A Floral Guide to Walker Ridge

Toxicoscordion fremontii (syn. Zigadenus fremontii), known as the common star lily, Frémont's deathcamas (after John C. Frémont) or star zigadene, is an attractive wildflower found on grassy or woody slopes, or rocky outcrops, in many lower-lying regions of California, southern Oregon, and northern Baja California. Like other deathcamases, T. fremontii grows from a more or less spherical bulb, which in this species has a diameter of 20–35 mm. Its leaves can reach up to half a meter in length, but are typically half that length. They grow from the base of the plant. Flowers, which can be seen from March to June, grow in clusters. They have six petals (strictly, three petals and three very similar sepals), arranged symmetrically, giving rise to the name star-lily. Each flower is 1–4 cm across. less ↑

Eriophyllum stoechadifolium (also, E. staechadifolium) is a flowering plant in the daisy family which is known by the common name seaside woolly sunflower. It is native to the coastline of Oregon and California as far south as the Channel Islands. This is a plant of the beaches, dunes, and coastal scrub. It is variable in size, its height depending in part on its exposure to harsh coastal wind and saline spray. It may reach anywhere from 30 centimeters to 1.5 meters tall, and may be small and clumpy or quite sprawling. The leaves are up to seven centimeters long and are sometimes lobed. Each inflorescence holds several tightly packed flower heads in shades of golden yellow with centers full of disc florets and usually a fringe of small ray florets each a few millimeters long. less ↑

Sanicula tuberosa is a species of flowering plant in the parsley family known by the common name turkey pea. It is native to western North America from Oregon through California to Baja California, where it can be found in many types of habitat, including chaparral, forests, and woodlands. It is variable in appearance. In general, it is a perennial herb producing a slender stem up to 80 centimeters long from a small, spherical tuber no more than 2 centimeters wide. The leaves are compound, divided into usually three leaflets which are smooth or deeply cut into lobes. The herbage is green to purple in color. The inflorescence is made up of one or more heads of bisexual and male-only flowers with tiny, curving, yellow petals. The fruits are 1 or 2 millimeters long and covered in bumpy tubercles. less ↑

Galium andrewsii is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names phloxleaf bedstraw and Andrews' bedstraw. It is native to California and Baja California, where grows in a number of dry habitats such as chaparral and woodland. This is a low, clumping or mat-forming perennial herb growing no higher than about 22 centimeters. Narrow, needlelike green to grayish leaves grow in whorls of four on the slender branches. Each is up to a centimeter long and has a sharp point tipped with a hair. The plant is dioecious with individuals bearing either male or female flowers; the male flowers are produced in clusters and the female flowers are solitary. They are greenish-yellow and similar in appearance otherwise. The fruit is a berry. less ↑

Galium porrigens is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family known by the common names graceful bedstraw and climbing bedstraw. It is native to the west coast of North America from Oregon to Baja California. It can be found in many habitats from forest to coastal shrubland, and is often a member of the chaparral plant community. This is a small, woody perennial herb with climbing stems. It is covered in tiny prickly hairs which help it climb and hang. Leaves are arranged in whorls of four about the thin stems. The tiny leaves are oval-shaped, pointed, and green, often with red or purple tips and edges. The plant is dioecious, with male plants producing clusters of staminate flowers and female individuals producing solitary flowers at the leaf axils. Both types of flower are yellowish to reddish in color. The fruit is a berry. less ↑

Dodecatheon hendersonii is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to western North America, from California north to southern British Columbia and Idaho. In California, it occurs in the northwest (except the north coast), the Cascade Range, the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Central Valley, the San Francisco Bay Area, the north Inner South Coast Ranges, and the San Bernardino Mountains. It is generally found in open woodlands, from sea level in British Columbia, up to 1,900 m (6,234 ft) altitude in California. Common names include broad-leaved shooting star, Henderson's shooting star, mosquito bills, and sailor caps. less ↑

Viola douglasii is a species of violet known by the common name Douglas' violet, or Douglas' yellow violet. It is native to western North America from Oregon through California and into Baja California, where it grows in seasonally moist habitat, often on serpentine soils. This rhizomatous herb produces a cluster of erect stems just a few centimeters in length to about 20 centimeters in maximum height. The leaf blades are deeply dissected into several narrow lobes or compound, made up of leaflets, and borne on long petioles. They are hairless to softly hairy in texture. A solitary flower is borne on a long, upright stem. It has five bright or deep yellow petals with brown veining and brown outer surfaces. The largest lowest petal may be over 2 centimeters in length. less ↑

