California Native Plant Society Sanhedrin Chapter Newsletter Spring 2012 Fieldtrips and Events

Broom Pull, Sunday, March 11 Setting out from the splendor of a redwood forest floor Meet in the parking lot of Low Gap Park in Ukiah at 10am. dappled with calypso orchids, anemones, and trilliums, we’ll We will be removing broom upstream from the bridge. Chuck walk along Pruitt Creek into the elevated hinterlands of oaks, Williams: 462-8984 chaparral, perennial grasses, and rocks. Plan on a long, moderately strenuous walk of 4 to 6 miles. We’ll meet at the Low Gap Plant Walk, Saturday, March 31 Pruitt Creek gate (about 1 mile east of the Reserve’s main Join Mark Albert on this traditional early season field trip to parking lot) at 9:30 a.m. Please contact Peter at 978- 3155 or Ukiah’s Low Gap Park. Meet at the parking area just past the [email protected] for information. Playhouse, opposite Ukiah High School on Low Gap Road at 9:00am. Our annual early spring botanizing in a familiar place Tomki Creek Headwaters. always leads to questioning what we thought we knew about Saturday, April 21, 9am – 3pm the common local wildflowers. Bring a light lunch and a hand This area is accessed via Shimmins Ridge Road north of lens. This will be our 30th year at Low Gap! Willits and encompasses the upper valleys and ridges in the vicinity of the Tomki Creek headwaters. This is a rich area for Chalk Hill, Cow Mountain, Saturday, April 7 plants, especially grasses because of the variety of moist, dry, Chalk Hill is a huge rock hillside with a mineral spring and serpentine grassland habitat. There are also undisturbed pouring over it, leaving a tufa deposit with a texture that looks oak woodlands, conifer forests, chaparral, and riparian areas to like a tapestry of fishnet. An unusual variety of Fremontia explore. Meet at the Safeway parking lot in Willits at 9:00am. with small apricot colored flowers and tiny leaves surrounds Bring a lunch, good walking shoes, hat, and water. For more the mineral deposit. We're hoping they will start blooming by information contact: Kerry Heise (462-4533), April, but if not, there will be other interesting things to see. [email protected] We will carpool up to the Oakwood Springs trailhead which has tables and a restroom. Any vehicle that can make it to the Oat Hill Mine Trail (east of Calistoga, Napa County) S. Cow Mtn. gate should be able to make it to the Oakwood Sunday, April 22; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Springs parking area. From Oakwood, it's a steep one mile This exciting area of geological and botanical diversity hike over the ridge and down to Chalk Hill. This is a strenuous supports a number of rare plants and will provide an exciting hike without much shade, but fun nonetheless. The top of the day of discovery. We’ll meet at the Aetna Springs Road ridge is the top of the world and you can see to Clear Lake and access, off Pope Valley Road in northern Napa County. Ride- Mt. Konocti as well as a wonderful view of the rest of Cow sharing encouraged; estimated travel time from Santa Rosa: Mountain. Meet at CVS parking lot, 155 Orchard Plaza in 1.5 hours. Contact Peter Warner at 978-3155 or Ukiah, at 9 am April 7th (the day before Easter) Bring water [email protected] for more information. and lunch and wear boots that will give you good footing. Call Chuck Williams at 462-8984 for more information. Anderson Valley Wildflower Show Saturday/Sunday, April 28-29 Highland Springs Park, Lake County The location is June Hall on the Boonville fairgrounds from Sunday, April 8 10:00am to 4pm. There is a plant sale and raffle to earn We will hike trails in the interior of the park and hopefully see money for local high school scholarships. A tea room some different flora than usually seen on the Toll Road. We provides food and there is a selection of books on will meet up at the trailhead around 9:30am. Directions from consignment from Gallery Book Store. We hope many people Ukiah: take Hwy 20 to the Upper Lake Intersection of Hwy 29 will come to view the collection of wildflowers and plants. and turn right towards Lakeport. There is one traffic light in Lakeport; about 8 miles. Go another mile to the next traffic Walker Ridge field trip, Saturday/Sunday, May 5-6 light at Highland Springs Road and turn right. Go past the Come