An cultural overview of the Plants of the Rogue Valley

The dwarf wooly meadowfoam is one of the most celebrated plants in the Rogue Valley due to its rare status. It can be found on the top of Lower Table Rock in the spring.

North Mountain Park Nature Center

A division of the Ashland Parks and Recreation Department

Version 1: September 2009 About this booklet

This booklet is one piece of the North Mountain Park Nature Center’s interpretation of regional plants. It explores local plant communities, human plant use, and the impact of use upon the local environment. The term “local” refers to the Rogue Valley of southwest Oregon, with an emphasis on the Ashland area.

This booklet is not meant to be a formal work but is rather to be used by educators and others seeking an introduction to the topic of local plants. It is hoped that readers of this booklet will be inspired to use this information to help make decisions that will enhance the livability of the Rogue Valley for its people, plants and wildlife now and into the future.

We invite any and all comments to this document, which will be updated periodically in an effort to reflect the most accurate information available.

Consultants: Donn Todt, horticulturalist, City of Ashland, Parks & Recreation Frank Lang, botanist, professor emeritus, Southern Oregon University Tom Sensenig, Patricia Martinez, ecologists, US Forest Service Michael Donovan, managing director, Roxy Ann Winery Darren Borgias, ecologist, Nature Conservancy Len Eisenberg, geologist

Artists Interpretive gardens at North Mountain Park

2 Table of Contents

Introduction to Plants of the Rogue Valley ...... 4

Plant Function ...... 5

Plant Reproduction ...... 6

Plant Taxonomy ...... 7

Plants Through Time ...... 8

Plants Evolve as Mountains Rise ...... 9

Native American Use of Local Plants ...... 10

Native Plant Communities...... 12-15

Plant Communities of the Rogue Valley ...... 16-17

Native Plants Become Domesticated ...... 18

Domesticated Plants Arrive in the Rogue Valley ...... 19

Growth & Agriculture: Highlights & Impacts ...... 20

A New Plant Mosaic...... 24

Who Cares for These Communities? ...... 26

Current Sustainability Issues ...... 29

Plant Index ...... 31

Local Places to Visit ...... 32

3 Introduction to Plants of the Rogue Valley

All living things have evolved to utilize and support each other, and nowhere is this more evident than with the relationship of humans to plants. At the most basic level, the very act of taking a breath is only possible because of the process whereby green plants magically convert sunlight to energy and, in the process, leave a bi-product called oxygen.

In the Rogue Valley of southwestern Oregon, people have been interacting with, using, and supporting native plants for as long as 10,000 years. In so doing, the people and plants of this region evolved an interdependency which allowed both the plant and human communities to remain healthy and diversified.

These ancient ecological and cultural relationships were drastically altered with the rapid European migrations Above: Green plants convert of the last 200 years and the sunlight to energy and produce resulting shift to a reliance on oxygen. domesticated plants.

Below: Baldhip rose hips provide a good source of The Rogue Valley of today is vitamin C. They were likely a very different place, both in used by both native Americans terms of its plants and its and early pioneer settlers. people, than it was two centuries ago. Today, this valley Right: Pear orchards stand supports a complex mixture of plants, some of which in contrast to the native plant evolved with the local geography and climate and others communities of Table Rocks. that originated in very distant parts of the world. The look of this land will continue to change as the combined effects of people and nature continue to influence the plants of the Rogue Valley.

4

Plant Function

Plants everywhere are united by one extraordinary quality: The ability to harness the sun’s energy. Plants use the sun, water, and atmospheric carbon dioxide to create their own energy and to grow and to maintain their life processes.

In order to live and grow, plants must obtain sunlight, water, and nutrients. Most plants are vascular, having leaves, stems, and roots to obtain and transport these vital substances. Above: The Leaves are sunlight collectors, and it is here distinctly veined that photosynthesis occurs. In the leaves, leaves of the green chlorophyll absorbs and transforms Cascara plant light energy into energy that can be used by Right: The fiber- the plant. Pores, or stomata, on the surface of rich stems of the the leaves allow for the exchange of water, Dogbane plant oxygen, and carbon dioxide.

Plant stems are a conduit between the energy-producing leaves and the nutrient-absorbing roots. Through this vascular system, plants are able to obtain everything they need to live and grow while staying in one fixed location, Cattail roots grow unlike most animals, which require mobility downward into the for their existence. Through its root tissues, a soil, while the rhizomes, which produce new plant will absorb water, shoots, grow laterally. nitrogen, and the minerals necessary for growth.

