Ramblings with Rebecca April 2 – April 16, 2005

ANNOUNCEMENTS Oak Titmouse Dan Gluesenkamp and his restoration technician, Chris outside my office window DiVittorio, have been working on removal of a noxious Little gray bird with a crest. weed that is closely related to the many other, less invasive Versatile singer! introduced wild geraniums. Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), looks like a harmless little pink flowering herb… but what it does to the landscape is insidious! Because it grows and proliferates rapidly, it has begun to take over the habitat of a number of native species in the Canyon and Loop Trail areas, including the little white froggy foot flower, Nemophila heterophylla. Dan is actively seeking volunteers that would be willing to work with them on this project so that the threat of losing species diversity in the understory of the mixed woodland can be checked before it gets too far out of control. If you’d like to know more, read the excellent information sheet Dan placed on the front table in Gilman Hall, and if this sounds like the project for you, contact Dan by phone or email (935-8417 ; [email protected]), or leave a message for him in his box or with Nancy. You should be receiving a letter in the mail from me very soon, discussing some upcoming changes in my work for ACR. Please watch for the distinctive ACR envelope, and feel free to call or drop by if you’d like to discuss this further. My Ramble route: Rocky Road to Access to YBR trail to Woodland to Loop to Canyon to RRII, and later all of the Yellow Brick Road (YBR). IN THE NATIVE PLANT GARDEN & BY GILMAN HALL Sonoma Sage, Salvia sonomensis – whorls of purple flowers on gray, true-sage, stems California lilac, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus - blue and white flowering Bush poppy, Dendromecon rigida,- the shrub decked with yellow California poppies, Eschscholtzia californica – orange! Note the deciduous sepals! Western Redbud, Cercis occidentalis –pink pea-flowers on woody shrub by obelisks Lesser goldfinches at the thistle seed feeder behind the hall.–Soft songs, bright, thin bird bodies with black on yellow, and olive markings. BY THE PARKING LOT Miner’s Lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata, Winter Vetch, Vicia villosa Spring Vetch, Vicia sativa Blue Dicks, Dichelostemma capitatum (a.k.a. blue wild lily, blue hyacinth) Oak Titmouse singing in the oaks by the Tree House (see photo above). ACCESS and ROCKY ROAD TRAILS Ryegrass, Lolium multiflorum, and California Fescue (Festuca californica) stamens and stigmas are both in prolific flower along the California Fescue, a native grass common Rocky Road trail edge. Look for the under oaks. anthers that dangle in the wind - nice evidence that the wind, can in fact, function as a pollinator. Many also show the white feathery stigmas of the female pistils- open to receive pollen! Great place to use those hand lenses! It’s fun to show children grass flowers because it really expands their understanding about what a flower is and does, e.g. every flower’s job is to help create a new generation of its own kind. Even though grasses don’t have petals, they do have (“perfect”, but “incomplete”) flowers - with the key working parts - stamens (filament and anther) that produce pollen, and pistils (stigma, style and ovary) receiving pollen and containing the seeds-to-be. Shepherd’s needle, a.k.a. Venus’ Needle, a.k.a. Scandix pecten-veneris, is an introduced Carrot Family (Apiaceae) member native to the Mediterranean & widely naturalized in our area, with tiny white flowers atop long, linear fruits (the flowers have inferior ovaries). The feathery leaves look very “carrot-like”, and the overall effect is of a very delicate, lacy plant. Shepherd’s Needle Scandix pectin-veneris Diogenes’ Lanterns (a.k.a. Golden Fairy Lanterns, a.k.a. Calochortus amabilis) is just opening on the Access Trail. Look for the full buds about 8 inches above the ground that seem to be nodding, between benches and the parking lot- but closer to the benches. These should begin opening soon, and they are just beginning to flower up on the Josephine’s Chaparral and Rim Trails. Look closely inside the petals and you’ll see that there’s a ridge of hairs across the base of each. Function? Not certain, but I have heard some Calochortus amabilis, interesting speculation that these hairs may help the flower Diogenes’ Lantern capture pollen from visiting insects… Golden Fairy Lantern Soap root (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) sending up flowering stalks already… Fern-leafed Phacelia (Phacelia distans) is blooming in hairy coils of white among the rocks here. YELLOW BRICK ROAD Miniature and Sky Lupines (Lupinus bicolor and L. nanus respectively) are both in flower at the trail head. Along the first straight-away of the Yellow Brick Road, you’ll walk on pineapple weed, Chamomilla suaveolens with dome-shaped composite heads of disk flowers along the center… a close relative of the Chamomile of herb tea fame, this weedy nonnative plant is fairly common in disturbed places like this.

