Natural History Wanderings

Homestead Valley has a new wildflower update. See photos Homestead Valley August 5 NEW – Common California aster blooms with purple ray flowers on tall stalks. – Hayfield tarweed is blooming bright yellow on Kerouac Hill. – Kellogg’s yampah has white flower umbels on tall naked stems and is blooming in meadows. – Pink cudweed, a tall straw flower is blooming pink with a yellow center on Homestead Hill. – Roughleaf aster is blooming in forests. Forests – American trailplant blooms with a small white flower at the top of a tall stalk above a bed of arrow shaped leaves. – California honeysuckle is blooming with pink flowers on vines climbing bushes and trees. – California spikenard is blooming along creeks in forests with spherical balls tipped with white flowers. – Hellebore*, an orchid, is native to Eurasia and is blooming now in forests with stalks of greenish purple flowers. – Toyon, this tree or large shrub is blooming with white clusters throughout the valley. – White hawkweed blooms at the end of long stalks with white flowers. Forest edges – American speedwell, a pretty purple flower grows in moist seeps. – Figwort blooms with a distinctive shaped rust red flower on a nettles-looking plant. Another roadside wildflower, look for it along wooded road cuts down at the start of Reed and throughout the forests. An important plant for bees and butterflies. – Latin American fleabane*, native of Central America, has colonized a small area below Amaranth. Meadows – Bluff lettuce, a succulent, is blooming with yellow flowers on red stalks. – California everlasting has clusters of tight white flowers and blooms in meadows. – California poppy, orange and bright, it’s starting to bloom now and will continue late into the summer. – Coast tarweed, with its tall stalks of tightly clustered yellow flowers blooms in meadows and has a distinctive ‘tar’ smell when rubbed. – Common yarrow with its tight white umbel is blooming in full sun on the ridge. – Lance leaf selfheal is blooming in bright sun with rich velvety purple whirled clusters. – Naked buckwheat blooms in pink clusters on rock outcrops in meadows. – Narrow-leaf bird’s foot trefoil*, native of Europe, is blooming bright yellow on the ridge of Homestead Hill. – Pineapple weed grows on Homestead Fire Road, releasing its chamomile scent as you crush it underfoot. – Purple western morning glory, a vine with pink to cream trumpet flowers is blooming on the ridge of Homestead Hill. – Queen Anne’s lace*, native of Europe, is blooming with tall white flowers. – Sticky monkeyflower with its orange flower blooms in sunny spots and will bloom all summer.