Category Archives: Native

November 10, 2012 · 12:33 am

Plant of the day: saltgrass

From far away, the edges of the marsh appear to be covered in a herringbone pattern of green and brown. This is actually a carpet of low-growing saltgrass (Distichlis spicata). Bunched into mounds or swept smooth by the outgoing tide, this is a beautiful and distinctive plant of the salty intertidal places. The leaves are flattened and create a dramatic geometric pattern as they alternate up the stem: wedge-shaped leaves offset by the space that they define. The effect of a single stalk is nice, but usually it is magnified by the thousand since this creeping, rhizome-forming grass tends to grow in dense colonies.

Saltgrass can stand being submerged in sea water and so it will often be one of the only plants growing along the tideline. I’ve sat along the shore of Tomales Bay and watched as the water creeps in or out, clambering farther up each leaf blade with each incoming wavelet. It’s a beautiful sight–and happens a lot faster than you might think!

Native tribes of California made a seasoning from the plant, threshing it to harvest the dusky-green salt crystals that coalesce on the leaves (and reputedly have a flavor rather like that of dill pickles).

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November 8, 2012 · 5:24 pm

Plant of the day: rattlesnake plantain

Vivid green leaves are bisected with a lightning-bolt of white. A tall pale stalk of white flowers rises from this small, ground-level rosette of leaves. This is rattlesnake plantain (Goodyera oblongifolia), a distinctive little plant that grows in Northern California (and many other parts of the country).It’s in the orchid family–look close and you’ll see the flowers have the typical orchid look, of a mouth gaping open with a cute little tongue hanging out. I’ve usually seen them growing in shady forested understories.

Apparently rattlesnake plantain can be used as a chewing gum, but though many places repeat that fact I haven’t yet found any information about which parts or how it is used. Traditionally, it was thought to have medicinal properties–particularly having to do with childbirth. It was chewed to help ease delivery and also to affect the sex of the baby–but again, there’s no details about this. It was also used in assorted other treatments for things such as colds, rheumatism, toothache and stimulating the appetite.

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November 7, 2012 · 11:53 pm

Plant of the day: dotted smartweed

Unattended roadside ditches can also double as great wild gardens. Lush greenery thrives in the moist earth, and the plants found here can be really diverse as passing cars (and creatures) spread seed. True, there tend to be a lot of weeds in these places–but native plants can be found here as well.

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Dotted smartweed (Persicaria punctata) is a pretty little native with a diminutive spike of white flowers. The leaves emerge from a papery sheath that wraps around the stem–and is often present in member of this family, the Portulaceae. Dotted smartweed likes to grow (usually near the coast) in wetlands, marshes and moist on hillsides.

Random fact: that papery sheath is called an “ocrea” and is formed by stipules, the leaflike structures at the base of the leaf stem.

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November 4, 2012 · 8:25 pm

Plant of the day: golden chanterelle

There are glints of orange on the forest floor. Graceful little mushrooms, shaped like an upside-down funnel, have risen proudly above the duff. It is a patch of golden chanterelles, the treasure of many a mushroom-hunter! They have stout, smooth stalks ribbed with fleshy ridges that run out underneath the umbrella of the cap. There are several species of golden-yellow species of chanterelle; the one most common in the Bay Area is Cantharellus californicus but the similar looking (and tasting) Cantharellus formosus is also found in California–and others may be as well, according to the Mykoweb database.

I DO NOT recommend eating chanterelles (or any other mushroom) unless you’re absolutely sure of what they are. But. It is worth finding a mentor or joining a mycology outing to learn this stuff. They have a unique, mild flavor and a meaty texture and are absolutely delicious when sautéed with olive oil and garlic. Last night we had them over pasta, sautéed with basil, sweet garden tomatoes, and bacon. It was heavenly.

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November 3, 2012 · 10:49 pm

Plant of the day: common plantain

Plantago major

Green and brown spikes rise six inches above a green rosette of leaves. This is common plantain, or Plantago major, a European weed that you can see usually growing in wet soils. Though the leaves (and seeds) aren’t poisonous, they are tough and bitter, and not generally recommended for eating; if you want to try some, make sure they are young. However, the medicinal uses listed for common plantain are extensive. Heated leaves are used to stop bleeding and encourage tissue repair. Taken internally, it has been used to treat diarrhea, gastritis, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, hemorrhage, hemorrhoids, cystitis, bronchitis, catarrh, sinusitis, asthma and hay fever.

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October 31, 2012 · 9:46 am

“Plant” of the day: witch’s butter

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

In a deep dark forest, fallen and rotting logs litter the damp forest floor. Everything is still and silent. No birds sing; no deer trot across the path. The only sound is a weak wind that rustles high in the leaves. The branches are so dense that you can’t catch a glimpse of the sky; the only patch of color is a brilliant autumn leaf that has fallen on a nearby log. But wait! What is that? It’s no leaf. It glistens. It jiggles. It looks like a tiny orange brain clinging to the decaying wood.

