Marks Ranch Field Guide

Scarlet pimpernel, commonly known as blue-scarlet pimpernel, red pimpernel, red chickweed, poorman's barometer, poor man's weather-glass, shepherd's weather glass or shepherd's clock, is a low-growing annual plant. The native range of the species is Europe and Western Asia and North Africa. The species has been distributed widely by humans, either deliberately as an ornamental flower or accidentally. A. arvensis is now naturalised alm less ↑

Erodium cicutarium, also known as redstem filaree, redstem stork's bill, common stork's-bill or pinweed, is a herbaceous annual – or in warm climates, biennial – member of the family Geraniaceae of flowering plants. It is native to the Mediterranean Basin and was introduced to North America in the eighteenth century, where it has since become invasive, particularly of the deserts and arid grasslands of the southwestern United States. less ↑

Eschscholzia californica (California poppy, Californian poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight, cup of gold) is a species of flowering plant in the Papaveraceae family, native to the United States and Mexico. It is an ornamental plant and it is used medicinally and in cooking, and it became the official state flower of California in 1903. less ↑

Ramalina menziesii, the lace lichen, is a pale yellowish-green to grayish-green foliose lichen that grows up to a meter long, hanging from bark and twigs in a distinctive net-like or lace-like pattern that is unlike any other lichen in North America.:192 It becomes a deeper green when wet.:192 Apothecia are lecanorine.:192 it is an important food source for deer in the Coast Range of California, and a source of nest material for birds.:192 It is highly... 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 ↑

Lupinus nanus ("sky lupine", "field lupine", "dwarf lupin", "ocean-blue lupine" or "Douglas' annual lupine"), is a species of lupine native to the western United States. It is found natively in California, Nevada, and on Steens Mountain in eastern Oregon. It tends to be found growing on slopes and in open or disturbed areas below 1300 meters. It grows 6 to 20 inches tall with blue flowers containing white or yellow spots. It is an annual plant... less ↑

Toxicodendron diversilobum (syn. Rhus diversiloba), commonly named Pacific poison oak or western poison oak, is a woody vine or shrub in the Anacardiaceae (sumac) family. It is widely distributed in western North America, inhabiting conifer and mixed broadleaf forests, woodlands, grasslands, and chaparral biomes. Peak flowering occurs in May. Like other members of the Toxicodendron genus, T. diversilobum causes itching and allergic rashes in many h less ↑

Achillea millefolium, commonly known as yarrow /ˈjæroʊ/ or common yarrow, is a flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. It is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Asia, Europe, and North America. It has been introduced as a feed for livestock in places like New Zealand and Australia. However, it is a weed in those places and sometimes also in its native regions. less ↑

Claytonia perfoliata (syn. Montia perfoliata), also known as Indian lettuce, spring beauty, winter purslane, or miner's lettuce, is a flowering plant in the Montiaceae family. It is a fleshy, herbaceous annual plant native to the western mountain and coastal regions from southernmost Alaska and central British Columbia all the way south to Central America, but most common in California in the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Valleys. less ↑

Veronica persica (common names: birdeye speedwell, common field-speedwell, Persian speedwell, large field speedwell, bird's-eye, or winter speedwell) (Persian: سیزاب ایرانی‎) is a flowering plant in the plantain family Plantaginaceae. It is native to Eurasia and is widespread as an introduced species in the British Isles (where it was first recorded in 1825), North America, and eastern Asia, including Japan and China. less ↑

Dittrichia graveolens, commonly known as stinkwort or stinking fleabane, is a plant species in the sunflower family, native to southern Europe, North Africa, and western Asia as far east as Pakistan. It has become naturalized in California, Asia, Africa, Australia, and other places and is regarded as a noxious weed in some regions. It is a classified as an invasive species in California, and a potential threat to wine production in the state. less ↑

Trifolium glomeratum is a species of clover known by the common names clustered clover and bush clover. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa and it is known elsewhere as an introduced species. It easily takes hold in disturbed areas, becoming a common weed. It is an annual herb growing decumbent to upright in form with mostly hairless herbage. The leaves are made up of oval leaflets up to 1.2 centimeters in length. The inflorescences... less ↑