Pinus sabiniana (sometimes spelled P. sabineana), with the common names gray pine, California foothill pine, and the more historically and internationally used digger pine, is a pine endemic to California in the United States. It is also known as foothill pine, ghost pine, bull pine, and nut pine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinus_sabiniana 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. It is native to central Asia and the Mediterranean Basin. It is also known in North America as an introduced species and noxious weed. It is widespread in California, where it has displaced native species of grass. This is a winter annual grass with thin tillers (stems) growing up to 60 to 80 centimeters in maximum height, but known to sometimes grow taller. The bristly spikelets are 2 to 3 centimeters long, not counting the bent awn which is up to 4 centimeters in length. Avena barbata largely reproduces by selfing in natural populations, with very low rates of outcrossing. less ↑

Perideridia kelloggii is a species of flowering plant in the carrot family known by the common name Kellogg's yampah. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the north and central coasts, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the Sierra Nevada foothills. It grows in grassland habitat, sometimes on serpentine soils. It is a perennial herb which may reach 1.5 meters in maximum height, its slender, erect stem growing from a cluster of long, narrow, fibrous roots each up to 15 centimeters long. Leaves near the base of the plant have blades up to 45 centimeters wide which are divided into many leaflets subdivided into narrow, elongated lobes. The inflorescence is a compound umbel of many spherical clusters of small white flowers. These yield ribbed, oblong-shaped fruits each about half a centimeter long. less ↑

Calochortus amabilis is a species of flowering plant in the lily family which is known by the common name Diogenes' lantern. It is endemic to northern California, where it grows in the mountains north of the San Francisco Bay Area. In oak woodlands, common understory plant associates are Calochortus luteus, Clarkia unguiculata and Delphinium variegatum. It is a common member of the scrub and woodland flora there. This is a perennial herb producing an upright, somewhat waxy branching stem to heights between 10 and 50 centimeters. The leaf at the base of the stem is flat, waxy, and narrow in shape, reaching up to 50 centimeters long and not withering away at flowering. The inflorescence bears two or more heavily nodding flowers, each with spreading pointed yellow sepals and brown-speckled yellow petals. The inside of the petals is waxy and coated in small hairs. The fruit is a winged capsule up to three centimeters long containing dark brown seeds. less ↑

Lomatium is a genus of about 75 species of perennial herbs native to western North America.

Several species, including L. cous, L. geyeri, and L. macrocarpum, are sometimes known as biscuit roots for their starchy edible roots. These are or have been traditional Native American foods, eaten cooked or dried and ground into flour. Some Native Americans ground Lomatium into mush and shaped into cakes and stored for later use. Their flavor has been compared to celery, parsnip, or stale biscuits.

Lomatium dissectum has been used as herbal medicines for cough and upper respiratory infections, including tuberculosis.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lomatium 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 ↑

Pedicularis densiflora, known commonly as Indian warrior, is a plant of the lousewort genus in the broomrape family.

Indian Warrior is native to California and Oregon in western North America and is found in chaparral, forests, California oak woodlands at low elevations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedicularis_densiflora less ↑

Juniperus californica (California Juniper) is a species of juniper native to southwestern North America; as the name implies, it is mainly found in California, although its range also extends through most of Baja California, a short distance into the Great Basin in southern Nevada, and western Arizona. It grows at moderate altitudes of 750 to 1,600 meters (2,460 - 5,200 ft). less ↑

Solanum umbelliferum is a species of nightshade known commonly as blue witch 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 flowers close into spherical buds overnight. It bears small round green fruits which turn purple when ripe and resemble tiny eggplants. less ↑

Cynoglossum grande is a species of flowering plant in the borage family known by the common name Pacific hound's tongue. It is native to western North America from British Columbia to California, where it grows in shady areas in woodland and chaparral. On the forest floor of California oak woodlands typical plant associates are Calochortus luteus, Delphinium variegatum and Calochortus amabilis. It is a perennial herb producing an erect stem 30 to 90 centimeters tall from a taproot. The leaves are mostly located around the base of the plant, each with an oval blade up to 15 centimeters long held on a petiole. The inflorescence is a panicle of flowers on individual pedicels. Each five-lobed flower is bright to deep blue with white appendages at the center. It is 1 to 1.5 centimeters wide. The fruit is an array of four slightly bristly nutlets. less ↑