Along with vascular plants, the world is populated with a number of non-vascular plants including mosses, liverworts, and Above: green algae. These small plants usually Cattail grow in damp places, because without plants vascular tissues, they must absorb and Left: Mosses transport water by diffusion. must grow in damp places.

5 Plant Reproduction

The primary subdivisions of the vascular plants are related to their different reproductive strategies, including the use of spores, cones and flowers.

Spore producing plants, or Pteridophyta, were among the earliest evolutionary forms. Their complex life cycle centers on the creation of spores, which become free-living organisms before creating male and female gametes. Scouring rush (horsetail) and all fern species belong to this division.

Growing throughout the Bear Creek Watershed is another division of plants called gymnosperms. These are cone- bearing plants, including sugar pine incense cedar, white fir.

Above: angiosperms, make up the majority of Ponderosa familiar plants and have become the pine cone most successful in terms of their variety.

Right: Bee on Angiosperms produce flowers that must Echinacea be fertilized by pollen to produce seeds. Some flowering plants are wind pollinated, but in many cases plants have evolved a symbiotic relationship with insects and other pollinators that transfer pollen from one flower to another. If pol- linators are needed for reproduction, the flowers may be showy and colorful to help lure insects, hummingbirds, bats and other beneficial animals.

Although these types of plants reproduce differently, their offspring share a similar challenge: In order to complete its lifecycle, a plant’s seed or spore must germinate in a suitable environment. If all seeds fell adjacent to the parent plant, they would soon be competing for light, water, and nutrients. As a result, seeds have evolved dispersal strategies that carry them far and wide. These strategies include: utilizing the natural currents of wind or by water; hitching a ride with animals in their fur or in their stomachs; and being buried by animals, such as jays and squirrels, that store food for later use.

6 Various seed strategies. Plant Taxonomy

What’s In a Name?

Abies concolor Pseudotsuga menziesii

7 Douglas fir Plants Through Time

ancestor of flowering plants and ferns lived roughly 350 million years ago, and all plants share a common ancestor that lived perhaps 1.3 billion years ago. Over time, each branch on the plant family tree has weathered mass extinctions, shifting continents and changing climate to reach its current diversity.

8 Fern Plants Evolve as Mountains Rise

It is important to remember that plants evolved and diversified while the landmass of southern Oregon itself was growing and changing. The Klamath mountain chain formed 160 million years ago, meaning that the first land plants to arrive in this region would have dispersed from the existing North American land mass to the east. During this time, the climate was warm and tropical. Non-flowering plants, such as and tree-ferns, would have been among the first to colonize this new region. Jurassic Period, 150 MYA

Over the next several million years, plants continued to migrate west and become established among the new Klamath Mountain Chain. At the same time, rivers carrying large amounts of sand and sediment filled in the valley floor. Along with these changes, the climate became even more tropical and palm trees and tree ferns began to Paleogene Period, 35 MYA dominate the landscape.

After millions of more years, a cooling trend, and the creation of the Cascade Mountains on the east side of the valley a warming trend led to the expansion of a heat-loving chaparral community. At the hottest period of this warming trend, ecologists believe that much of the chaparral was replaced by grasslands along the val- ley floor. Eventually, the valley settled into its familiar geographic condition and with the recent cooling trend, oak woodlands and coniferous forests became established at the watershed’s mid and higher eleva- Neogene Period, 8,000 YA tions, creating the landscape vegetation we see today.

The Rogue Valley is home to a very ancient plant known as (horsetail), Equisetum spp. Horsetail is a living fossil which has existed for over 100 million years. See if you can trace its lineage on the diagram. Scouring Rush 9 Native American Use of Local Plants

For at least 10,000 years, Native Americans have been a part of the landscape of the Rogue Valley. Three tribes called the Rogue Valley home at the time of Euro-American contact: Shasta, Takelma and Athabaskans. Each tribe spoke its own language and had unique nuances to its cultures, but all shared a way of life based on a hunter/gatherer mode of subsistence, a “seasonal round” pattern of movement and a belief in their role as land stewards.

