Plants of the American River Parkway

Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum (treated as the sole species in the genus by most botanists). It is a member of the family Apiaceae (formerly the Umbelliferae). It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea-coast and on riverbanks. 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... less ↑

Dipsacus fullonum, syn. Dipsacus sylvestris, is a species of flowering plant known by the common names Fuller's teasel and wild teasel. It is native to Eurasia and North Africa, but it is known in the Americas, southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand as an introduced species and often a noxious weed. The inflorescence is a cylindrical array of lavender flowers which dries to a cone of spine-tipped hard bracts. It may be 10 centimeters long. D. fullonum... less ↑

Symphoricarpos albus is a species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family known by the common name common snowberry. It is native to North America, where it occurs across much of Canada and the northern United States. It grows in shady and moist mountain and forest habitat, in woodlands and on floodplains and riverbanks. It can grow in a wide variety of habitat types. It is naturalized in parts of Britain, where it has been planted... less ↑

Downingia bicornuta is a species of flowering plant in the bellflower family known by the common name doublehorn calicoflower. This showy wildflower is native to the western United States from California to Idaho, where it is a resident of lakesides and vernal pool ecosystems. This annual grows on a branching erect stem with small leaves at intervals. At the top of each stem branch is one or more flowers, each between one and two centimeters wide.... less ↑

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is an annual plant native to the Americas. It possesses a large inflorescence (flowering head), and its name is derived from the flower's shape and image, which is often used to capture the sun. The plant has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves, and circular flower heads. The heads consist of many individual flowers which mature into seeds, often in the hundreds, on a receptacle base. From the Americas,... less ↑

Bidens frondosa is a species of flowering plant in the aster family, Asteraceae. It is native to North America, where it is distributed across Canada to Alaska and most all of the contiguous United States, and into Mexico. It is known in many other parts of the world as an introduced species, including Europe, Asia, Morocco, and New Zealand. Its many common names include devil's beggarticks, devil's-pitchfork, devil's bootjack, sticktights, bur marigold, pitchfork weed, tickseed sunflower,leafy... less ↑

The Common Woolly Sunflower (Eriophyllum lanatum), also known as Oregon Sunshine, is a widespread, herbaceous dicot of the sunflower family Asteraceae. It is native to western North America, commonly growing in many dry, open places below 10,000 ft, but it also grows on rocky slopes and bluffs. It is most common in California, but grows as far north as Vancouver, Canada. less ↑

Grindelia camporum is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common names Great Valley gumplant and Great Valley gumweed. It is native to California and Baja California, where it can be found in a number of habitats. Its range may extend into Nevada. This hardy plant readily grows in disturbed and altered areas such as ditches and roadsides. It is a gangly weedlike perennial topping two metres in maximum height. Its... less ↑

Heterotheca oregona is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name Oregon false goldenaster. It is native to the west coast of the United States from Washington to central California, where it is found in low-elevation mountain forests and chaparral, often near water. This is a perennial herb which is variable in appearance, with four somewhat indistinct varieties. It reaches a maximum height of 20 centimeters to one meter, and... less ↑

Heterotheca grandiflora is a species of flowering plant in the daisy family known by the common name telegraphweed. It is native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, but it can be found in other areas as an introduced species, such as Hawaii. It is a roadside weed even where it is native. This is a tall, bristly, glandular plant exceeding a meter in height and densely foliated in hairy to spiny toothed or lobed... less ↑

Euthamia occidentalis is a flowering plant known by the common names western goldentop and western goldenrod. It is a scrubby perennial plant with many green stems which age into a dull brownish-green, small leaves, and plentiful yellowish clusters of flowers. It is a common plant of western North America, where it is most likely to be found near water, such as ditches and marshes. less ↑

Anthemis cotula, also known as stinking chamomile, is a flowering annual plant with a noticeable and strong odor. The odor is often considered unpleasant, and it is from this that it gains the common epithet "stinking". It is initially native to Europe and North Africa. It has successfully migrated to North America, Southern Africa, Australia and New Zealand where it can be found growing on waste ground, alongside roads, and in fields.Anthemis cotula is considered a... less ↑

Achillea millefolium, known commonly 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. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, it is called plumajillo (Spanish for 'little feather') from its leaf shape and texture. In antiquity, yarrow was known as herbal militaris, for its use in stanching the flow of blood from wounds. Other common names... less ↑