Fern leaf Phacelia,Phacelia distans. Carrot family - Apiaceae Peppergrass (Lepidium nitidum) in fruit… red, scale-like fruits growing 3-5 inches above the ground. Lots of Erodium botrys, also known as Filaree, Clocks, Stork’s Bill, or Scissors. I have fond memories of picking these long, pointy fruits and threading one through the thickened base of the other to make doll sized scissors when I was a little girl. It ranked right up there with making daisy chains! Tom Cat Clover, Trifolium willdenovii Balloon Clover, Trifolium depauperatum, Popcorn Flower, Plagiobothrys nothofulvus Fiddleneck, Amsinkia Tom Cat Clover, intermedia. A quick look Trifolium willdenovii might give you the impression that these coiled and hairy flowers are in the same family as the Phacelia growing on the Rocky Road and Access trails. How do I know they’re not? Although both have coils of flowers and are hairy, Borage Family flowers produce “nutlet” fruits- meaning that each seed rests in its own hard shelled case, while members of the waterleaf family (Hydrophyllaceae) put many seeds in a single “capsule”. Easier still, Borage family flowers typically grow with undivided, and somewhat linear leaves, while waterleaf family members often have lobed, divided or compound leaves…roughly resembling a fern. So you tell me, which flower is in which family (the common name should help)? Purple Sanicle, Sanicula bipinnatifida, is the plant with the small, dark purple balls of tiny flowers growing among the grasses in the oak woodlands throughout the preserve. WOODLAND TRAIL Long-spurred Plectritis, Fiddleneck, Borage Family Plectritis ciliosa-tiny light pink flower heads probably pollinated by butterflies which manage to extract nectar from very thin tube- like spurs such as these! Look opposite the first big boulder heading up this trail. Royal Delphinium, Delphinium variegatum (a.k.a. Blue Larkspur) in bud only, west of the trail. Long-spurred Plectritis Woodland Star, Lithophragma affinis in flower Plectritis ciliosa, near the first boulder Valerian family Gold Fields (Lasthenia californica) en masse Purple Owl’s Clover, Castilleja exserta The genus this flower and Indian Paintbrush belong to, was named in tribute to the Spanish botanist, Domingo Castillejo. The lovely, but non-native, Briza maxima, Rattlesnake grass, a’plenty near the Woodland-Loop Trail lunch spot. Woodland Cicadas are making their tapping calls as you near the top of the hill. (Saw an adult at C.A. #3 on a leaf of Pipevine!). Blow Wives, Achyrachaena mollis, are in flower on the west Rattlesnake grass – each grain side of the trail near one head looks like a pitviper’s rattle of the large boulders. Look for the tight heads of orange disk flowers. Soon they’ll go to fruit and you’ll be looking for delicate, papery, dandelion-style Blow Wives in flower puffs of chaffy fruits that any woman, man or child would be happy blowing away as if they could embody the wind. One of our most unusual and distinct members of the sunflower family, I always delight in finding these at any stage- flower to fruit! Later in the day, I watched, transfixed, as Yellow-faced Bumble Bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) pollinated the Winter Vetch with remarkable speed and attentiveness. These are large bees, and like most bumble bees, they are active early and late in the day and in cloudy weather – conditions less hospitable for other bees, and they can do this because they are able to self-regulate their body temperature to some degree. They live in social communities with queens (sexual females), drones (males) and asexual female workers. Because of their larger size & longer tongues, they can pollinate flowers that honey bees cannot… including some clovers. These are the behemoths of the bee world, and yet, relatively non-aggressive. I tracked down these pictures with a zeal that would have turned many other kinds of bees against me, but the bumble bees just kept on pollinating, flying away if I got too close (usually just when my camera was about focused…!).

LOOP TO YELLOW BRICK ROAD AND FIRST PART OF CANYON TRAIL I watched a Pipevine Swallowtail butterfly, Battus philenor, fly across the field to the west of the Loop Trail, not far from the Dutchman’s pipe vines growing under oaks here (where,