explore the splendid plant and wildlife habitat diversity airport and then another mile or so. The road will make a hard of Walker Ridge while it’s still somewhat intact, if right hand turn and go by a big horse arena. The road will beleaguered. That could all change soon if the wind power then fork, with the "Toll Road" heading off to the right generation project is approved by BLM. We’ll spend some towards Hopland and Sheldon Creek. At this fork, stay time on the Ridge, but might explore a bit in the nearby Cache STRAIGHT (left fork), and go up the hill to the left of the Creek Wilderness; some may want to check out Bear Valley, dam. Follow the road to the end at the picnic area at the as well. Meet on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. at the Judge Davis reservoir. Meet at the CVS parking lot in the Orchard Plaza in trailhead, about 17 miles east of Clearlake Oaks on Hwy. 20, a Ukiah at 8:30am to carpool. For questions call Karen Sullivan few miles west of the Hwy. 16 junction. For those staying at 707-349-1559. overnight, camping spots are available, but some are completely without facilities, so be prepared for rustic Montgomery Woods (northwest of Ukiah) camping (unless you want to drive out of the area for lodging). Saturday, April 14; 9:30 a.m. to about 4 p.m. Anyone planning to attend Sunday only, please contact me This trip will afford a look at the diverse habitats of the upland close to the date (about May 1), and perhaps Ill have a better parts of the Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve. idea where the overnight group will be Sunday morning. Further information, and to let me know you’ll be joining us: spring, 2 field trips to the property will focus on plants and Peter (707) 978-3155; [email protected]. plant ecology, specifically arranged with CNPS members in mind. Reservations are required to participate in these trips. Mayacamas Sanctuary (east of Geyserville, Sonoma Please contact Kristin at 707-328- 8539 or kristinm.m@twc- County) - Saturday, May 12, 9:30am - 3 p.m. ca.org. Sponsored by the Madrone Audubon Society. Please visit Madrone’s website for further information. Rickabaugh Glade, Saturday, May 19 A walk to appreciate the ecology of plants, trees, shrubs, A small area, relatively close to Ukiah with some of the most wildflowers, and grasses in this beautiful montane setting, led interesting floristic bio-diversity in the county; this is by Peter Warner. The pace will be slow to moderate; please Rickabaugh Glade, elevation 975 m, located south of Red Mt. bring field guides, hand lenses, cameras. Children OK with in the Mayacmas Mountains. The Glade is comprised of a supervision. A plant list will be provided upon prior request large meadow, a large vernal pond (which, of course, may not (sent digitally): contact Peter Warner at (707) 978-3155 or be too full this year) and an extended marshy drainage. An [email protected]. Meet at the lower end of Pine Flat extensive plant list begun by Roger Raiche in the 1970s has Road (park along the road before the Sausal Creek Bridge), off been revised & updated over the years. Currently there are Red Winery Road, off Hwy. 128 at the sharp curve 1/4 mile approx. 60 genera and 215 species listed for the 120 acre site. east of the Jimtown Store. For more information contact Side trails from the Glade lead to other botanically rich spots. Suzanne at 829-7234. Reservations are not required. We will leave at 8:45 am from the Orchard Ave. side of the CVS Drugstore parking lot in Ukiah. Please arrive early so Jenner Headlands (Sonoma Co. Coast) our departure will be prompt. (People traveling from the south Thursday, May 17 and Sunday, June 24 may want to meet us at approx. 8:50 am at the new ARCO The splendid biological diversity and enthralling aesthetics of station on Talmage Rd., just to the east of the Hwy. 101 the Jenner Headlands beckon to all. This terrestrial jewel, Talmage Rd. Exit. It is about a 40 minute drive up the acquired by the Sonoma Land Trust in 2009, offers sweeping - mountain and a fairly easy 20 minute walk to the Glade. - or fog-enshrouded – coastal vistas, deep forested canyons, Please bring water, lunch, sturdy shoes and good cheer. and grasslands bedazzling in spring’s tapestry of flowers. This Contact Vishnu at 467-1341 for more information.

