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 |
Baccharis
pilularis: Flowers: White fluffy female and yellowish male on separate shrubs, small. Blooms: October - December. Leaves: Coarsely toothed, .5 - 1" long; tend to crown upper branches. Fruit/Seeds: Small back nut with white fluff, windblown. Oct. - Jan. Location: Everywhere on the mountain. Status: Native - Common. Further description & Comment: Up to 5' tall, but varied in form from ground hugging, spreading cover on wind swept ridge plains to 5-6' tall bush in protected areas. One of the signature plants of Coastal Scrub & Chaparral, along with Poison Oak, Coastal Sage, Yellow Bush Lupine and Sticky Monkey Flower. |
This flowering and seeding branch from a female plant presents one argument for calling it Coyote Brush.. |
The image to the left shows the female flowers as they are first budding out. The image to the lower left shows the yellower, stubbier male flowers. Coyote Bush develops an extensive fibrous root system, extending many yards out from the plant, making it an excellent species to use in the native recolonization of disturbed areas subject to erosion damage. The image below shows a mounding, medium height (3 -4 feet) form that is common at lower elevations in McNee Ranch State Park. | |
Cirsium occidentale: Flowers: Red - purple, on top of spikey ball tangled with dense cobweb-like hairs. Blooms: May - June Leaves: Silver-grey and spiny Fruit/Seeds: ?? Location: Dry trails, upper North Peak Access Road in McNee Ranch State Park. Status: Native - Common. Further description & Comment: This plant's distinct coloring and cobweb-like hairs makes it easy to spot and identify. |
A cobweb thistle enjoying the view from the peak overlooking Sweeney
Ridge. |
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Above left, a close-up of the flower head. Above right, a detail of the "cobweb" fibers the plant creates as a protective surface. |
Cirsium quercetorum: Flowers: White, spiky, thistle-like, with center yellow to pink, just above base of plant on short, stout, spiky stem. Blooms: April - June. Leaves: Deeply lobed, spiked with thorns, up-pointing in basal at base of plant. Fruit/Seeds: ?? Location: Dry, open grassy areas. Status: Native - Common. Further description & Comment: Low, ground hugging thistle - dried leaves in fall are those things that get stuck through your socks. |
A Brownie Thistle begins its Spring bloom atop the remains of last year's growth. Along lower San Pedro Road in McNee Ranch State Park. |
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A closeup of a Brownie's flower head, a good example of the Asteraceae disk flower type. That's a Scarlet Pimpernel in the upper right. | A mat of Brownies showing flower heads in various stages of development. An alien Red Clover lurks in the background. |
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