This is witch’s butter, or Tremella aurantia. It’s a parasitic fungus–but it’s actually not feeding on the wood of the log, but on another fungus (Stereum hirsutum, or false turkey tail) which in turn is feeding on the dead tan oak. The legend behind the name is that witch’s butter will grow on your gate if a witch has put a hex on you… in order to break the hex, you have to kill the fungus by poking it with pins. It is described as edible but without flavor–the kind of thing a tasteless witch might eat?

There are a few other kinds of witch’s butter that also grow in the area. The best way to tell them apart is by host and where they grow. The one featured here is found on hardwoods (like tanoak), and feeds on false turkey tails–so you’ll see some of these little fan-shaped fungi nearby on the log. It’s cousin, Tremella mesenterica, also grows on hardwoods but feeds on a spreading mold-like fungus called Peniphora. The third (Dacrymyces palmatus) grows only on wood of conifers.

Usually I’ve seen witch’s butter growing in moist forests; the one described above is a stretch of the International trail, and birds actually sing there quite often… Though you can find a silent moment if you try.

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October 30, 2012 · 10:43 am

Plant of the day: California fuchsia

It’s a treat to see a whole cliff-full of flowers blooming at this time of year–but that’s just what I found on Mt. Tam the other day. California fuchsia (Epilobium canum) is a late bloomer that you can see in scattered spots throughout the bay area.

Hummingbirds pollinate this flower, attracted by the scarlet, trumpet-shaped blooms. Other common names include hummingbird flower or hummingbird trumpet. It sports these flowers at the end of long stalks densely covered with small, slightly wooly leaves. This perennial plant can be woody at the base (the technical term for this is suffrutescent) but it is usually fairly low growing, with several sprawling stems that are around one foot long. California fuchsia is in the Onagraceae family along with other showy blooms like fireweed, clarkia, and evening primrose.

I saw it growing on a hot, southwest-facing road cut as Pantoll climbs up towards Rock Springs.

 

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October 29, 2012 · 12:13 pm

Plant of the day: goldenfleece

A leggy shrub is common in the scrubby chaparral atop the east peak of Mt. Tamalpais. Right now it is dressed in puffy tufts of seed heads and the last remains of unobtrusive yellow flowers. It has lemony-green, needle-like leaves that release a pungent smell when crushed.

This is goldenfleece, or Ericameria arborescens. It’s endemic to California, and is an important part of the chaparral community, growing up to 9,000 feet.

There is also a near-total lack of information about it. Goldenfleece is one of the few plants that appears to not have been used for much traditionally. “While of no grazing value, its abundance is noteworthy,” one text reports. It has never been investigated for medicinal value. Native Americans bound hot stones and the twigs of closely related species onto sore feet to relieve them; leaves were used to make a plaster for blisters. But no uses are recorded for goldenfleece itself.

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October 26, 2012 · 10:27 pm

Plant of the day: box elder

Along streambanks and ponds, the box elder (Acer negundo) is yellowing and losing its leaves–one of the many subtle signs of California fall.

Despite its name the box elder is one of the two maple species growing in our area. Unlike the classic maple, box elder leaves are divided into three–or sometimes more–leaflets; they are also known as cutleaf maple or ash maple. The picture shown here is a single leaf composed of three separate leaflets. The leaves are usually smooth on top, with a velvety fur on the underside. The trees can be low and shrubby or a graceful tree nearly 70 feet tall. They aren’t a common sight, but they are a California native. Keep your eye out for them in the springtime, when abundant drooping racemes of rose-purple flowers appear alongside the budding new leaves.

Cute li’l box elder beetle

incidentally, these trees are host to adorable little red and black box elder bugs which mainly feed on this and other Acer species.

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October 24, 2012 · 10:48 pm

Plant of the day: dusky willow

Dusky willow (Salix melanopsis) has long, narrow, hairless leaves. In general, willows are notoriously hard to identify–mostly because different species interbreed. Despite this confusion, it’s generally easy to tell when you’re looking at some species of willow. They can be shrubs or trees, but they often are found in wet areas–on the edge of wetlands, or along stream banks. They tend to have slim limbs. Most notably they sport small, rounded mini-leaves (stipules) thatgrow at the base of the larger leaf’s stalks. All willows have leaves that are alternate and in the spring they sprout silky catkins.

Willows have a lot of salycilic acid, which is essentially aspirin. You can buy willow bark capsules at health food stores as a more natural alternative painkiller.

 

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