Pepperwood Courses

Please visit the Pepperwood Preserve website at http://app.pepperwoodpreserve.org/pls/htmldb/f?p=514:1:0::::: for further information about the Preserve or for course registration. The following is not a full listing of the course selection.

Edible and Medicinal Plants of Pepperwood green and growing. Seasoned with a dash of plant jargon, Sunday, March 25 you’ll learn how to turn a dichotomous key and your powers Have you ever tasted a roasted bay nut, nettle pesto or sautéed of scholarly observation into a virtually limitless frontier of milk thistle greens? Come explore the world of edible and botanical exploration. medicinal plants found at Pepperwood Preserve and throughout Sonoma County with Autumn Summers, teacher Grass Identification: Tools and Techniques and program coordinator for the California School of Herbal Saturday & Sunday, May 19-20 Studies. Class will begin inside with a morning lecture and This two-day lecture, lab, and field class, taught by expert hands-on experience including identifying fresh plants and botanist Peter Warner, will focus on the challenging making and tasting the local edibles. Then we’ll head out on identification and ecology of true grasses. Content will include the trails near the Bechtel House. plant structure, terminology, and techniques for field identification of common grass species of interior Sonoma Wildflowers and Other Botanical Delights County. Saturday, April 14 Examine the spring flowers of Pepperwood with Steve The Sedge Family (Cyperaceae) Barnhart, retired SRJC Botanist and the Pepperwood Friday & Saturday, June 15-16 Academic Director. Common wildflowers, trees and shrubs (Note: This course will be listed on Pepperwood’s summer will be identified and their ecological adaptations to meadow, session events calendar.) This graminoid (grass-like) plant chaparral and forest will be discussed. This is an excellent family can bewilder, confound, and frustrate! But take heart: introduction to Pepperwood’s “producers” which provide the this 2-day course will provide a firm footing in the ecology, essential habitat and food for wildlife. morphology, and identification of sedges, bulrushes, tules, and more. We’ll review the family’s primary structural Using the “Keys” to Plant Identification characteristics, spend time using dichotomous keys to Saturday, April 21 differentiate among and within common genera, and visit one Have you wanted to learn to use a plant key, but didn’t know of Sonoma County’s foremost sedge habitats. We recommend how? Led by Peter Warner, well known expert on all that bringing the 2nd edition of the Jepson Manual to assist you! flowers, this introduction to Pepperwood’s colorful spring Instructors: Sanhedrin Chapter members Peter Warner and wildflowers will empower you to name the names of all that is Kerry Heise. Changes in the plant families - Marigold Klein

Here's my understanding of the current family name changes. I limited this to genera found fairly locally (Mendocino and adjacent counties) and also to angiosperms. The whole point of the changes is to express our changing theories of the evolutionary history of flowering plants. Taxonomists aren't just being difficult and moving the names around. They are exploring the origins of life! Forget dicots. That concept is gone. The concept of eudicots replaces most of what was considered to be dicots, but as the history of the development of the plants is coming to light, we have families that are neither dicot nor monocot.

Cabombaceae is our first one, which includes our Brasenia (water shield). Nymphaeaceae, the water lily family is next with our Nuphar (yellow pond lily). Then we go into the clade: Magnoliids. Clade means a grouping of related species which all have the same common ancestor, and the clade includes that ancestor. Aristolochiaceae: is next with Asarum, wild ginger.

Lauraceae: includes Umbellularia (California bay) just as it did before. I'm including these families because they have a different placement now, in the order of things. But the families I'll list now are only ones that have experienced some change. You'll see a lot that is familiar still. Eudicots Adoxaceae: In older classifications this family was part of Caprifoliaceae (the honeysuckle family): Sambucus... elder; Viburnum ...

Apocynaceae: The Dogbane Family includes Asclepiadaceae now, Milkweed Family: Apocynum... dogbane; Asclepias... milkweed; Cycladenia...lamb's horns; Nerium..oleander; Vinca ... periwinkle

Boraginaceae: The Borage family includes Hydrophyllaceae now, the Waterleaf family: Allocarya...popcornflower;Amsinckia...fiddleneck; Borago... borage; Cryptantha..popcornflower; Cynoglossum.. hound's tongue ; Echium...salvation jane, Viper's Bugloss; Emmenanthe.. whispering bells; Eriodictyon..yerba santa; Hackelia.. stick seed; Heliotropium...heliotrope; Hydrophyllum.. waterleaf; Myosotis..forget me not; Nemophila.. baby blue eyes; Pectocarya...combseed; Phacelia...;Pholistoma... fiesta flower; Plagiobothrys...popcorn flower; Romanzoffia....mistmaiden; Symphytum ...comfrey Myrsinaceae: In a lot of the world Myrsinaceae may not be recognized. It may be sunk into Primulaceae, the primrose family. But we are lucky and have Myrsinaceae, which includes: Anagallis...scarlet pimpernel and chaffweed; Glaux...sea milk wort; Trientalis...star flower

