SHIVELA TRAIL, SANTA ROSA PLATEAU
APRIL 2011
PAGE ONE
Photographs by Michael Charters




Inasmuch as I have not posted any galleries online so far tbis year, I took a break from my "sabbatical" and drove down to the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Reserve in Murrieta to photograph a species I had never seen before, Ranunculus hebecarpus. Of its common names, I like delicate buttercup the best. Its Latin specific epithet means "pubescent-fruited," from the Greek 'hebe' meaning "youth, puberty, pubescence," and it certainly is that. This annual species is described as having 0-3(5) petals and perhaps if I had been there sooner, I would have found some with more petals, but most of the flowers I saw were already in fruit, and since I had forgotten my hand lens it was really difficult to see the petals with the naked eye on those that were flowering. This is a tiny plant with petals 1-2 mm long, and I was lucky to see a few of them. The stem and leaves are soft-hairy, and the fruits have a short straight or curved beak. The picture of the fruits below next to a penny gives some idea of the diminutive nature of this plant, and I can see how it would be very easy to pass by it without noticing it. Although I was only there for a short time, I took a few other pictures as well. The Shivela Trail is in the multi-use area on the opposite side of the road from the main Reserve. The symbol ^ next to the common name indicates a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip, and as always an asterisk indicates a non-native species.


 
 
Delicate buttercup ^
Ranunculus hebecarpus
Ranunculaceae
 
 
   



 
Western poison oak
Toxicodendron diversilobum
Anacardiaceae
 
Red maids
Calandrinia ciliata
Montiaceae


   
Few-leaved checkerbloom
Sidalcea sparsifolia
Malvaceae


 
California poppy
Eschscholzia californica
Papaveraceae



 
Blue dicks
Dichelostemma capitatum ssp. capitatum
Themidaceae

 
 
Windmill pink *
Silene gallica
Caryophyllaceae
 
 
Purple owl's clover
Castilleja exserta ssp. exserta
Scrophulariaceae
 


 
Johnny-jump-up
Viola pedunculata
Violaceae
 
Cobweb thistle
Cirsium occidentale var. occidentale
Asteraceae
 


       
   
Scarlet pimpernel *
Anagallis arvensis
Myrsinaceae
   
    Baby blue eyes
Nemophila menziesii var. menziesii
Boraginaceae


 
Purple clarkia
Clarkia purpurea ssp. quadrivulnera
Onagraceae
 
Miniature lupine
Lupinus bicolor
Fabaceae
 


 
 
Pomona locoweed
Astragalus pomonensis
Fabaceae
 
 



PHOTO GALLERIES
INDEX
CALFLORA.NET PAGE TWO
OF TWO
CALIFORNIA PLANT NAMES: LATIN AND GREEK MEANINGS AND DERIVATIONS

Copyright © 2011 by Michael L. Charters.
The photographs contained on these web pages may not be reproduced without the express consent of the author.
Comments and/or questions may be addressed to: mmlcharters[at]gmail.com.