snowberry ~ 11/19/11 ~ Garland Ranch

common snowberry
Symphoricarpos albus var. laevigatus
Caprifoliaceae

I have yet to notice the pretty pink flowers of the snowberry. However, the bright white, small marshmallow-looking berries are so easy to spot, especially when most of the leaves have dropped. The other species of snowberry at Garland is the creeping snowberry (Symphoricarpos mollis), which according to the USDA is only native to CA and NV. To me they look nearly identical in photos, except for the obvious difference, one is erect and the other creeps along the ground. I'll try to keep a look-out next year for the flowers, which, if my books are correct, should bloom in the spring.

CA bay ~ 11/19/11 ~ Garland Ranch

California bay / Oregon myrtle
Umbellularia californica
Lauraceae

After a full year of thinking about it and posting about it back in July, I finally had my first taste of a California bay nut. Well, actually, being the piglet I am and wanting to compare, I tried 3 bay nuts. I was so excited I didn't get a picture of the first one, but it was reddish and squishy like the first photo above. The flesh had the texture and taste that reminded me of a cross between a firm avocado and an unripe mango, mild, slightly sweet, and with only a hint of bay. The second one I tried was a bit greener yet also soft. I barely nibbled it before I spat it out. It had a very, very strong bay flavor. It left a burning tingle in the back of my throat, similar to the effect I get when I eat fresh mangoes - I've already looked it up, CA bays are related to avocados but not mangoes. Hoping to try another ripe bay nut, I ate a third that was somewhere in between. Had I been prudent, I would have simply saved them and waited until I got home to taste them; for the rest of my hike, my throat tingled and every exhale tasted like bay. My stomach was not a happy camper by the time I finished my hike.

Interesting to note the seed of the first ripe one was very dark, whereas the seed of the second green one was a much lighter color. In the third photo I also want to show there are buds on the evergreen CA bay already. And the last picture shows a very large and mature CA bay tree.

ps 02/06/12 - I initially posted the last picture believing the large tree was an oak (Quercus sp.) next to a smaller CA bay. The significance of this is that the CA bay serves as a host to a pathogen that causes Sudden Oak Death, which also affects tanbark oaks (Notholithocarpus densiflorus). For a very informative blog post about SOD, check out Randy at Way Points. I'm always amazed at the things I learn from fellow bloggers. During another hike at Garzas Creek on 01/16/12, I took a second look at the large tree and realized I had been mistaken about its ID. I've still got a lot to learn about trees.

bigleaf maple and CA sycamore ~ 11/19/11 ~ Garland Ranch

bigleaf maple (left) and California sycamore (right)

Both these deciduous trees are native to California and provide lovely autumn colors. They can be quite tall, so it's difficult to compare the shapes of the leaves when they're too high to examine. It's taken me until this hike, when the forest floor is littered, to truly distinguish the leaves. For the longest time, I thought Garland only had one native large-leaved tree, that being the bigleaf maple. I was wrong. Considering the place used to be a ranch, I figured any sycamores I found were non-native. I've corrected past posts to reflect my new understanding, like last November's Garzas Creek habitat post.

bigleaf maple
Acer macrophyllum
Sapindaceae (formerly Aceraceae)

Notice the 5 deep lobes of the leaf? The vertically grooved bark, often covered in moss or lichen, reminds me very much of walnut trees. Other eastern North American counterparts are red maple (Acer rubrum), silver maple (Acer saccharinum), and sugar maple (Acer saccharum). Despite what the USDA PLANTS database shows, the silver maple is not native to CA.

western sycamore / California sycamore
Platanus racemosa
Platanaceae

What originally confused me about the leaves is the CA sycamore's can have 3 or 5 lobes. I can usually recognize sycamore bark by its sickly, puzzle-like look - yep, that's my own highly technical description. Its eastern North American counterpart is American sycamore (Platanus occidentalis).

bigleaf maple

In a previous post from this summer, I showed how big the CA sycamore leaves get, which can be considerably larger than the bigleaf maple. Happy fall!

ps 11/29/11 - I'm glad I don't have to deal with the differences between sycamore maples and field maples like they do over in the UK, The Squirrelbasket and Loose and Leafy.

habitat ~ 11/12/11 ~ Elkhorn Slough - NERR

Elkhorn Slough - National Estuarine Research Reserve entrance
November 12, 2011

First off, let me say that Andy and I had a lovely afternoon walk at Elkhorn on a very overcast day. This slough is one of my top 5 places to enjoy the outdoors in Monterey County. We had planned to go the day before for the holiday, but major rains kept us mostly indoors. I seem to have a rain curse anytime I plan on hiking or camping ahead of time, hence why I'm a bit superstitious and tend not to plan ahead for such things. They raised their entrance fee from $2.50/person to $4.00/person. It's still a small amount to pay for the pleasure.

What's that saying, "Ignorance is bliss"? It wasn't until I blogged about the prolific invasive plant species that I started getting grumpy about our visit. I looked into the history of Elkhorn Slough. In the past 140 years, the place has been built, ditched, diked, dairied, diverted, farmed, channeled, mounded, and is now being utilized as an outdoor laboratory. Then, I started reading about all the research that is going on there. Instead of being encouraged, I got depressed. Out of numerous not-so-fun to report items, DDE was circumstantially linked to a caspian tern colony crash in 1995. When was DDT banned here in the US? 1972! So, 23 years later the stuff is still killing non-target life? I wouldn't be surprised if Monsanto's Roundup ends up being this century's DDT. It's used everywhere, including as a management tool against invasive plants - to be fair, the agricultural runoff into watersheds overshadows any minimal use of herbicide at reserves. However, just because everyone uses it, doesn't mean it's good - think fossil fuels, plastics, cigarettes. Dang, we humans sure can eff things up! How will Elkhorn Slough be in another 140 years?

Oh, I should mention that pretty pink plant is the native red-flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum). I believe it's introduced and tended like a garden plant.

ps 11/23/11 - This post really got me thinking about what exactly are my views on conservation, restoration, gardens, and research in the 21st century, so I've been keeping an eye out for more information. I found Biodiverse Gardens' book review of Rambunctious Gardens interesting.