March 21, 2022

Mar 212022
 


NEW
– California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus) is blooming shiny yellow in meadows.
– California goldfields (Lasthenia californica) can be a carpet of yellow but is mostly scattered yellow in meadows this year.
– California plantain (Plantago erecta), small and delicate, see it blooming in rocky margins of meadows.
– California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) with its bright orange bell blooms in meadows.
– Crimson Columbine (Aquilegia formosa) is blooming with its distinctive red and yellow flowers at forest edge.
– Figwort (Scrophularia californica) blooms with its uniquely shaped russet flower blooms at forest edge.
– Owl’s clover (Castilleja densiflora) is blooming pink and yellow in meadows.
– Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa) with its heart-shaped pink flowers is blooming under redwoods.
– Pacific sanicle (Sanicula crassicaulis) blooms with dark mustard flowers in forests.
– Pacific pea (Lathyrus vestitus var vestitus) is blooming pink at forest edge.
– Pineappleweed (Matricaria discoidea) blooming yellow in meadows.
– Poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum) is blooming with small white flowers in forests.
– Purple sanicle (Sanicula bipinnatifida) is blooming with burgundy balls in meadows.
– Purple western morning glory (Calystegia purpurata s. purpurata) is blooming in meadows.
– Red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), a large shrub, is blooming with white clusters.
– Spotted coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata) is blooming with white flowers on red stalks in forests.

Forests
– Bay laurel (Umbellularia californica), one of the most common native tree in our forests is blooming with white, vanilla-scented flower clusters.
– Canyon gooseberry (Ribes menziesii) blooms with Chinese lantern flowers in forests.
– Checker lily (Fritillaria affinis) with its yellow spotted chocolate bells is blooming in meadows at forest edge.
– Douglas Iris (Iris douglasiana) is blooming white in forests.
– Giant trillium (Trillium chloropetalum) is blooming in forests.
– Huckleberry (Vaccinium ovatum) blooms with small white flowers. Unusual in Homestead, find it blooming in the forest understory below 14.
– Indian warrior (Pedicularis densiflora) blooms in large colonies making it one of the most showy flowers in Homestead. A hillside of it is blooming now with burgundy plumes at the unmarked junction 15 on the Homestead Trail.
– Manroot (Marah fabaceus), a wild cucumber is blooming white on fresh green vines in forests.
– Oso berry (Oemleria cerasiformis) blooms with fragrant white flowers in forests.
– Starry false lily of the valley (Maianthemum stellatum) is blooming white in forests.
– Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) is just leafing out for the season and is blooming white in forests.
– Trillium (Trillium ovatum) is blooming white in forests.
– Wood sweet-cicely (Osmorhiza berteroi) is blooming in forests with small white flowers.

Forest Edge
– Canyon gooseberry (Ribes menziesii) blooms with Chinese lantern flowers in forests.
– Blue eyed grass (Sisyrinchium bellum) is blooming blue at forest’s edge.
– California blackberry
(Rubus ursinus) is blooming white climbing over brush on Homestead Hill.
– Greene’s saxifrage (Micranthes californica) is only known to bloom in one location in Homestead, on the Ridgewood Rock. Its small white flowers are blooming there now.
– Starry false lily of the valley (Maianthemum stellatum) is blooming white in forests.
– Fairy bells (Prosartes hookeri) is hard to spot as its bell flower hangs below the leaves of this small forest plant seen blooming near 11a.
– Fetid adder’s tongue (Scoliopus bigelovii) with its small chocolate flowers surrounded by bright green mottled leaves is blooming along the Homestead Trail from right near the 5 junction to above the 16 junction.
– Milkmaids (Cardamine californica) is blooming white in forests.
– Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
is blooming with small white flowers over fleshy disks in wet places.
– Pacific hound’s tongue’s (Cynoglossum grande) foliage is emerging all over the forest edge meadow habitat on north facing slopes.
– Woodland star (Lithophragma affine), another where the Ridgewood Rock is the only location where it blooms in Homestead, is blooming white there now. I have never seen this flower bloom here before March, last year and the year before in April.
– Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca) is blooming white on Homestead Hill.

Meadow
– Barberry (Berberis pinnata), a small shrub, is blooming with yellow, fragrant flowers in meadows on Homestead Hill.
– Blue dicks (Dichelostemma capitatum) is blooming blue in meadows.
– Dwarf checkerbloom (Sidalcea malviflora ssp. malviflora) is blooming pink with its first blooms of the season on Homestead Hill.
– Footsteps of spring (Sanicula arctopoides) is marching with chartreuse steps across Homestead Hill.
– Fremont’s deathcamas (Toxicoscordion fremontii) is blooming in meadows with tall white clusters.
– Ground Iris (Iris macrosiphon) is blooming deep purple on Homestead Hill.- California blackberry (Rubus ursinus) is blooming white climbing over brush on Homestead Hill.
– Marin Checker Lily (Fritillaria lanceolata var. tristulis), Homestead’s rarest flower, is blooming with chocolate bells along the meadow trail below Amaranth.
– Milkmaids (Cardamine californica) is blooming white in forests.
– Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is blooming with small white flowers over fleshy disks in wet places.
– Oakland star tulip (Calochortus umbellatus) is blooming with pale blooms near the ground on the trail below 4-Corners.
– Shooting star (Dodecatheon hendersonii) is blooming pink in the meadow of the Ridgewood Rock.
– Sky lupin (Lupinus nanus) is blooming blue near the ground on Homestead Hill.
– Spring gold (Lomatium utriculatum) is blooming with ground hugging yellow clusters on the Ridgewood Rock.
– Sun cup (Taraxia ovata) with its bright yellow flowers is blooming on Homestead Hill.
– Woolly lomatium (Lomatium dasycarpum) is blooming with ground hugging frothy cream clusters on Homestead Hill.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

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