Mitteldorf Preserve Field Guide

Hirschfeldia incana (formerly Brassica geniculata) is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by many common names, including shortpod mustard, buchanweed, hoary mustard and Mediterranean mustard. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Hirschfeldia, which is closely related to Brassica. The species is native to the Mediterranean Basin but it can be found in many parts of the world as an introduced specie less ↑

Thysanocarpus curvipes is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common names sand fringepod and lacepod. It is native to western North America from British Columbia through the western United States to Baja California, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a common plant in much of its range. It is variable in appearance. It is an annual herb producing a branching or unbranched stem 10 to 80... less ↑

Thysanocarpus laciniatus is a species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name mountain fringepod. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a common plant in much of its range. It is an annual herb producing a slender, branching or unbranched stem 10 to 60 centimeters tall. It is somewhat waxy in texture and generally lacks hairs. The leaves are linear... less ↑

Cardamine californica (Milkmaids) (also Dentaria californica) is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae, native to western North America from Washington to California and Baja California. It is common in a variety of habitats including shady slopes, open woodlands, chaparral and grasslands in the winter and early spring. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it is one of the first wildflowers to bloom, with blossoms from January to May. less ↑

Arabis glabra, commonly known as tower rockcress or tower mustard, is a tall, slim, grey-green plant with small creamy flowers at the top of the stem. It usually grows on poor chalky or sandy soils, in open situations. It is native to Europe, Asia, and North Africa, and it is widespread in North America where it is also probably native. It can be found in many other parts of the world as an introduced species. less ↑

Sisymbrium irio, known as London rocket, is a plant in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual herb exceeding three feet in height with open, slender stem branches. The flowers are small with four pale yellow petals. The basal leaves are broad and often lobed, while the upper leaves are linear in shape and up to four inches long. The fruit is a long narrow cylindrical silique which stays green when ripe. The younger pods overtop... less ↑

Heuchera micrantha is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name crevice alumroot. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows on rocky slopes and cliffs. This plant is quite variable in appearance. There are a number of wild and cultivated varieties. The leaves are lobed and usually coated in glandular hairs. They are green to reddish-green or purple-green in color and may... less ↑

Lithophragma affine is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name San Francisco woodland star. It is native to the coast of western North America from Oregon to Baja California, where it grows in open habitat on mountain slopes, hills, and canyonsides. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing erect or leaning with a tall naked flowering stem. The leaves are located on the lower part of the stem, each... less ↑

Lithophragma heterophyllum is a species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family known by the common name hillside woodland star. It is native to the coastal mountain ranges of California, where it can generally be found in shady habitat. It is a rhizomatous perennial herb growing erect or leaning with a slender naked flowering stem. The leaves are located on the lower part of the stem, each divided into rounded lobes. The stem bears 3 to... less ↑

Crassula connata is a succulent plant known by the common names sand pygmyweed and pygmy stonecrop. It is a very small plant which grows in patches on the ground, especially in rocky areas. It is also sometimes associated with vernal pool plant communities. The stems are a few centimeters in length and are covered with tiny fleshy pointed leaves. Each leaf is only millimeters long. The plant is green when new and it matures to shades... less ↑

Scirpus microcarpus is a species of flowering plant in the sedge family known by the common names panicled bulrush, smallfruit bulrush, and barberpole bulrush. It is native to North America, where it can be found throughout the northern and western regions, from Alaska across Canada to the northeastern United States, in most of the central and western states, and in Baja California. It grows in many types of moist and wet habitat. It is a perennial... less ↑

Polypogon monspeliensis, commonly known as annual beard-grass or annual rabbitsfoot grass, is a species of grass. It is native to southern Europe, but it can be found today throughout the world as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. It is an annual grass growing to heights between 5 centimeters and one meter. The soft, fluffy inflorescence is a dense, greenish, plumelike panicle, sometimes divided into lobes. The spikelets have long, thin, whitish awns, less ↑

Avena barbata is a species of wild oat known by the common name slender wild oat. It has edible seeds. It is a diploidized autotetraploid grass (2n=4x=28). Its diploid ancestors are A. hirtula Lag. and A. wiestii Steud (2n=2x=14), which are considered Mediterranean and desert ecotypes, respectively, comprising a single species. A wiestii and A. hirtula are widespread in the Mediterranean Basin, growing in mixed stands with A. barbata, though less ↑

Cynosurus echinatus is a species of grass known by the common names bristly dogstail grass, rough dog's-tail and hedgehog dogtail. It is native to southern Europe, and it is known in the Americas and Australia as an introduced species and sometimes a noxious weed. An herbicide-resistant strain can be found growing as a weed in canola and wheat fields in Chile. This is an annual grass growing 10 to 50 centimeters tall. The inflorescence is a... less ↑