Native Americans of the Rogue Valley, as indigenous people everywhere, had an intimate knowledge of the plants in their region. This knowledge was gained over thousands of Top: Oregon years and passed on by demonstration and through white oak the oral tradition of storytelling. Over time, the people

Right: learned that acorns were a reliable source of food but Basket could only be eaten after the leeching out of the poi- sonous tannic acid. They also learned that the wood from a tree made strong and pliable bows, that the stems of the plant could be hollowed out by an insect and made into flutes, that hazelnut and willow could be made into beautiful and functional baskets, and that dogbane and stinging nettle could be worked into strong cordage.

The tribes of the Rogue Valley also managed the plants they relied upon in a variety of significant ways, applying techniques such as selective harvesting, pruning, transplanting, and, in the case of tobacco, cultivation and fertilization. Of all their management tools, the most impor- tant was the use of fire. Human-controlled fire regimes were a vital tool used to manage numerous individual plant species and entire plant communities. Fire was used throughout the valley to burn off understory trees and shrubs, creating grazing areas for wild game such as deer and elk, and to maintain open stands of oak trees, allowing easy access to acorns.

Annual burning of tarweed fields allowed for the easy harvesting of the seeds Tarweed 10 Fire was also used to burn fields before harvesting the roasted seeds, to prune patches, and to encourage the growth of tall straight shoots of and needed for basket making.

Vegetation was also managed on a spiritual level. By ascribing spiritual powers to plants, local Native Americans imbued them with a type of “payback” ability whereby their use in a disrespectful or wasteful manner could result in a negative consequence, such as a drought or famine. This “holistic” belief, which placed people on a level playing field with the plants that surrounded them, encouraged the sustainable use of these resources and an almost complete lack of waste or overexploitation. This also led to the belief that people should give back to the land in appreciation for all they were given.

Traditional collection sites within the Bear Creek Watershed

Plant Resources Other Resources

Root-based Blue Elderberry Obsidian plant foods Ground-stone basalt and Hazel shoots Jasper nodules Beargrass Camas Antelope Chokecherry Salmon and steelhead

Balsamroot Burn sites: Oak and grasslands

Burn site

11 Native Plant Communities

Above: Oregon grape

Left: Vine maple

pages 16 and 17.

Mixed Conifer Woodland Community

Eugene Zelenko

Clockwise from top: Douglas-fir with cones; Oregon grape; and madrone

12 Serpentine Community

Above: Indian Paintbrush

Left: Manzanita

Foothill and Valley Floor Plant Communities Above: A panoramic image of Medford, looking west.

Note the impacts to the native landscape from both agriculture and development.

California Black oak 13 Riparian and Hardwood Bottomland

USFS

Clockwise from top: Riparian vegetation along Bear Creek; Coyote Willow; Bullrush

wild rye, bluegrass, prairie junegrass, Lemmon’s needlegrass, California oatgrass Idaho fescue yarrow, blue dicks, miniature lupine.

Above: Native bunchgrass 14

Ponderosa pine Douglas-fir

Oregon white oak California black oak camas lark- spur

Clockwise from top: Oak savanna community; bitterbrush; camas

incense cedar white fir Shasta red fir

buckbrush, whiteleaf manzanita, bitterbrush, serviceberry, Western redbud Oregon sunshine, penstemon, lomatium, tarweed

BLM

Above: Tarweed

15 Buckbrush Plant Communities of the Rogue Valley

25—30 inches RAINFALL: 17—

Mt. Ashland, 7533 ft.

Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains

B 16 These maps were adapted from Cascade Ecoregions of Oregon, a poster Mountains produced by a collaborative effort primarily between the

 USEPA Region X,

 The USEPA National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (Corvallis, Oregon),

 The Oregon Natural Heritage Program,

 The United States Department of Agriculture–Forest Service (USFS),

 The United States Department of Agriculture–Natural Re- Bear Creek sources Conservation Service (NRCS) (formerly the Soil Conservation Service), Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains  And the United States Depart- ment of the Interior– Geological Survey (USGS)– Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center.

—22 inches

Grizzly Peak, 5922 ft.

Cascade Mountains

Bear Creek, 1800 ft. 17 Native Plants Become Domesticated

Clockwise from top: The Fertile Crescent; early legumes; wheat

Early cultivators, Field Museum of Chicago

18 Domesticated Plants Arrive in the Rogue Valley

Although several plants were domesticated in the Americas — including corn, squash and beans — the west coast of North America was not a region that invented or adopted domesticated plants. There could be two different explanations for this: either there was such an abundance of resources that Squash could be gained by hunting and gathering that it was not worth the effort to try to cultivate plants or there simply were not enough suitable plants to domesticate.

