18. Chaparral Broom (Baccharis 22. Of All the Gall! Can you find any brown- fruit to make a refreshing drink that tasted sarothroides) This plant is nearly leaf- ish, ping pong ball-sized balls on the a lot like lemonade. That’s where the name less, but it has bright green branches. It scrub oak in front of you? These Lenonadeberry came from. grows from six to seven feet tall. In fall are called galls. They form when a Elfin and winter, the female plant gets covered wasp lays its eggs in the stem of 26. Coastal Wood Fern (Dryopteris arguta) with seeds that look like fluffy cotton. the plant. This causes the stem to Our Wood Fern is one of a large group of Forest swell. When the larvae emerge from wood-land ferns. Its name in Greek means 19. Laurel Sumac (Malosma laurina) This plant the eggs, they give off a chemical, causing “oak fern.” It likes rocky, shaded slopes near Recreational Reserve can help predict the weather! Laurel Sumac the stem to swell into a gall. The gall gives streams. It mostly grows below 5,000 feet is sensitive to very cold weather, just like the small wasps protection and a source of above sea level. A mature Wood Fern is a avocado and citrus trees. Growers look food. large plant with lots of leaves that can be for this plant, and plant their orchards as long as 30 inches. If you look closely at and groves where it occurs. Also 23. Warty-Stemmed Ceanothus (Ceanothus the back of the leaves, you may see neatly called the taco plant, its large leaves verrucosus) This plant has dark green arranged rows of “sori.” These look like puffy fold in half on sunny days to save water. leaves, and blooms with white flowers in horse shoes, and are the beginning of an Botanical The bright green leaves and red stems thick clusters. It is very showy in the spring. elaborate reproduction process. make this plant stand out from the rest of This plant is considered a sensitive species the Chaparral. because its range (where it lives) is limited 27. Hollyleaf Cherry (Prunus illicifolia) The most obvious thing about this plant is its Trail Guide to only this region. Native Americans used 20. Wildlife Habitat The number and variety ceanothus seeds as food, and the blossoms thick spine-toothed, holly-like leaves. In of creatures in the Elfin Forest is amazing. make a fine, soap-like lather when they were the spring, Hollyleaf Cherry blooms with Actually, the Chaparral is alive with life of all rubbed on skin. They also used the leaves as clusters of white flowers. When the sorts that most people don’t even notice. a kind of tobacco. cherries mature, they turn dark red. Bats, raccoons, brush rabbits, mule deer, bobcats, woodrats, barn owls, turkey vultures, 24. Diversity As you look down the slope, This trail connects to the Way Up horned lizards, rosy boas, velvet ants, and ta- across the valley and up the other side, you Trail. To return to the staging area, rantula wasps ( just to name a few!) depend can notice several different plant on this dense brush and dry climate to sur- communities. If you look closely, you can proceed down the hill. vive. Many animals are nocturnal (awake at even identify the different communities, Thanks for joining us at nighttime), so you probably won’t see them. such as Chaparral, Live Oak Riparian Forest, Birds are most common. You will usually see Eucalyptus Riparian Forest and disturbed Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve! them among the branches or circling above Chaparral/ Sage scrub. Each of these plant If you have questions about the the hills and valleys. You might also notice communities is made up of individual lizards, snakes and insects soaking up the species, especially adapted to be successful When you are done with this Reserve, please see a park ranger, sun or traveling along the trail. in that particular location. brochure, if you do not wish to or call 760-632-4212. keep it, please return it to the 21. San Diego Sagewort (Artemisia palmeri) 25. Lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia) Lem- 8833 Harmony Grove Road Sagewort is quite common in the south- onadeberry belongs to the same family as dispenser. Thanks! Escondido, CA 92029 western corner of San Diego County. It Laurel Sumac and Poison Oak. Don’t worry, www.olivenhain.com can grow up to six feet tall and blooms you can touch this one! The clusters of from late summer into the rainy season. small pink berries you see in winter are really Artemisia palmeri drawing used with permission from Its narrow leaves are divided into three flowers. The sticky red fruit doesn’t form Illustrated Flora of the Pacific States or five parts and have a distinct aroma. until spring. Native Americans used the by L. Abrams & R. Stinchfield Ferris 1. Welcome to the Elfin Forest Recreational This creates a precious and important wa- 9. Black Sage ( Salvia mellifera) Gently rub different? The plants are larger and much Reserve Botanical Trail. The trail and this ter-reliant ecosystem for many plants and one of the leaves. Do you notice the distinct closer together, and there is almost no brochure have been designed to introduce animals, such as the sycamore and mule aroma? This strong scent, along with the exposed rock. You are standing on a north- you to some of the plant communities found deer. soft, dark green leaves and lavender blue facing slope. It receives much less direct at the Reserve, and to help you identify flowers set this plant aside as part of the sunlight, which helps it to hold more mois- some of the species found here. There are 5. Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepis) The Arroyo mixed Chaparral plant community. Native ture for the plants. The other hillside faces over 150 different plants native to the Willow is native to California. It has dark Americans would cover their scent with this south, and gets much more direct sun. Chaparral, coastal sage scrub and riparian green leaves and pale, gray-brown bark. You plant when they were hunting game in the habitats. With only 27 stops, there is can find it in the wet soils of stream banks, Chaparral. 14. Bushrue (Cneoridium dumosum) Bushrue no way we can identify each and every valleys, foothills and mountains. The huge is the only known native California member of one. But if your walk today makes you root system of this hearty and strong tree 10. Mission Manzanita (Xylococcus bicolor) is an the Citrus family. If you smell the leaves, you wonder about these plant communities, and anchors it to the stream bank, even during evergreen woody shrub with pink to white bell will notice a strong, spicy aroma. The fruit you want to find out more, ask a park ranger. the swiftest floods. shaped flowers which turn into berries. It looks like a pea-sized orange, but is very bit- He or she will be glad to help you. is said that the Indians made a drink from ter. You don’t want to try this for breakfast! NOTE: PLEASE CROSS THE CREEK HERE AND these berries. Note the hard leaves which 2. Chaparral The Chaparral plant commu- CONTINUE UP THE TRAIL. curl down. This is a strategy for conserving 15. Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus nity is common to the foothills and lower DO NOT CROSS WHEN THE WATER IS HIGH! water, typical in many drought-tolerant plants. minutiflorus) Since this is such a steep mountains of San Diego County. Some- climb, go ahead and take a quick rest here. times called the Elfin Forest, the trees and 6. Coast Live Oak (Quercus agrifolia) The 11. Mojave Yucca (Yucca schidigera) Another As you look at the Mountain Mahogany, shrubs are dwarfed, rarely growing more Coast Live Oak is the most dominant plant name for this plant is the Spanish Bayonet. notice how many other types of plants there than twenty feet tall. San Diego’s summer here. Each tree may be a separate ecosys- The leaves are narrow and sharply pointed are beneath it. Mountain Mahogany can is hot and dry, and the plants have adapted tem, with birds and insects and other plants and they hurt when they poke you. It sends be a tree or small shrub, and it is found on to this lack of rainfall with small, leathery living within and under its huge branches. All up a large stalk from the middle of the plant the dry hillsides of San Diego County. If the leaves. The leaves of most Chaparral plants the trees and plants here make up the Live that looks like an asparagus. At the top plant has fruit, notice the twisted feather- seem waxy-coated, to reduce water loss by Oak Riparian Forest. This is a cool, shady of the stalk, you can find a cluster of waxy, like plume attached to it. evaporation. place, with a canopy-like umbrella. cream-colored flowers. Native Americans used the tough, stringy fibers of the leaves 16. Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) 3. Australian Invasion The stumps you see are 7. Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversiloba) to make rope, thread, horse blankets, san- The name Chamise is from a Spanish word from Eucalyptus trees. The Eucalyptus is This is not an oak at all. It probably got its dals and baskets. “chamiso,” which is a small brush and wood a native of Australia and grows very fast. name from the shape of its leaves. They look shack that can easily catch fire. Chamise is It was originally imported to the United a little like oak leaves. This plant makes an 12. Water Dependence Do you notice a slight also called Greasewood. It burns fast and States to be grown for railroad ties, but the oil that can irritate your skin, causing a very change in ground cover on the trail here? furiously during a wildfire, and makes thick, wood split when the workers tried to drive itchy rash. The red and green leaves, which Oak trees are here too. There’s also a small black smoke. Native Americans used the spikes through it. When the scented leaves always grow in groups of three, can help you dip in the trail. Canyon runoff causes all of wood to make arrow shafts and throwing drop to the ground, they release oils which remember an easy rhyme: “Leaves of three, these things. Rain water drains from the sticks. They also made a tea from the tiny poison the soil. This keeps the native plants stay away from me!” hills above, collects here, and seeps through. needle-like leaves. They believed that drink- from growing, reducing the number of Plants that depend on more water can now ing this tea would cure a variety of diseases. 8. Ecotone An ecotone is a dividing line be- species in the area. Removal of these thrive in this spot. tween one plant community and another. 17. Chaparral Density Take a look at how close Australian invaders aid in the restoration You have just walked out of one commu- 13. Which Way is North? Look all the way together the plants are in front of you. of the native habitat. nity, the Live Oak Riparian Forest, and into across the canyon to the opposite hillside. Several species, like Black Sage, Chamise, 4. Riparian Habitat Riparian is simply a word another. You are now in the hotter and drier Do you notice how the plants are more Lemonadeberry and Mission Manzanita, that means “with water.” Escondido Creek, Chaparral. What other differences do you patchy? There is much more open, rocky are competing for space, sunlight, soil and which is in front of you, flows year-round. notice between these two communities? area, with large areas of grasses. Now look water. This competition leads to dense, up at the hillside you are on. What’s almost impassable growth.