Natural History Wanderings

Homestead Valley has a new wildflower update. See photos and maps at February 16, 2020 NEW – Arroyo willow is blooming in the gully at Laverne and Reed. – Checker lily has started blooming with chocolate bells and yellow spots in the meadows below Amaranth. – Fairy bells, low and branching with white bell flowers hanging under the leaves is blooming in forests. – False lily of the valley with its ladder of pointed leaves and white star flowers is blooming in forests. – Fremont’s deathcamas’s cluster of white star flowers is blooming in the meadow below Amaranth. – Pacific hounds tongue with its bright blue flowers on tall stalks with large arrow leaves is blooming at forest edges. – Scotch broom*, one of the most aggressive invasive shrubs in Homestead is starting to bloom with bright yellow pea flowers in meadows. – Woodland strawberry, a common ground cover at forest edges is starting to bloom white. Forests – Bay trees’ yellow clusters of flowers are filling the air with their sweet vanilla scent. – Fetid adder’s tongue, a small lily with distinctive red mottled leaves, is blooming at several locations in the forest along the Homestead Trail. – Indian warrior’s burgundy plumes are spreading down the hill below 15 on the Homestead Trail. – Manroot, a vine in the gourd family with large leaves and white flowers is blooming in forests. – Milkmaids with their white flowers is starting to bloom in the forests. – Trilium is blooming under bay trees in the forest near the water tank at 6d. Meadows – Footsteps of spring is blooming in the middle of the trail at 7j below the Homestead Hill. – Wooly lomatium, in the carrot family, with lacy foliage and white wooly umbels is blooming in meadows up on the Homestead Hill