Orobanchaceae: Broomrape Family. For this one, you can get out your old Munz and just move the last twenty some pages of Scrophulariaceae into Orobanchaceae. Munz and Keck’s, A California Flora, was written in plant family order, meaning species were places near closely related species. Orobanchaceae is only two pages away from the Scrofs. So much of the “new changes” are things we already knew. It includes: Bellardia...Mediterranean lineseed; Boschniakia... ground cone; Castilleja...paintbrush,and also now some of the owl's clover; Cordylanthus.. bird's beak; Orobanche.. broomrape; Orthocarpus.. a few owl's clover; Parentucellia...yellow glandweed; Pedicularis... indian warrior and lousewort; Triphysaria... johnny tuck

Plantaginace: DNA research shows that Plantaginaceae s.s. (s.s. = sensu stricto, in the strict sense) was nested within Scrophulariaceae (but formed a group that didn't include the type genus of that family, Scrophularia). So, the plantain family now has most of the plants that you thought were scrophs, plus a few surprises like Callitriche, water starwort, and Hippuris. Antirrhinum... snapdragon (the name started to change to Sairocarpus, but seems to be going back. Often happens. The changes in family names seem to me to be based on evidence. The changes in names of genera I take less seriously. They change, they change back. If you learn the most common of the common names, maybe the one that Cal- Flora and Cal-Photo are using, people will understand you. Plantaginaceae includes: Callitriche... water starwort; Collinsia...blue eyed mary; Cymbalaria...Kenilworth ivy; Digitalis... fox glove; Gratiola...hedgehyssop; Hippuris...mare's tail; Keckiella.. beardtongue; Kickxia...fluellin; Linaria...toad flax; Penstemon; Plantago ... plantain; Synthyris... snow queen; Tonella.. baby innocence; Veronica ...speedwell

Hydrangeaceae: Philadelphus... mock orange; Whipplea ...modesty

Phrymaceae: Lopseed or Monkeyflower Family includes: Mimulus ... monkeyflower and Phryma … lopseed (which has been found once in Sonoma).

Sapindaceae: Soapberry family. Our maples and buckeyes used to be in Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae, but now they get to be together in Sapindaceae: Acer.. maple and Aesculus .. buckeye.

Scrophulariaceae: Figwort family is pretty small now: Buddleja.. butterfly bush; Limosella... mudwort; Myoporum... lollypop tree; Scrophularia...figwort; Verbascum... mullein. (Other taxa moved to Plantaginaceae, Orobanchaceae, and Phrymaceae.) Monocots Agavaceae: This family is considered to be part of Asparagaceae by many now, but the Jepson interchange isn't doing it that way, and since our local botanists say they're using the interchange, let's follow them:Agave..century plant;Camassia... camas; Chlorogalum..soaproot; Hastingsia... reed lily

Alliaceae: Onion family.Wikipedia says this is a subfamily of Amaryllidaceae, but the interchange says this: Allium... onion and Nothoscordum ...slender false garlic (invasive, headed north from Marin)

Araceae: Arum family. Genetic research shows that the duckweeds, belong in the Arum family! Cool, huh!? So now all in one happy family we now have: Arum...lords and ladies; Landoltia...dotted duckmeat; Lemna ...duckweed; Lysichiton...skunkcabbage; Spirodela...giant duckmeat; Wolffia...water meal; Wolffiella...bogmat, mud midget; and Zantedeschia ...calla lily

Liliaceae: The lily family was formerly a paraphyletic "catch-all" group that included a great number of genera now included in other families, and some in other orders, including Agavaceae, Alliaceae, Asphodelaceae, Hyacinthaceae, Melanthiaceae, Nartheciaceae, Ruscaceae, Themidaceae, and Tofieldiaceae. Some people are separating Calochortus into its own family but we're keeping it in the lily family along with Calochortus...globe lily, fairy lantern; Clintonia...blue bead lily; Erythronium...fawn lily; Fritillaria; Lilium..lily; Prosartes (was Disporum) drops of gold, fairybells; Scoliopus..fetid adderstongue, slink pod; Streptopus...twisted stalk