Soliva sessilis, one of up to nine species of the genus Soliva, is a low-growing herbaceous annual plant. Its common names include lawnweed, common soliva, Onehunga weed, and field burrweed. It is one of several plants known as bindi weed, bindii, or bindi-eye. Botanical synonyms include Soliva daucifolia Nutt. and Soliva pterosperma (Juss.) Less. less ↑

Artemisia /ˌɑrtɨˈmiːziə/ is a large, diverse genus of plants with between 200 and 400 species belonging to the daisy family Asteraceae. Common names for various species in the genus include mugwort, wormwood, and sagebrush. Artemisia comprises hardy herbaceous plants and shrubs, which are known for the powerful chemical constituents in their essential oils. Artemisia species grow in temperate climates of both hemispheres, usually in dry or semiarid habitats. Notable species include A. vulgaris (common mugwort), A.... less ↑

Plagiobothrys is a genus of flowering plants known commonly as popcorn flowers. These are small herbaceous plants which bear tiny white or yellow flowers. Their fruits are nutlets. Although these plants are found predominantly in North America and South America, five species are known from Australia. Of the approximately 65 species described, more than 15 are endemic to California. less ↑

Nicotiana quadrivalvis is a species of wild tobacco known by the common name Indian tobacco. It is native to the western United States, where it grows in many types of habitat. It is a bushy, sprawling annual herb growing up to two meters in maximum height. The lower leaf blades are up to 15 centimeters long and are borne on short petioles, the upper smaller and sessile on the stem. The inflorescence is an array of... less ↑

Keckiella breviflora (formerly Penstemon breviflorus) is a species of flowering shrub in the plantain family known by the common name bush beardtongue. It is native to many of the mountain ranges and foothills of central California, and its range extends just into Nevada. This is a branching, bushy shrub with many thin stems, approaching a maximum height near two meters. Its shiny green leaves are arranged oppositely on the branches, and each is one to four... less ↑

Veronica arvensis (corn speedwell, common speedwell, speedwell, rock speedwell, wall speedwell ) is a medicinal plant and noxious weed native to Africa, Asia and Europe. A member of the plantain family, it is a hairy, erect to almost recumbent, annual herb, 9 to 40 cm high from a taproot. The leaves are oppositely arranged in pairs about the stem. The lower leaves have short petioles; the upper are sessile. Each leaf, 1.5 to 2.5 centimeters in less ↑

Triphysaria eriantha is a species of flowering plant in the broomrape family known by the common names Johnny Tuck and butter and eggs. It is native to Oregon and California, where it grows in many types of habitat, becoming quite common in some areas. This is an annual herb producing a hairy purple stem up to about 35 centimeters in maximum height. Like many species in its family it is a facultative root parasite on other... less ↑

Castilleja, commonly known as Indian paintbrush or prairie-fire, is a genus of about 200 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants native to the west of the Americas from Alaska south to the Andes, northern Asia, and one species as far west as the Kola Peninsula in Siberia. These plants are classified in the broomrape family, Orobanchaceae (following major rearrangements of the order Lamiales starting around 2001; sources which do not follow these reclassifications may place... less ↑

Verbena bonariensis (purpletop vervain, tall verbena, clustertop vervain, or pretty verbena) is a member of the verbena family cultivated as a flowering annual or herbaceous perennial plant. In USA horticulture, it is also known by the ambiguous names "purpletop" (also used for the grass Tridens flavus) and "South American vervain" (which can mean any of the numerous species in the genus Verbena occurring in that continent). For the misapplication "Brazilian verbena" see below. less ↑

Phyla nodiflora (frog fruit, sawtooth fogfruit, turkey tangle), is an ornamental plant in the Verbenaceae family, and is native to South America and the United States. It can be found in tropical areas around the globe, a naturalized species in many places. This plant is cited in Flora Brasiliensis by Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius. It is often grown as groundcover, and is sometimes present in yards as a lawn weed. less ↑

The annual herb of the mint family Trichostema lanceolatum is commonly known as vinegar weed because its foliage contains volatile oils that have a strong vinegar odor. Other common names for the plant include terpentine weed and camphor weed. The oils also have phytotoxic properties, which help vinegar weed compete by killing or injuring other plant species. less ↑