As it turned out, unlike the Fertile Crescent, the west coast of the United States had very few wild grains or legumes that had the right combination of growth and re- productive characteristics for easy domestication. There were also geographic bar- riers in the form of mountains and deserts, to regions that did have cultivated plants, and, consequently, domesticated plants from nearby regions were never imported by the indigenous people of the west coast. As a result, the Native Americans of Oregon, including the people of the Rogue Valley, maintained an exclusively hunter/gatherer way of life until their abrupt contact with EuroAmeri- cans in the 19th century. For the Shasta and Takelma people living in the Rogue Valley this contact led to an instantaneous change in the balance that they had maintained with the plants of their local environment for thousands of years.

The new immigrants, those determined souls who came over the Applegate and Oregon trails, knew very little about the plants of their newly-adopted region, but they did know how to farm. Conse- quently, the pioneer settlers began con- verting their adopted homeland into a land reminiscent of places like Ohio and Missouri. Quickly, these new set- tlers turned fields of tarweed and camas into fields of wheat and corn, hillsides of native bunchgrass into fields of Mediterranean annual grass, and oak savannas into grazing areas for cattle and sheep . It took only six years to transition from a landscape made up almost exclu- sively of native vegetation and people to a landscape teeming with imports of both. Above: Farming quickly became established.

Right: Wheat 19 Wheat Growth & Agriculture: Highlights & Impacts

Since the first pioneer settlers established roots in the Rogue Valley, this region has supported a thriving, yet changing, agricultural community. From the early days of dry-farm hay fields, to the era of the grist mill when wheat was a mainstay, through the transition to fruit orchards and up to the modern climate that favors vineyards, the Rogue Valley has continued to be productive in terms of its agricultural output. Many of the changes to the valleys agriculture can be observed at Hillcrest Orchard in Medford, which has adapted their agricultural strategies since planting their first fruit trees over 125 years ago.

In the early years of orchard production in the Rogue Valley, growers such as Hillcrest Orchard’s original owner, William Stewart, have experimented with many dif- ferent varieties of fruit and nut trees. Cher- ries, prunes, pears, apples and walnuts were all brought into the valley by early settlers and quickly became part of the landscape. Initially, apples proved to be Above: the most productive, with over 10,000 Apples acres in production in the Rogue Valley at

Right: the turn of the 19th century. Pears Like most of the valley’s growers, Stewart, eventually converted the majority of his acreage into pears. The reason that pears became more profitable is due to the fact that pears are more suited to the Rogue Valley’s warm summer days, cool nights, and clay soils. At the peak of production, Rogue Valley growers were able to produce more than 20 different varieties of pears.

It wasn’t until the invention of refrigerated rail cars well after the turn of the 19th century that the market for Rogue Valley pears really opened up. With refrigeration extending the shelf life of the fruit, pears were able to be shipped further than ever and peo- ple across the nation began to be famil- iar with orchard labels coming from Photo courtesy of Hillcrest Orchard southern Oregon. 20

Impacts of Non-Native Plants

Photo courtesy of Hillcrest Orchard

Scotch broom, English ivy and purple loose- strife

Teasel Himalayan blackberry

star thistle

21

Logging and its impacts

The forested lands of the Rogue Valley have provided a readily available source of timber since the first sawmills were built in the mid 1800s. Logging, however, is by its very na- supported 400 growers, the ture, an extractive industry and as such, it has number of local growers had an enormous impact on the forests of dropped to just 15 in 2007. southwestern Oregon. Early policies favored the conversion of mature old-growth forests, to timbered land. Because old growth forests were viewed as “unproductive” they were targeted by early foresters and quickly began to disappear from the landscape. With the invention of chainsaws and logging trucks, almost all of the surrounding forests began to be dismantled. Clear-cutting, a process whereby all of the harvestable trees in a given area are cut at the same time, became the favored method of operation, especially dur- ing the highly productive 1950’s and 60’s. Recognizing this trend, the Although efficient in terms of the initial in- Hillcrest Orchard began grow- vestment in time and money, clear-cutting is ing wine grapes on a portion of impactful in that it opens up large patches of their land. In 2002, the land which are then prone to erosion and Orchard opened Roxy invasion by non-native plants and insects. Ann Winery. By 2009, Roads that have been built to access timber Hillcrest Orchard, have also had a significant impact on the for- which has been owned ests of the Rogue Valley through the actions by the same family for of compaction, water runoff, and invasive over 100 years, had plant introductions. Due to all of these fac- converted almost half tors, it is hard to find an area of forest land of its acreage from within the Rogue Basin that has not been im- pears into wine pacted by some type degree of logging. grapes.

