Sierra Azul OSP 11th Annual Wildflower Survey

This year I chose to participate in the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) 11th Annual Wildflower Survey at Newhagen Meadow on Saturday April 21, 2018.

Led by Amanda Mills, Resource Specialist, this hike was moderate in length (3 miles, 4-5 hours) with variable difficulty starting on a road then going off-trail into a serpentine outcrop/meadow where plant species unique to serpentine grow. Portions of this hike were off-trail, steep and brushy with some poison oak.

Our group had several botanists, so I learned a lot. The following link shows all the observations for this day:

https://www.inaturalist.org/calendar/truthseqr/2018/4/21

All observations are marked "Private" because this is a closed area and the trail crosses private property.

I learned a bit about native grasses - there were many in the meadow, and heard this little rhyme for differentiating sedges, rushes, and grasses:

"Sedges have edges, rushes are round, grasses have knees that bend to the ground."
The 'knees' of grasses are joint-like nodes found along round, hollow stems. The stems of sedges and rushes are solid; in cross-section the stems of rushes are round, while those of sedges are triangular and so have edges.

Posted on April 22, 2018 10:06 AM by truthseqr