Philadelphus lewisii (Lewis's mock-orange) is a deciduous shrub native to western North America, from northwestern California in the Sierra Nevada, north to southern British Columbia, and east to Idaho and Montana. It is widespread but not very common, usually appearing as an individual plant amongst other species. It was first collected by Meriwether Lewis in 1806. Other common names include wild mock-orange (though this can apply to any species in the genus), and syringa, a name... less ↑

Rubus ursinus is a species of blackberry or dewberry known by the common names California blackberry, California dewberry, Douglas berry, Pacific blackberry or Pacific dewberry and trailing blackberry. It is native to western North America. This is a wide, spreading shrub or vine-bearing bush with prickly branches that can tip layer to spread vegetatively. Its white flowers may be distinguished from those of other blackberries by their narrow petals. The species is dioeocious, with male and... less ↑

Rubus armeniacus, Armenian Blackberry or Himalayan Blackberry, is a species of Rubus in the blackberry group Rubus subgenus Rubus series Discolores (P.J. Müll.) Focke. It is native to Armenia and Northern Iran, and widely naturalised elsewhere. Both its scientific name and origin have been the subject of much confusion, with much of the literature using one or the other of the two synonyms, and often mistakenly citing its origin as western European. less ↑

Lupinus bicolor is a species of lupine known as the miniature lupine, Lindley's annual lupine, or bicolor lupine. It is a showy flowering plant native to western North America from California to British Columbia. It is an annual lupine which often shares a habitat with the California poppy. It has a short, hairy stem and thin, palmately-arranged leaves. The inflorescence is short for a lupine at up to 8 centimeters tall. As its name suggests the... less ↑

Lupinus albifrons, Silver lupine, white-leaf bush lupine, or evergreen lupine, is a species of lupine (lupin). It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows along the coast and in dry and open meadows, prairies and forest clearings. It is a member of several plant communities, including coastal sage scrub, chaparral, northern coastal scrub, foothill woodland, and yellow pine forest. less ↑

Spartium junceum (syn. Genista juncea), known as Spanish broom or weaver's broom, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to the Mediterranean in southern Europe, southwest Asia and northwest Africa, where it is found in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. It is the sole species in the genus Spartium, but is closely related to the other brooms in the genera Cytisus and Genista. less ↑

Medicago polymorpha is a plant species of the genus Medicago. It is native to the Mediterranean basin but is found throughout the world. It forms a symbiotic relationship with the bacterium Sinorhizobium medicae, which is capable of nitrogen fixation. Common names include California burclover, toothed bur clover, toothed medick and burr medic. less ↑

Lotus, derived from Lota (a small, usually spherical water vessel of brass, copper or plastic used in parts of South Asia), is a genus that includes bird's-foot trefoils (also known as bacon-and-eggs) and deervetches and contains many dozens of species distributed world-wide. Depending on the taxonomic authority, roughly between 70 and 150 are accepted. Lotus is a genus of legume and its members are adapted to a wide range of habitats, from coastal environments to high... less ↑

Acmispon glaber (previously Lotus scoparius) (Common Deerweed, Deer Weed, Deervetch, California Broom or Western Bird's-Foot Trefoil) is a perennial subshrub in the family Fabaceae (pea family). The plant is a pioneer species found in dry areas of California, Arizona, and Mexico. It is commonly found in many areas including chaparral, coastal sand and roadsides at elevations below 1500 m. less ↑

Lathyrus /ˈlæθɨrəs/ is a genus of flowering plant species known as sweet peas and vetchlings. Lathyrus is in the legume family, Fabaceae, and contains approximately 160 species. They are native to temperate areas, with a breakdown of 52 species in Europe, 30 species in North America, 78 in Asia, 24 in tropical East Africa, and 24 in temperate South America. There are annual and perennial species which may be climbing or bushy. This genus has numerous... less ↑

Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, tare or simply "the vetch", is a nitrogen fixing leguminous plant. Although considered a weed when found growing in a cultivated grainfield, this hardy plant is often grown as green manure or livestock fodder. There is no firm evidence that this is the same as the "tare" in some English translations of the Bible (as in the "Parable of the Tares") – ryegrass (Lolium) is another candidate. less ↑

Ludwigia peploides is a species of flowering plant in the evening primrose family known by the common names floating primrose-willow and creeping water primrose. It is native to many parts of the Americas, but it can be found on many continents and spreads easily to become naturalized. It is well known as a troublesome aquatic noxious weed that invades water ecosystems and can clog waterways. This is perennial herb which grows in moist to wet to... less ↑