Deschampsia elongata is a species of grass known by the common name slender hairgrass. It is native to western North America from Alaska to Wyoming to northern Mexico, and South America in Chile. It grows at all elevations, often in moist areas. It is a perennial grass forming dense clumps sometimes exceeding a meter in height. Most of the leaves are located in a tuft about the base of the stems. The inflorescence is a thin... less ↑

Festuca arundinacea (syn., Schedonorus arundinaceus and Lolium arundinaceum) is a species of grass commonly known as tall fescue. It is a cool-season perennial C3 species of bunchgrass native to Europe. It is an important forage grass throughout Europe, and many cultivars have been used in agriculture. It is also an ornamental grass in gardens, and a phytoremediation plant. less ↑

Corallorhiza maculata, or spotted coralroot, is a North American coralroot orchid flower. Varieties are also known as western coralroot and summer coralroot. It is widespread through Mexico, Guatemala, Canada, St. Pierre & Miquelon, and much of the Western and northern United States (though generally absent from the Great Plains and from the lowland parts of the Southeast). It grows mostly in montane woodlands. less ↑

Piperia yadonii, also known as Yadon's piperia or Yadon's rein orchid, is an endangered orchid endemic to a narrow range of coastal habitat in northern Monterey County, California. In 1998 this plant was designated as an endangered species by the United States government, the major threat to its survival being continuing land development from an expanding human population and associated habitat loss. One of the habitats of Yadon’s Piperia, the Del Monte Forest near Mon less ↑

Chlorogalum pomeridianum, the wavy-leafed soap plant, California soaproot, or Amole, is the most common and most widely distributed of the soap plants, soaproots or amoles, which make up the genus Chlorogalum of flowering plants. It is occasionally known as the "wild potato", but given the plant's lack of either resemblance or relationship to the potato, this name is not recommended. less ↑

Maianthemum racemosum (treacleberry, feathery false lily of the valley, false Solomon's seal, Solomon's plume or false spikenard; syn. Smilacina racemosa, Vagnera racemosa) is a species of flowering plant native to North America. It is a common, widespread plant known from every US state except Hawaii, and from every Canadian province and territory except Nunavut, as well as from Mexico. less ↑

Maianthemum stellatum (star-flowered, starry, or little false Solomon's seal, or simply false Solomon's seal; star-flowered lily-of-the-valley or starry false lily of the valley; syn. Smilacina stellata) is a species of flowering plant, native across North America generally from Alaska to California to North Carolina to Newfoundland, plus northern Mexico (Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León). It has been found in every Canadian pr less ↑

Triteleia ixioides, known as prettyface or golden star, is a monocotyledon flowering plant in the genus Triteleia. It is native to northern and central California and southwestern Oregon, where it can be found in coastal and inland coniferous forests and other habitat. It is a perennial wildflower growing from a corm. It produces one to two basal leaves up to 50 centimeters long by 1.5 wide. The inflorescence arises on an erect stem up to 80... less ↑

Triteleia ixioides, known as prettyface or golden star, is a monocotyledon flowering plant in the genus Triteleia. It is native to northern and central California and southwestern Oregon, where it can be found in coastal and inland coniferous forests and other habitat. It is a perennial wildflower growing from a corm. It produces one to two basal leaves up to 50 centimeters long by 1.5 wide. The inflorescence arises on an erect stem up to 80... less ↑

Iris douglasiana (Douglas iris) is a common wildflower of the coastal regions of Northern and Central California and southern Oregon in the United States. The Douglas Iris was first described by 19th century botanist David Douglas in Monterey, California. It grows mainly at lower elevations, below 100 meters (330 ft), though it is occasionally found at heights of up to 1,000 meters (3,300 ft). It is most common in grasslands near the coast; it is regarded as a... less ↑

Sisyrinchium bellum, the western blue-eyed grass or Californian blue-eyed grass, is the common blue-eyed grass of California and Oregon in and west of the Sierra Nevada, its range extending south into Baja California. In parts of its range, western blue-eyed grass has previously been classified as Sisyrinchium eastwoodiae, S. greenei and S. hesperium, but these names are now considered synonyms. less ↑

Calochortus albus is a species in the genus Calochortus in the family Liliaceae. It is also known by the common names fairy lantern, white fairy lantern, pink fairy lantern, lantern of the fairies, globe lily, white globe lily, white globe-tulip, alabaster tulip, Indian bells, satin bells, snowy lily-bell, and snow drops. less ↑