later, I’ll look for its eggs)… and in the same general area as the Blue Dicks from which it is known to sip nectar. These black-with-iridescent- blue butterflies are pretty distinct. Also saw from a distance a Sulfur of some kind (one of the bright yellow medium sized butterflies). Since then, I’ve been finding Sulfurs all over the preserve- apparently busy pollinating flowers. Most butterflies in the Family Pieridae (sulfurs and whites) have larvae that feed on plants in the mustard and pea families…. So there’s a lot of caterpillar food available with fresh greenery right now. Less clear to me is what species these fluttering adults sip from, but regardless, the banquet is open at Bouverie… wildflowers of every stripe are in flower! And, speaking of flowers, I noticed clusters of the small, yellow, Linanthus acicularis, Golden Star, Phlox Family (Polemoniaceae) along the edge of the Loop Trail just before it intersects with the Yellow Brick Road. Look for small, trumpet-shaped flowers with clusters of linear leaves just below the flowers and then in well-spaced whorls on the short (5-7 inches?) stalks. Typically we find the all-yellow species (Golden Star) and also a mixed white - pink version (Linanthus androsaceus, False Baby Stars) in this area and also along Josephine’s Chaparral trail. Also in this area, I happened upon a lovely brownish-black & orange butterfly about the size of a buckeye butterfly, but clearly a different species. It that rested – wings flat – on a warm rock in front of me…as I tried to snap its picture. This critter looked familiar, but the lighting was odd. My best guess, based on the wing and antennae markings, is that it is a Painted Lady (Vanessa Painted Lady? on a rock at BP cardui). Painted Ladies feed on Thistles of all kinds and also Fiddlenecks, and migrate north in large numbers in late March through April. Interestingly, I had a call from a docent looking to identify the brownish gold small to medium-sized butterflies that were clearly migrating past her home in Sonoma Valley en masse! So, keep your eye out for these lovely flutter-by’s en route or individually. Usually narrow places in canyons and hilltops are good places to watch for butterfly migrations. CANYON TRAIL FROM INDIAN FLAT TO THE REDWOOD FOREST

Approaching Indian Flat, Froggy Feet (a.k.a. Nemophila heterophylla) is flowering where it grows low to the ground on both sides of the trail, just past the footbridge. Our one Trillium is in white flower behind the fallen Bay opposite the concrete pad at Indian Flat: look low, the stalk seems to be lying on the ground here. At the third creek access point, notice how the nonnative Lemon Balm (a.k.a. Bee Balm, a.k.a. Melissa officinalis) is taking over the corner where the Dutchman’s Pipevine is usually so prolific! Although this introduced citrus-scented mint with oil-shiny leaves seems like a fun plant to find on the preserve, it can be very destructive when it gets established well enough to spread so quickly! There was only a little bit of this plant in this area last spring and a lot more Pipevine, so the weedy one has been actively spreading… and Painted Lady there’s only room enough for one of these two species to really (not my photo) thrive here. taken in good light! Western Heart’s Ease, a.k.a. Two-eyed Violet, Viola ocellata is abloom along both sides of the trail as you approach the Redwood Forest. Look at the underside of the two upper petals- they should be purple. These lovely little flowers ejects their seeds explosively at maturity. They also have Cleistogamous flowers: flowers that never open, but self pollinate while still enclosed as buds near the base of the plant. Now that’s one slick evolutionary adaptation, the floral version of “hedging your bets”!

ROCKY ROAD, RR II, & YELLOW BRICK ROAD RETURNING The American Robin’s cheeree –up, cheeri-ee is clear and loud approaching the footbridge east of the Unnatural Trail. As with so many of our year-round residents, we rarely notice these lovely birds unless they’re singing… and everyone is singing now! Bee flies (Bombylius major) are hovering over the ACCESS Trail: large, dull brownish, hairy critters with a long proboscis they use for pollinating flowers. These are true flies (not the bees they resemble) in the order Diptera. Their larvae parasitize the larvae of wild solitary bees… and both species, the parasite and host – are native! Watch for them! They are harmless and entertaining to watch. I usually see them just about a foot above ground. Wild Cucumber vine, Marah Fabaceus, is in flower and its lush growth is worth noting on the rocks throughout the Rocky Road and Access Trails.

And, on the Yellow Brick Road at the Culvert… The Meadowfoam, Limnanthes douglasii s astounding! Notice how the color contrast leads the eye right to the subtle nectar guides…

Wild Cucumber vine

Meadowfoam, Limnanthes douglasii

Meandowfoam

And, a single note that sounds like the beginning of an Ash-throated Flycatcher’s song in the oak woodlands, Two Mourning Doves in frantic, chasing flight near Gilman Hall, Violet-green Swallows flying and fly-catching – like a well-choreographed ballet company… with a lot more chatter – over the residential compound and out over the oak woodlands on the Preserve proper! Flowers, bees, butterflies, birds, oh, my! ….It’s Spring! (There’s no map this time, but I’m happy to point things out on one for you) Tell me what you see out there!