22 Today, Hillcrest Orchard is the largest tract of land dedicated Fire Suppression and its impacts exclusively to farm use within a city limit in Oregon. The slow Smokey Bear was born in 1944 but his mes- but steady shift from pears to sage on the evils of fire has been around grapes mirrors not only con- much longer. Ever since American settlers sumer preferences, but also envi- began building permanent, mostly wooden, ronmental concerns. structures and towns, fires in general have been seen as an evil that needs to be fought. Pears traditionally have been Although fires can obviously cause damage, grown where there is a lot of they also play a vital role in the health of water – they are irrigated using natural ecosystems. It is likely that local plant flood irrigation, and they require communities, like plant communities in other the fertile soil found on the val- parts of the nation, evolved under a historical ley floor. This is not true of fire regime. This regime brought fire, either grapes. Vineyards are being through lightning strikes or purposeful igni- planted on the valley’s hillsides. tions by Native Americans, to an area every The paradigm has shifted. The 15 to 25 years. These frequent, low-intensity hillsides are becoming more de- fires prevented the build up of undergrowth, sirable than the valley floor for reduced infestations by insects, and prevented these new types of farms. large, catastrophic fires from taking hold. Today, after over 100 years of fire suppression Along with the shift away from by public and private land managers, forests pears and over to grapes and have become choked with an overabundance other crops such as hops, many of trees and shrubs competing for limited growers are adopting sustainable resources. Federal agencies now recognize farming techniques. Hillcrest the important role of fire and are working to Orchard recently received a cer- increase ecosystem health through prescribed tification as a green grower and a fire and thinning. The importance of fire to salmon safe orchard. any management strategy cannot be over- stated.

Below: Hillcrest Orchard

23

A New Plant Mosaic

Agriculture 20,000 acres of Jackson County are 35,000 acres or 15% of the Bear Creek Basin, the dedicated to the production of hay. highest concentration of farm lands in the Rogue River watershed. Over 22,000 acres of Jackson County are dedicated to the production of hay alone. Agriculture may include eve- rything from vineyards to orchards, and from high input monocultures to diverse organic farms.

Forestry: Over 85% of the Rogue Basin is classified as forested land use. Land use in the Bear Creek sub-watershed is similarly subdivided. Nearly sixty percent of the Bear Creek watershed is forested land, and federal and private forests create a checkerboard throughout the watershed. Forest health and timber production, therefore, necessitate collaboration between public and private stakeholders.

Ranching: Approximately 44,000 acres, or 18% of the Bear Creek Basin, is used for livestock grazing on private ranches, or on public lands. Sustainable ranching practices and livestock numbers must be carefully monitored in order to reduce the impacts on local plant communities.

Urban landscaping stock. Yards and gardens provide habitat of widely varying quality, yet there is a growing interest in creating even very small pockets of wildlife-friendly gardens.

24

25 Who Cares for These Communities? The federal government manages a significant portion of this region’s natural resources and protects a number of unique and beautiful plant communities, how- ever, the priority for this management changes with public interest and policies. Surrounding the urban centers of Ashland, Medford, and Grants Pass, the land is a checkerboard of private and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) ownership sandwiched between nearly contiguous tracts of U.S. Forest Service land.

Oregon State: Notice the small pockets of blue that represent Oregon state managed lands.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management: In southern Oregon, the Bureau of Land Management covers four distinct resource areas (noted in purple) spanning Douglas, Josephine and Jackson counties. The Medford district of the BLM oversees 8,682 acres of public land between the Cascade and Siskiyou mountain ranges. BLM land is managed for multiple uses including recreation, energy, forestry, fire management and cattle grazing. Features of the BLM lands include 85 miles of Wild and Scenic Rogue River, as well as Table Rocks.