Melanthiaceae: The family isn't widely recognized. These plants used to belong to the family Liliaceae: Toxicoscordion (our Zigadenus is now this)..death camas; Trillium; Veratrum.. corn lily; Xerophyllum.. bear grass Poaceae: Grass family, and I'm not going to list all our grasses. You just need to know that Achnatherum, Nassella, and Piptatherum moved to Stipa. Elytrigia, Leymus and Taeniatherum moved to Elymus; Hierochloe went into Anthoxanthum; Lolium, and Vulpia went to Festuca

Ruscaceae: Other people are putting this in Asparagaceae. I'd erased my Ruscaceae card, but it seems to be back. It includes Maianthemum.. May lily, which may include Smilacina... Solomon. Wikipedia says “Because of genetic similarity, similar fruits, and evidence that the 4-tepal species evolved from a 6-tepal species, the genus Smilacina was combined with Maianthemum in the late 20th century”

Themidaceae: The name 'Themidaceae' was first used in 1866, based on the now-defunct genus Themis. Some botanists consider Themidaceae to be a subfamily of Asparagaceae, but our interchange is using it, and I'm glad! Brodiaea; Dichelostemma...blue dicks, ookow, firecracker flower, snakelily; Muilla..Sea Muilla; Triteleia.. white hyacinth and pretty face.

Mount Konocti Field Trip Report - Marigold Klein and Gail Johnson

Our Mount Konocti trip, led by Ed Dearing and Karen had become huge galls thanks to wasps. Sullivan on June 19, 2011, was a traveling botanical After unlocking the gate, we began by driving to the party. We had friends from Sonoma County as well as very top of the mountain, passing through walnut Willits and Ukiah, and of course Lake County. We orchards and stopping on the way to look at Penstemon gathered in front of the locked gate to Lake County’s newberryi var. sonomensis in full bloom in clumps on new Mount Konocti County Park (opened to the public the rocks (now in the family Plantaginaceae). These on August 27th). It is a one way 3 mile hike on the road beautiful flowers have a California Rare Plant Rank to the top. In this chaparral area there were many (CRPR)* of 1B.3 (rare throughout their range but not silktassel shrubs (Garrya fremontii). Most of their fruits very threatened). On the mountain top, they are doing fine and feeding the hummingbirds. One young Anna's probably quite exciting too, for Ed's sister who hummingbird, full of nectar, posed for us for a long discovered it. It was in the area of the rabbitbrush time, in front of one of these Sonoma beardtongue (Ericameria nauseosa), which wasn't blooming yet, but clumps. was still cool. And we saw lots of modesty in bloom (Whipplea modesta), whose current claim to fame is its Also amongst the boulders on top of Mt. Konocti, we move into the family Hydrangeaceae. found a few Lilium rubescens (redwood lily or chaparral lily) standing tall with whorled leaves, the fragrant Purple-blue Sonoma sage (Salvia sonomensis) was blooms to appear later. It remains in the Lily Family. blooming heavily on the roadsides, and we found This infrequently seen plant has a CRPR of 4.2 meaning patches of Reseda luteola (Dyer's mignonette, weld) it has been put on a watch list and is considered fairly which is not native, but was interesting because many of threatened. From our vantage point we could see to the us had never seen it before. The blue flowered form of Sierra Nevada Range and all over many counties, deer brush (Ceanothus integerrimus) was in full bloom. including views of Mt. Diablo and Clear Lake. Ed The fairy bells looked the same as always even through pointed out all the peaks for us. On the way down, in a their name has changed from Disporum to Prosartes forest of huge canyon live oak, we met out first of three hookeri. They've also moved back into the Lily Family! rattlesnakes. It lay camouflaged and quiet by David Hulse-Steven's foot, until it betrayed its presence by Back through the locked gate thanks to the walnut crawling away. Meanwhile, Ed had found the patch of rancher and his friendly dog and back down the dirt blooming striped coralroot (Corallorhiza striata) that he road, happy to have spent a warm day with friends, both had wanted to show us, but the snake was in competition plants and people. for our attention. The next rattler we met was even more interesting since it was in the process of eating a large woodrat. That was quite an event! The third one was