Clematis ligusticifolia is a climbing, spreading vine with showy flowers. It is also known as Old-man's Beard and Yerba de Chiva, and Virgin's bower, (though Old-man's Beard may also refer to C. vitalba, and Virgin's bower may also refer to C. lasiantha). It is native to North America where it is widespread across the western United States in streamside thickets, wooded hillsides, and coniferous forests up to 4,000 feet. less ↑

Malva parviflora is an annual or perennial herb that is native to Northern Africa, Europe and Asia and is widely naturalised elsewhere. Common names include cheeseweed,cheeseweed mallow, Egyptian mallow,least mallow, little mallow,mallow,marshmallow,small-flowered mallow,small-flowered marshmallow and smallflower mallow.M. parviflora leaf extracts possess anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. It has a decumbent or erect habit, growing to 50 cm in height. The broad leaves have 5 to 7 lobes and are 8 to 10 cm in diameter. It has... less ↑

Modiola is a monotypic genus of plants in the mallow family containing the single species Modiola caroliniana, which is known by several common names, including Carolina bristlemallow, babosilla, and redflower mallow. It is a creeping perennial which is probably native to South America but which is widely naturalized throughout the tropical and warmer temperate world. less ↑

Sidalcea hartwegii is a species of flowering plant in the mallow family known by the common names valley checkerbloom and Hartweg's checkerbloom. It is endemic to California, where it grows in the Sacramento Valley and adjacent foothills to the east and west. It can sometimes be found on serpentine soils. This annual herb produces a slender stem up to 30 centimeters tall, mostly hairless with occasional branching hairs. The leaf blades are deeply divided into five... less ↑

Erodium moschatum is a species of flowering plant in the geranium family known by the common names musky 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... less ↑

Erodium botrys is a species of flowering plant in the geranium family known by the common names long-beaked stork's bill and broadleaf filaree. This is a weedy annual herb which is native to much of Eurasia and North Africa but is found in many other areas of the world as an introduced species, including Australia, New Zealand, and parts of the Americas. The plant starts from a flat rosette of highly lobed green leaves on red... less ↑

Oxalis corniculata, the creeping woodsorrel, also called procumbent yellow-sorrel or sleeping beauty, resembles the common yellow woodsorrel, Oxalis stricta. It is a somewhat delicate-appearing, low-growing, herbaceous plant in the family Oxalidaceae. It has a narrow, creeping stem that readily roots at the nodes. The trifoliate leaves are subdivided into three rounded leaflets and resemble a clover in shape. Some varieties have green leaves, while others, like Oxalis corniculata var. atropurpurea, have purple. The leaves have inconspicuous... less ↑

Limnanthes alba is a species of flowering plant in the meadowfoam family known by the common name white meadowfoam. It is native to California and Oregon, where it grows in wet grassy habitat, such as vernal pools and moist spots in woodlands. It generally grows in poorly drained soils. It is an annual herb producing an erect or decumbent stem up to about 30 centimeters long. The leaves divided into several lobed or unlobed leaflets. The... less ↑

Tribulus terrestris is a flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to warm temperate and tropical regions of the Old World in southern Europe, southern Asia, throughout Africa, and Australia. It can thrive even in desert climates and poor soil. Like many weedy species, this plant has many common names, including bindii,bullhead,burra gokharu, caltrop,cat's head,devil's eyelashes,devil's thorn,devil's weed,goathead,puncturevine, and tackweed. less ↑

Euphorbia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Euphorbiaceae. Consisting of 2008 species,Euphorbia is the fourth largest genus of flowering plants; it also has one of the largest ranges of chromosome counts, along with Rumex and Senecio. Members of the family and genus are commonly referred to as spurges. Euphorbia antiquorum is the type species for the genus Euphorbia; it was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum. The family is... less ↑

Hypericum perforatum, also known as Tipton's weed, rosin rose, goatweed, chase-devil, or Klamath weed, is a species of flowering plant in the genus Hypericum. With qualifiers, St John's wort is used to refer to any species of the genus Hypericum. Therefore, H. perforatum is sometimes called common St John's wort or perforate St John's wort to differentiate it. Hypericum is classified in the family Hypericaceae, having previously been classified as Guttiferae or Clusiaceae. Approximately 370 species... less ↑