Cascade Siskiyou National Monument:

BLM

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument

26

Table Rocks

Agate Desert

Mt. Ashland

Map of Land Management

USFS

USFS Mt. Ashland

Lupine, monkshood, larkspur, hot-rock penstemon, and western pasqueflower

Henderson’s horkelia Mt. Ashland Lupine

Lupine 27

Nature Conservancy: The Nature Conservancy protects and manages ecologically important lands such as Lower Table Rock and the Agate Desert Preserve. Working collaboratively with the BLM, the Nature Conservancy monitors and preserves 1,881 acres on the Table Rocks mesas. The Agate Desert is a 53-acre complex of vernal pools and seasonal wetlands containing a suite of rare plants, such as BLM

Southern Oregon Land Conservancy: This non-profit organization has been protecting local lands since 1978. The BLM Conservancy works collaboratively Clockwise from top: with land owners to set up conserva- Lower Table Rock; tion easements for the protection of dwarf-wooly meadow- RVCOG foam; Emigrant Lake; forest land, riparian areas and rural agate desert. farmland in perpetuity.

County Parks: Jackson County maintains ten parks in the region and manages land surrounding both Emigrant and Howard Prairie Lake. The lands are maintained primarily for active recreation including boating, fishing, rafting, racing and or- ganized sports but they also support a variety of passive recreational activities such as camping, hiking, and birding.

Ashland Parks and Recreation Department: This city department manages about a thousand acres of land, much of which includes a high proportion of native vegetation. About one half of the 100 acres of Lithia Park is comprised primarily of native plants, and Siskiyou Mountain Park protects 270 acres of woodland. North Mountain Park Nature Center showcases a variety of native plant communities and heritage gardens for public education and enjoyment. Bridge over Ashland Creek in Lithia Park

Blue wild rye 28 Current Sustainability Issues

: A fragmented habitat mosaic causes challenges to animal migration and increases the threat of invasive species migrating into natural areas from private landscaping.

: Humans can use their gardens and landscaping to create corridors of habitat connectivity. Even in residential or suburban areas, land owners can grow native plants which create valuable habitat and require less water and care. Using a few simple backyard landscaping tricks, one can garden for an array of wildlife and insects. Imperiled animals may use an area if it provides food, water, shelter and a diversity of na- tive plants. The National Wildlife NSPO Federation offers information and Above: Native plant garden certification for home gardens that provide vital habitat islands. Left: A bee pollinates a Mexican Sunflower. : Roughly ¾ of the world’s flowering plants and 100 of our most important agricul- tural crops rely on the help of pollinators which are experiencing a nearly catas- trophic decline. Honey bee populations declined 40% between 1947 and 2005; if this trend continues, honey bees could be extinct by 2035. There is evidence that wild pollinators are also declining, potentially affecting both wild and agri- cultural plant communities.

: Plant community restoration is one of the most important tools in reduc- ing pollinator decline. While human-managed honey bee populations should be conserved, it is also important to maintain a diversity of native pollinators. Managing habitat for pollinators includes restoring native floral communities, leaving soil untilled for ground nesting species, and reducing the use of pesticides and herbicides. Consumers can support organic farms, which are more benefi- cial for pollinators and their environment. In 2007, Oregon supported 432 USDA certified organic farms, and the number is steadily increasing. Citizens can buy organic foods and eat seasonally available produce grown by local farmers. Local organic foods are fresher, tastier, and more sustainable.

29 Loss of plant genetic diversity.

Imperiled cultural diversity and loss of ethnobotanical knowledge.

Clockwise from top: Cordage-making; alder stakes spearing fish to be smoked; Shasta basket-maker Camas . 30 Plant Index

