Milkmaids
Cardamine californica

Oso berry
Oemleria cerasiformis

Pacific trillium
Trillium ovatum

Wild cucumber
Marah fabacea

Forests
Starting
– Indian warrior is coming up all over in the area – 15 right along the Homestead Trail – that we finished clearing a few months ago. A few blooms are showing their crimson colors but the scope of the patch will only become clear later in the season when the hillside blooms.
Peaking
– Fetid adder’s tongue, one of our most exotic blooms is blooming in large patches.
– Green wattle acacia tree native to Australia is starting to bloom with its bright yellow puff flowers.
– Scotch broom, native to Western Europe, one of the most aggressive invaders of our meadows is blooming with its yellow pea flowers. Pull it before it goes to seed if you can.
– Tasmanian blue gum, is blooming white high in the huge eucalyptus trees.
– Coast live oak blooms with pink tassels.
– California bay laurel, our most common native tree’s blooms have a delicate vanilla scent.

Forest edges
Starting
– Greene’s saxifrage’s small white flowers are opening on a moss covered shelf of the Ridgewood Rock.
– Pacific hounds tongue with its forget-me-not-looking flowers and large leaves is blooming now in oak meadows. There are also tons of emerging leaves promising a big year for this wildflower.
– Sourgrass*, native to South Africa, is blooming up on the ridge. Although fun to chew on for kids, this plant is a very successful non-native spreading in wet locations where natives might otherwise grow.
– Woodland strawberry blooms are starting now where there is sun, will persist for months in different habitats as they warm.

Key to map:
I haven’t located plants on on the map if they are very prolific. Find them by their habitat.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

*Non-native

Warrior's plume
Pedicularis densiflora

Forests
Starting
– Fetid adder’s tongue, one of our most exotic blooms is showing its first flowers now.
– Green wattle acacia tree native to Australia is starting to bloom with its bright yellow puff flowers.
– Scotch broom, native to Western Europe, one of the most aggressive invaders of our meadows is blooming with its yellow pea flowers. Pull it before it goes to seed if you can.
– Tasmanian blue gum, is blooming white high in the huge eucalyptus trees.
– Coast live oak blooms with pink tassels.
– California bay laurel, our most common native tree’s blooms have a delicate vanilla scent.

Key to map:
I haven’t located plants on on the map if they are very prolific. Find them by their habitat.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

*Non-native

Bay laurel
Umbellularia californica

Coast live oak
Quercus agrifolia

Scotch broom*
Cytisus scoparius

Tasmanian blue gum*
Eucalyptus globulus

Key to map:
I haven’t located plants on on the map if they are very prolific. Find them by their habitat.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

*Non-native

Pennyroyal*
Mentha pulegium

Forests
Starting
– Chasmanthe, native to South Africa, has orange flame flowers
– Old Man’s Beard is a nasty invasive vine, native to the UK, that will create bowers, overcoming native trees and shrubs. We’ve pulled it off redwood trees in Three Groves. Muir Woods has a much worse infestation climbing redwoods and elsewhere in the park.
Fading
– American trailplant, Adenocaulon bicolor, is blooming with small white flowers at the top of a stalk. The bicolor in the Latin name refers to the arrow-shaped leaves that are green on top and whiter underneath. Turn one over to mark your way on the trail.
– California spikenard, one of the largest herbaceous plants in North America, grows to 3-9′ each season. Its white firework-shaped flowers are blooming now along creeks in the forests.
– Hellebore, an orchid, is native to Eurasia. The greenish pink flowers climb a 1′ stalk.
– Rosilla with its tall yellow flower and backward facing petals is blooming beside the creek that pasess the Ridgewood Rock.
– Roughleaf aster is blooming in the forest along the Eagle Trail.
– Toyon, a small tree, is blooming white in the forests.
– Silverleaf cotoneaster, native to China, a large shrub with white flowers that will become bright red berries is blooming at forest edges.

Forest Edges
Peaking
– The striking Belladonna lily, native of South Africa, has pink trumpet flowers at the end of a long stalk.
– Coastal burnweed, native to Australia and New Zealand, is blooming with long yellow tipped buds.
– Coast piperia, an orchid, is blooming on the Homestead trail, just downhill from 12, visible above the trail in among the broom and plums.
Fading
– Tansy ragwort, native to Eurasia, is blooming with its bright yellow flowers along Laverne. The plant contains alkaloids that catepillars absorb, making them distasteful to predators. As with other alkaloid containing plants like poison hemlock and euphorbia, it can be toxic to people.

Meadows
Peaking
– Coast tarweed, a tall native tarweed with the typical resinous coating is blooming yellow along Pixie Trail and in sunny meadows.
– Hairy golden aster is a low blooming shrub with yellow flowers and fuzzy leaves up on Homestead Hill.
– Kellogg yampah’s white umbels are blooming tall above the grasses in meadows. This was an important staple crop of Native Americans who ate the nut like root.
– Pincusion flower, a garden escapee, native of Eurasia, is blooming in Cowboy Rock meadow.
Fading
– California everlasting is blooming with its paper-like white blooms up on the ridge.
– California poppy is showing its orange bell flower in the meadows.
– Common Yarrow is a white flowered umbel with feathery leaves. It’s a sun lover and is blooming on the ridge now but will be out it all the meadows soon.
– Sticky monkeyflower is blooming on Cowboy Rock. This is a sun loving plant that will bloom through the summer.
– Scarlet pimpernel, native to the Mediterranean basin, is a common little orange splash in the meadow grasses.
– Wild radish, native to Asia, is blooming with purple flowers in the meadows on the ridge.
– Wild mustard, a Mediterranean native, is a tall yellow flower in meadows up on the ridge. The flowers are edible.

Key to map:
I haven’t located plants on on the map if they are very prolific. Find them by their habitat.

Flowers that are not currently blooming have been removed from the map and are greyed out in the map key.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

*Non-native