Natural History Wanderings

For Summer Solstice I thought it would be fitting to look for Farewell-to-Spring at the Skyline Serpentine Prairie in Redwood Regional Park  http://www.cnga.org/guide8.htm .    I mainly saw the dried grasses when I first arrived  but starting down the path there were some small California Poppies.  As I  looked like further down the path there were what appeared to be  larger yellow poppies.  A few steps more and I quickly realized that they were Yellow Mariposa Tulips (Calochortus luteus).  Continuing down the path there were more and more.  At least hundreds if not thousands of Yellow Mariposas are now in bloom at the prairie.  We did find the Fare-well-to-Spring plant which was the rare Presidio Clarkia (Clarkia franciscana), towards the end of the walk, but only a dozen or so small plants.

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Skyline Serpentine Prairie Plant List 6/21/10

California Blackberry (Rubus ursinus)
California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica)
Clover (Trifolium sp.)
Gum Plant  (Grindelia sp.)
Hayfield Tarweed (Hemizonia congesta ssp. luzulifolia)
Ithuriel’s Spear (Triteleia laxa)
Presidio Clarkia  (Clarkia franciscana)
Sticky Rosinweed (Calycadenia multiglandulosa).
Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Yellow Mariposa Tulip (Calochortus luteus)

For more information on the Skyline Serpentine Prairie check my earlier post: https://sandysteinman.wordpress.com/2010/04/20/skyline-serpentine-prairie-at-redwood-regional-park/