Trillium ovatum, the Pacific trillium, western trillium, western wakerobin, or western white trillium, is a member of the Trilliaceae family, or sometimes included within the Liliaceae or Melanthiaceae. It occurs in parts of the western United States and western Canada, usually in rich forest. In the northern part of its range, which includes southern British Columbia, extreme southwestern Alberta, Washington, Oregon and east to Montana, Wyoming and north less ↑

Selaginella bigelovii is a species of spikemoss known by the common names bushy spikemoss and Bigelow's spikemoss. It is native to California and Baja California, where it grows in rocky places in many different habitat types, from the coastline to the mountains to the deserts. This lycophyte forms clumps of spreading upright to erect stems up to 20 centimeters long with a few short lateral branches. The linear or lance-shaped green leaves are up to 4... less ↑

Mycena haematopus, commonly known as the bleeding fairy helmet, the burgundydrop bonnet, or the bleeding Mycena, is a species of fungus in the Mycenaceae family, of the order Agaricales. It is widespread and common in Europe and North America, and has also been collected in Japan and Venezuela. It is saprotrophic—meaning that it obtains nutrients by consuming decomposing organic matter—and the fruit bodies appear in small groups or clusters on the decaying logs, less ↑

Panellus stipticus, commonly known as the bitter oyster, the astringent panus, the luminescent panellus, or the stiptic fungus, is a species of fungus in the family Mycenaceae, and the type species of the genus Panellus. A common and widely distributed species, it is found in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, where it grows in groups or dense overlapping clusters on the logs, stumps, and trunks of deciduous trees, especially beech, oak, a less ↑

Galerina marginata is a species of poisonous fungus in the family Hymenogastraceae of the order Agaricales. Prior to 2001, the species G. autumnalis, G. oregonensis, G. unicolor, and G. venenata were thought to be separate due to differences in habitat and the viscidity of their caps, but phylogenetic analysis showed that they are all the same species. less ↑

Coprinopsis lagopus is a species of fungus in the family Psathyrellaceae. Until 2001, the species was known as Coprinus lagopus; advances in the understanding of phylogenetic relationships between the various coprinoid species led to a major reorganization of that genus. It is a delicate and short-lived fungus, the fruit bodies lasting only a few hours before dissolving into a black ink – a process called deliquescence. The vague resemblance of the young fruit body to less ↑

Pleurotus ostreatus, the oyster mushroom or oyster fungus, is a common edible mushroom. It was first cultivated in Germany as a subsistence measure during World War I and is now grown commercially around the world for food. It is related to the similarly cultivated king oyster mushroom. Oyster mushrooms can also be used industrially for mycoremediation purposes. less ↑

Schizophyllum commune is a species of fungus in the genus Schizophyllum. The mushroom resembles undulating waves of tightly packed corals or loose chinese fan. "Gillies" or Split Gills vary from creamy yellow to pale white in colour. The cap is small, 1-4.5 cm wide with a dense yet spongey body texture. It is known as the split-gill mushroom because of the unique longitudinally divided nature of the gill producing basidospores, which often splits when they dry... less ↑

Cantharellus californicus, sometimes called the mud puppy or oak chanterelle, is a fungus native to California, United States. It is a member of the genus Cantharellus along with other popular edible chanterelles. It is generally similar in appearance to C. cibarius and C. formosus except for its large size at maturity; individual specimens larger than 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) are reported, making it the largest known species of chanterelle. Their unusu less ↑

Trametes versicolor – also known as Coriolus versicolor and Polyporus versicolor – is a common polypore mushroom found throughout the world. Meaning 'of several colours', versicolor reliably describes this fungus that displays different colors. For example, because its shape and multiple colors are similar to those of a wild turkey, T. versicolor is commonly called turkey tail. less ↑

Lactarius alnicola, commonly known as the golden milkcap, is a species of fungus in the Russulaceae family. The fruit bodies produced by the fungus are characterized by a sticky, vanilla-colored cap up to 20 cm (7.9 in) wide with a mixture of yellow tones arranged in faint concentric bands. The stem is up to 5 cm (2.0 in) long and has yellow-brown spots. When it is cut or injured, the mushroom oozes a white latex, which has an intensely peppery... less ↑

Exidia glandulosa (common names black witches' butter, black jelly roll, or warty jelly fungus) is a jelly fungus in the family Auriculariaceae. It is a common, wood-rotting species in Europe, typically growing on dead attached branches of oak. The fruit bodies are up to 3 cm (1.2 in) wide, shiny, black and blister-like, and grow singly or in clusters. Its occurrence elsewhere is uncertain because of confusion with the related species, Exidia nigricans. less ↑