up with Professor Paul identifying species. I loved the drone shots that Sameer got! The highlight of the entire trip was seeing the Thrasher team, skateboarding brand, do a skateboarding shoot. I’m such a skateboarding nerd. Those people skateboarding while we were doing the drone shoot are super famous in my book!

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First Botany Field Trip!

Date: 16 February 2017

Location: Baltimore Canyon Open Space (37.9403602, -122.56146)

Where Ya At: The surrounding area was primarily redwoods. There were a large amount madrone trees, California bay trees, and ferns. We also saw a small section of Tanoaks. There were stream terraces and uplands. In Redwood Forests, fire is important for regeneration of trees.

What Did You See:

Family: Crassulacae

Genus and Species: Dudleya cymosa

Common Name: Rock Lettuce

Description: This is a succulent, also a dicot, that is an endemic California native that grows out of rocks. It was one of the first species that we found. It was found prominently on the side of the mountain on rocks.

Family: Boraginaceae

Genus and Species: Cynoglossum grande

Common Name: Houndstongue

Description: This flower has spade-shaped leaves and is mostly bee pollinated. The corolla is usually violet in color.

Family: Liliaceae

Genus and Species: Scoliopus bigelovii

Common Name: Slink pod

Description: The slink pods is a type of monocot. Their leaves have parallel veins and have some dark spots on them. Its stem is short.

What Did You Do:

It was a relatively short drive up to the Open Canyon and I really liked that everyone was supportive of my Tiny Hand idea for my blog. The weather was honestly so beautiful. This was my first time going out, hiking, and taking in all the greenery! It’s made me more appreciative of this class because it’s taking me out of my comfort zone. I’m probably the least fit out of the entire class so I was lagging behind when it came to the ending uphill battle, but I made it! I’m truly proud of myself of what I accomplished during our first field trip!