Rare Road Plants – A Tale of Two Clovers in Mendocino County – Kerry Heise

Back in 2006, along a remote tributary of the North Fork Garcia River, myself and botanist Geri Hulse-Stephens were explaining to a group of forestry professionals why the small clover under our feet which blanketed the margins of the logging road in the hundreds of thousands was regarded as rare in California. A lengthy discussion on the various criteria for establishing rarity followed but it’s unlikely that we swayed anyone’s notion of its scarcity that day. The previous year we had found the Santa Cruz clover (Trifolium buckwestiorum), extending its range well north of the central coastal counties where it was previously known. Subsequent surveys showed that it occupied much of the road system throughout the upper Garcia River watershed where it was locally abundant. Beyond here only a few small populations have been documented in the county circumscribing a distribution a few miles inland of the coast east to roughly Hwy 101 and south of Hwy 20. Monitoring T. buckwestiorum populations over the past 7 years has seen ups and downs roughly correlating with early spring rainfall patterns, and it appears to respond well even after the harshest grading and rocking treatments. As a roadside plant there is no shortage of available habitat for it to expand into and as new occurrences are found its rarity status may eventually be reduced.

To our surprise we never encountered T. buckwestiorum during botanical surveys in the Big River watershed lying just to the north. Then in May of 2011 at a routine stop along a suspicious patch of clover high up on the East Branch of the Little North Fork we found a plant we weren’t familiar with. It was another annual clover growing with other typical plants of road margins such as Trifolium dubium, T. varigatum, Hypocharis radicata, Acmispon parviflora, Gnaphalium purpureum, and Deschampsia elongata. It was getting late and our light was fading so we collected a sample (there were many thousands of them) and made our way home. The following day it became apparent we were looking at the federal and state endangered Monterey clover (T. trichocalyx) under our dissecting scopes. Before we rang the alarm bells samples were sent to clover experts Randy Morgan and Vern Yadon, who confirmed our identification.

The northern coniferous forest is markedly different in terms of geology, soils, and species composition than the native Pinus radicata forest of the Monterey Peninsula. Until other populations are found we can surmise that in Mendocino County T. trichocalyx appears to be a species of old logging roads situated on mesic n-facing slopes of redwood/Douglas fir forest and is likely dependent on infrequent grading thereby reducing competition. In contrast T. trichocalyx on the Monterey Peninsula is more dependent on fire for its long term survival. Is this a puzzling disjunct population, if so, which population is disjunct from the other? Or, is this simply a 200 mile range extension of a species that has eluded botanists across a much broader distribution? ***Attention Sanhedrin Chapter Members***

The Sanhedrin Chapter Newsletter is available as a pdf document for those who would like to receive it via email.

Please contact Vishnu at: [email protected] and let him know if you would like to receive the newsletter

electronically, as a hardcopy, or both. Receiving an electronic copy saves paper, chapter revenues, and gas. In

addition to the newsletter occasional announcements of local native plant events and field trips will be emailed out.

Please Vote

A board meeting of the Sanhedrin chapter was held on Feb. 9, 2012 to which all chapter members (with email) were invited. This resulted in a meeting with only a quorum of 4 board members in attendance. It was decided, at that time, that maintaining the Sanhedrin chapter as active in the CA Native Plant Society was desirable, even if activities were minimal. Because there is need of biennial chapter elections, a slate of 4 people was proposed. This slate consists of 2 incumbent and 2 new officer nominations. Please cut & fill out the ballot below and submit it by March 30 to:

CNPS Sanhedrin Chapter, #3 Betty St., Ukiah, CA 95482

CNPS – Sanhedrin Chapter – Board Member Election 2012 - Ballot

President (Interim): Chuck Williams Write In candidate ______Vice-President: Peter Warner Write In candidate ______Secretary: Rob Kirkpatrick (incumbent) Write In candidate ______Treasurer: Vishnu (incumbent) Write In candidate ______

Send newsletter submissions to Kerry Heise, Sanhedrin Chapter Newsletter Editor: [email protected]

CNPS – Sanhedrin Chapter #3 Betty St., Ukiah, CA 95482