As is true throughout the Bay Area and California, the Asteraceae or Sunflower family has more species than any other family of flowering plants. Luckily, the distinctive structure of the flower heads makes identifying members of this family somewhat easy: Sepals are absent, sometimes replaced by a structures of hairs and scales called a pappus. Small dry fruit develops below the pappus containing a single seed, that is dispersed by wind or animals. Each head consists of several to many small flowers attached to a disk shaped, conical, or concave receptacle. For identification and classification, the flowers are considered either disk flowers (those with a tubular structure and found in the center disk) or ray flowers (with a flat, petal like corolla distributed around the margins). |
Sonchus oleraceus |
Madia sativa: Flowers: Yellow with many finely notched petals, sticky and tiny; in tight clusters at top Blooms: July - September. Leaves: Dark green, narrow and very sticky. Fruit/Seeds: ?? Location: All trails and areas. Status: Native - Common. Further description & Comment: 2 - 4 feet tall; stout sticky nodding stems. Often found (as shown at right) growing near hanging sheets. :-) |
Photo by Bill and Barbara VanderWerf |
Senecio mikaniodes: Flowers: Yellow, composite, pin-cushion flower heads. Blooms: November - March Leaves: Yellow-green, heart-shaped, with 5 - 7 sharp angled points. Fruit/Seeds: Small clusters of white/green berries in spring. Location: Mainly along creek beds and riparian areas, but can spread upland into dryer areas. Status: Alien - Invasive - Common. |
Senecio mikaniodes 600x450 JPEG - 32K |
Cape Ivy is one of the four most bothersome invasive plant species on the San Mateo Coast. The other three are Pampas Grass, Poison Hemlock, and French Broom. All four have the tendency to take over disturbed areas, create monocultures, crowd out similar native plants, and destroy native habitat. Cape Ivy must be completely removed - the least bit of vine or leaf left behind can regenerate into a full plant. | |
Further description & Comment: Climbing, choking vines that root as they travel, making removal extremely difficult. The winter bloom of this plant is probably related to its southern hemisphere origins. One of the nastiest and most destructive of the alien invasives. Cape Ivy has almost completely covered the banks of Martini Creek from the ocean beach up to its sources, and can be found strangling willows in most of the riparian areas on Montara Mountain. |
Solidago californica: Flowers: Yellow, tiny, ray flowers in thick, but short spike-like clusters on top of stem. Blooms: July - October. Leaves: Dark green to felt gray, hairy on top and bottom. Basal and lower leaves toothed, upper leaves smooth-margined and smaller. Fruit/Seeds: ?? Location: Widespread - on the edge of field areas throughout the mountain. Status: Native - Common. |
Solidago californica 600x450 JPEG - 44K |
Further description & Comment: 1 - 4 ft tall, usually growing in large colonies at all elevations. This is our native sneeze-maker - when its pollen starts to fly on a windy day, you can see the streams of yellow dust coming from the large colonies of plants. Photo above shows a typical colony coming into bloom on San Pedro Mountain. Photo to left is a closeup of the individual flowers, about 1.5 cm each. 600 x450 JPEG - 56K |
Wyethia angustifloia: Flowers: Yellow, sunflower-like (Ray/Disk) flowers, solitary at end of main stems, 20 or so rays. Blooms: March - May. Leaves: Mostly basal, long, linear with a tapering blade. Fruit/Seeds: Many, small & dark, developing in center disk. Location: Growing in spreading colonies on open bluffs and grassy hillsides at lower elevations. Status: Native - Common. |
- no image yet: in the meantime, this link will take you to the images for Eriophyllum lanatum. in the flowers section of the Berkeley Digital Image Project. Wyethia angustifloia |
- no picture - |
Further description & Comment: Mule Ears are the first substantial yellow flower in the spring, and can be spotted easily as large, bright spots of yellow on the hillsides in late winter/early spring. The colonies spread each year through reseeding, and often form an expanding ring as the each year's new plants tend to sprout on the edges of the colony. |
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