Amaryllis belladonna, (Jersey lily, belladonna-lily, naked-lady-lily, March lily) is a plant species native to Cape Province in South Africa but widely cultivated as an ornamental. It is reportedly naturalized in many places: Corsica, Portugal, the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Zaire, Ascension Island, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Chile, California, Texas, Louisiana, and the Juan Fernández Islands. less ↑

The American kestrel (Falco sparverius) is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of a blue jay to a mourning dove. It also ranges to South America, and is a well-established species that has evolved seventeen subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size (females being moderately less ↑

The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) is an upland ground bird native to North America and is the heaviest member of the diverse Galliformes. It is the same species as the domestic turkey, which was originally derived from a southern Mexican subspecies of wild turkey (not the related ocellated turkey). Although native to North America, the turkey probably got its name from the domesticated variety being imported to Britain in ships coming from the Levant via Spain.... less ↑

Navarretia squarrosa (skunkbush, skunkweed, or California stinkweed) is a spreading annual plant from North America which is noted for its skunk-like odour. It grows to between 10 and 60 cm in height and has tubular lilac pink to deep blue flowers up to 12 mm in diameter in dense terminal heads, encircled by a spiny sepals and bracts. The leaves are pinnately lobed and spiny. less ↑

Heliotropium curassavicum is a species of heliotrope that is native to much of the Americas, from Canada to Argentina, and can be found on other continents as an introduced species. It is known by several common names, such as seaside heliotrope, salt heliotrope, monkey tail, quail plant and "Chinese parsley" (although this last name is also used for coriander). in Latin American Spanish it is known as cola de mico,cola de gama or rabo less ↑

Nicotiana glauca is a species of wild tobacco known by the common name tree tobacco. Its leaves are attached to the stalk by petioles (many other Nicotiana species have sessile leaves), and its leaves and stems are neither pubescent nor sticky like Nicotiana tabacum. It resembles Cestrum parqui but differs in the form of leaves and fusion of the outer floral parts. It grows to heights of more than two meters. less ↑

The turkey vulture (Cathartes aura), also known in some North American regions as the turkey buzzard (or just buzzard), and in some areas of the Caribbean as the John crow or carrion crow, is the most widespread of the New World vultures. One of three species in the genus Cathartes of the family Cathartidae, the turkey vulture ranges from southern Canada to the southernmost tip of South America. It inhabits a variety of open and semi-open... 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 ↑

Silybum marianum has other common names include cardus marianus, milk thistle, blessed milkthistle, Marian thistle, Mary thistle, Saint Mary's thistle, Mediterranean milk thistle, variegated thistle and Scotch thistle. This species is an annual or biennial plant of the Asteraceae family. This fairly typical thistle has red to purple flowers and shiny pale green leaves with white veins. Originally a native of Southern Eur less ↑

Oxalis pes-caprae (Bermuda buttercup, African wood-sorrel, Bermuda sorrel, buttercup oxalis, Cape sorrel, English weed, goat's-foot, sourgrass, soursob and soursop; (Afrikaans: suring) ) is a species of tristylous flowering plant in the wood sorrel family Oxalidaceae. Oxalis cernua is a less common synonym for this species. less ↑

Sanicula crassicaulis is a species of flowering plant in the parsley family known by the common names Pacific blacksnakeroot and Pacific sanicle. It is native to the west coast of North America from British Columbia to Baja California, where it can be found in many types of habitat, including mountain slopes, grassland, and woodlands. It is a perennial herb producing a thick stem up to 1.2 meters tall from a taproot. The leaves have blades up... less ↑

Sanicula arctopoides is a species of sanicle known commonly as footsteps of spring, bear's foot sanicle or yellow mats. It is a perennial herb found on the west coast of the United States, especially near the ocean. The branches are short and thick and may be prostrate or slightly erect. The leaves are yellowish-green and carrot-like or maple-shaped, and the tiny yellow flowers are borne in umbels with prominent bracts. The plants grow in low matted... 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 ↑

Erodium moschatum is a species of flowering plant in the geranium family known by the common names musk stork's-bill and whitestem filaree. This is a weedy annual or biennial herb which is native to much of Eurasia and North Africa but can be found on most continents where it is an introduced species. The young plant starts with a flat rosette of compound leaves, each leaf up to 15 centimeters long with many oval-shaped highly lobed... less ↑