Alder Alnus sp...... 14 Manzanita Arctostaphylos sp...... 13 Bald hip rose Rosa gymnocarpa...... 4 Mexican sunflower Tithonia rotundiflora ...... 29 Balsamroot Balsamorhiza sp...... 11 Miniature lupine Lupinus bicolor ...... 14 Bear grass Xerophyllum tenax...... 11 Monkshood Aconitum napellus...... 27 Big leaf maple Acer macrophyllum...... 14 Mt. Ashland lupine Lupinus lepidus ...... 27 Bitterbrush Purshia tridentata ...... 15 Oregon ash Fraxinus latifolia...... 14 Black cottonwood Populus balsamifera...... 14 Oregon grape Berberis aquifolium...... 12 Blue dicks Dichelostemma capitatum ...... 14 Oregon sunshine Eriophyllum lanatum...... 15 Blue elderberry Sambucas Mexicana ...... 10, 11 Oregon white oak Quercus garryana.....10, 13, 14 Blue grass Poa sp...... 14 Paintbrush Castilleja sp...... 13 Blue wild rye Elymus glaucus...... 14, 28 Penstmon Penstemon sp...... 15 Buckbrush Ceanothus cuneatus ...... 15 Poison oak Toxicodendron diversilobum...... 12 Bulrush Scirpus sp...... 14 Ponderosa pine Pinus ponderosa...... 6, 12, 13, 15 California black oak Quercus kellogii...... 13, 15 Prairie junegrass Koeleria macrantha...... 14 California fescue Festuca californica ...... 14 Purple loosestrife Lythrum salicaria ...... 21 California oat grass Danthonia californica ...... 14 Red-twig dogwood Cornus stolonifera kelsii ....14 Camas Camassia quamash...... 11, 15, 30 Scotch broom Cytisus scoparius...... 21 Cascara Rhamus purshiana ...... 5 Scouring rush Epuisetum arvense...... 6, 9, 14 Cattail Typha sp...... 5 Serviceberry Amelanchier alnif ...... 15 Choke cherry Prunus virginiana ...... 11 Shasta red fir Abies magnifica ...... 15 Coyote willow Salix exigua...... 14 Star thistle Centaurea solstitialis...... 21 Dogbane Apocynum cannabinum...... 5, 14 Stinging nettle Urtica dioica ...... 10 Douglas fir Pseudotsuga menziesii...... 7, 12, 15 Sugar pine Pinus lambertiana...... 12 Dwarf wooly meadowfoam Limnanthes floccose Sulfur buckwheat Eriogonum umbellatum...... 13 ssp. pumila ...... 28 Tarweed Madia elegans...... 10, 11, 15 Echinacea Echinacea sp...... 6 Teasle Dipsacus fullonum...... 21 English ivy Hedera helix...... 21 Thimbleberry rhubus parviflorus………………..11 Ginkgo Ginkgo sp...... 9 Tobacco Nicotiana sp...... 10 Hazelnut Corylus cornuta ...... 10, 11 Vine maple Acer circinatum...... 12 Henderson horkelia Horkelia hendersonii...... 27 Western pasque flower Anemone occidentalis...27 Himalyan blackberry Rubus discolor ...... 21 Western juniper Juniperus occidentalis...... 13 Hot rock penstemon Penstemon deustus ...... 27 Western redbud Cerecis occidentolis...... 15 Idaho Fescue Festuca idahoensis...... 13, 14 Western yew Taxus brevifolia ...... 10 Incense Cedar Calocedrus decurens ...... 6, 15 Whiteleaf Manzanita Arctostaphylos viscida.....15 Indian Larkspur Delphinium sp...... 15 Willow Salix sp...... 14 Lemon’s needlegrass Achnatherum lemmonii... 14 White fir Abies concolor...... 7, 12, 15 Lomatium Lomatium sp...... 15 Willow Salix sp...... 10, 11 Lupine Lupinus sp...... 27 Yarrow Achillea millefolium...... 14 Madrone Arbutus menziesii...... 12

31 Local Places to Visit

Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, southeast of Ashland, is known for its botanical diversity. The monument can be accessed through a variety of locations. There is a small interpretive center near the summit on Highway 66.

Grizzly Peak, which can be accessed via Dead Indian Memorial Road, has a hiking trail along which many varieties of native plants can be viewed. The Siskiyou Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon has put together a colorful guide to the Wildflowers of Grizzly Peak.

in Ashland: a brochure-guided tree walk is available that high- lights a variety of both native and non-native trees and shrubs. There is a BLM also a series of interpretive walks through the park each summer.

Mt. Ashland, which can be accessed by driving to the Mt. Ashland Ski Area, supports a rich mosaic of native wildflowers. The Siskiyou Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon has put together a colorful guide to the Wildflowers of Mt. Ashland and the Siskiyou Crest. The best time to view the flowers in bloom is between mid-July and late August

in Ashland provides a variety of interpretation related to local native plants. The USFS park contains a native plants garden, an interpretive ethnobotanical plant walk, and a variety of cultural USFS exhibits related to plants and their uses.

OSU Extension Service

Table Rocks in Central Point. Both Upper and Lower Table Rock provide well-marked trails where you can see a variety wildflowers from March until June. The slopes also support a diversity of tree and shrub habitats including oak and pine woodlands and chaparral. The BLM offers a series of in- terpretive hikes on the Table Rocks each spring.

North Mountain Park Nature Center 32 620 N Mountain Ave ~ Ashland, OR 541.488.6606 www.northmountainpark.org