Natural History Wanderings

Homestead Valley Land Trust  in Marin County reports blooming now·

– Buttercup will start showing up in most of the meadows. It’s blooming on the ridge now.
– Checkerbloom is blooming up on the ridge near the patches of blue dicks.
– Common vetch, a native of the Mediterranean, is the purple pea blooming in the meadows
– Marin checker lily, distinguishable from the other checker lily by its rich chocolate color, is listed as rare, threatened, or endangered on the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants. It’s blooming in the meadow below Amaranth.
– Pacific sanicle with its rich foliage and unspectacular dull yellow flower is blooming on the spur trail going up to 4-corners.
– Sourgrass, native to South Africa, is a noxious weed here. We used to suck on the sour juice in the stems when we were children and squeeze the juice onto our Miner’s lettuce salads as dressing.
– Sun cups is a bright yellow close to the ground in the meadows.
– Wooly lomatium, with its hairy greenish disklike flowers grow close to the ground on the Ridgewood Rock and up on the ridge below Homestead Hill.

See photos  other posts at  Homestead Valley Land Trust