Sisyrinchium micranthum, commonly known as blue pigroot or striped rush-leaf, is a grass-like species in the iris family, Iridaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, and South America and widely naturalised elsewhere. The white to cream flowers are between 10 and 20 mm in diameter and have blue to purple centres. These are followed by rounded 3 to 8 mm brown capsules that enclose the dark brown seeds. less ↑

Otanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the chamomile tribe (Anthemideae) within the daisy family (Asteraceae or Compositae). The only known species is the cotton weed plant, Otanthus maritimus. It is a small pioneering perennial that grows in the dune areas throughout the Mediterranean and exerts a stabilizing action on the sandy soils. A thick white down covers both the stems and the small oval, slightly saw-toothed alternate leaves. The globose flower head less ↑

Geranium is a genus of 422 species of flowering annual, biennial, and perennial plants that are commonly known as the cranesbills. They are found throughout the temperate regions of the world and the mountains of the tropics, but mostly in the eastern part of the Mediterranean region. The long, palmately cleft leaves are broadly circular in form. The flowers have five petals and are coloured white, pink, purple or blue, often with distinctive veining. Geraniums will... less ↑

Torilis arvensis is a species of flowering plant in the parsley family known by the common names spreading hedgeparsley, tall sock-destroyer and common hedge parsley. It is native to parts of Europe and it is known elsewhere, such as North America, as an introduced species and a common weed. It grows in many types of habitat, especially disturbed areas. It is an annual herb producing a slender, branching, rough-haired stem up to a meter in maximum... less ↑

Horkelia is a genus of plants in the rose family. It includes several species of plants known commonly as horkelias. These are flowering plants closely related to the cinquefoils (Potentilla) and sometimes considered part of the same genus. There are nineteen species found in western North America, especially California. Horkelia was named for German scientist Johann Horkel. less ↑

Lilium (members of which are true lilies) is a genus of herbaceous flowering plants growing from bulbs, all with large prominent flowers. Lilies are a group of flowering plants which are important in culture and literature in much of the world. Most species are native to the temperate northern hemisphere, though their range extends into the northern subtropics. Many other plants have "lily" in their common name but are not related to true lilies. less ↑

Symphyotrichum cordifolium, syn. Aster cordifolius (common names common blue wood aster, blue wood-aster or heartleaf aster), is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae, native to eastern North America. An herbaceous perennial, it can be readily found along forest edges and in open areas, as well in urban areas and in cultivation. It sometimes produces a naturally occurring hybrid with S. puniceum named Symphyotrichum × tard less ↑

Eurybia radulina (formerly Aster radulinus), commonly known as the roughleaf aster, is an herbaceous perennial in the composite family. It is native to western North America, where it is present primarily west of the Cascade Range in both Canada (British Columbia including Vancouver Island) and the United States (Washington, Oregon, and California including the Channel Islands). less ↑

Galium nuttallii is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names San Diego bedstraw and climbing bedstraw. It is native to the coast and coastal Peninsular and western Transverse Ranges of southern California and Baja California, where it is a member of chaparral and pine woodland plant communities. It is also found on the Channel Islands and on the mainland as far north as Santa Barbara County less ↑

Solanum umbelliferum is a species of nightshade known commonly as bluewitch nightshade, or bluewitch. It can be found in chaparral habitat and low-elevation oak woodlands in California and parts of Baja California and Arizona. It is a small perennial herb or subshrub with dark gray-green oval-shaped leaves on hairy green stems that grow to a maximum height of one meter. It has bright purple or blue frilly flowers with thick yellow anthers at the center. The less ↑

Petrorhagia dubia is a species of flowering plant in the pink family known by the common name hairy pink. It is native to southern Europe and the Mediterranean Basin, but it is known on other continents, including Australia and North and South America, as an introduced species and sometimes a weed. It is an annual herb growing 25 to 60 centimeters tall, but known to reach 90 centimeters in height. The leaves are up to 6... less ↑

Anthriscus caucalis, also burr chervil or bur-chervil, a plant in the carrot family. It is similar in appearance to chervil, the common cooking herb from the same genus. It sends up thin, hollow stems and bears umbels of white flowers. The light green leaves are triangular and made up of many leaflets. The tiny hard fruits, each about 3 millimeters long, are covered in hooked spines. The plant is native to and common in parts of... less ↑