Arctostaphylos pumila x tomentosa?
Leaves too small for tomentosa, too hairy for pumila, plant too tall for pumila.
A few scrub oaks growing right off the trail. Quite spiky!
Hip in flower stalked glandular, leaf stipule margins glandular, under Monterey pine in manzanita dominated chaparral.
A young Q. wislizeni probably
The first Q. berberidifolia I've observed in these hills, which are covered in coastal sage brush. There is at least one another Q. berberidifolia I also spotted (of a slightly smaller size) less than 50 meters west of here and further downhill. Both were growing right next to coast live oaks.
EDIT: Found several more growing in eastward facing hills around a five minute walk southeast.
More appropriately Q. kelloggii x parvula shreveii? Still, nice having this taxon choice! I like visiting this tree periodically to see how it's doing. (Looks like a little one underneath it too) First time I've seen several acorns, but all the oaks seem to be having a decent acorn year now. Showing some possible leaf galls and definite stem galls. It's an easy tree to visit- park by the Rapley Ranch Road entrance off Skyline Blvd and hike about 0.3 mile on RR Road and Ridge Trail. Right next to a marked culvert.
Gall or forming acorn? On blue oak. No other acorn buds seen.
Rock Springs Ranch
Maybe a oracle oak or gander oak backcrossed onto its evergreen parent ?
I am on the fence as to whether this is Q. virginiana or virginiana x lobata. It’s definitely strange looking. Might return to monitor acorn development.
Growing out of a fence next to a railway. Clearly not human planted, so consider voting for wild to counteract the data vandals.
Another observation I took of this tree, showing the developed caps: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/193996383
Hypothesized Quercus lobata x virginiana hybrid.
I’m stumped. Never seen anything like it out this way. Is there some blue oak in this? Seems similar to the trees at Wildwood in Thousand Oaks.
Tall tree. 30' or more? 12 DBH trunk at least.
Of course the trunk photos didn’t come out! Sorry.
It was fascinating watching swirling masses of Northern Anchovey from a bridge over the Slough. Large schools were swimming in tandem, opening and closing their gill rakers.
Elegant Terns observation nearby-- they feed and depend on the success of Northern Anchovy: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241369857
"The Elegant Tern’s fates are closely tied to those of its main source of food—the northern anchovy. When anchovies are abundant, the terns have high breeding success, and vice versa when anchovies are scarce. The distribution and abundance of these small fish, in turn, is heavily influenced by oceanographic conditions such as El Niño." https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Elegant_Tern/
Northern Anchovies under the other bridge: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/241695130
Northern Anchovy (Engraulis mordax), a.k.a. California Anchovy, is a marine, ray-finned fish in the Anchovies (Engraulidae) family. It is found in the Pacific Ocean, ranging from Mexico to British Columbia. They have streamlined, spindle-shaped bodies. Anchovies "school" (swim close together in groups). They eat plankton which they filter from the water with their GILL RAKERS.
Northern Anchovey:
"Commercial fishing: As sardine populations declined in the Pacific during the 1940s and 50's, fish packers in America started canning the more abundant local anchovies. Total hauls increased over this time from 960 tons in 1946 to 9,464 tons in 1947 and peaking at almost 43,000 tons in 1953. From 1949 to 1955, they were restricted for all uses but bait fish in California. In 2010, reported American hauls totaled 2,100 metric tons. Most Californian anchovies today are fished for use in animal feed and as bait fish. Recreational fishing: They are taken by anglers for use as bait or for personal consumption." https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/63770-Engraulis-mordax
SEANET Hopkins Marine Station for "Nearshore Plants and Animals of the Monterey Bay" https://seanet.stanford.edu/ (Northern Anchovy is not listed)
Fish Species of California: INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/fish-species-of-california
Irene's Fish (in California, freshwater and saltwater) observations on INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?project_id=44568&ttl=900&place_id=any&verifiable=any&subview=grid&user_id=3188668
Irene's (aparrot1) Profile Page on INaturalist listing Nature Resources (includes list of online references with links) for Plants, Birds, Fungi, Lepidoptera, Arachnids, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine Life, Plant Galls, and more: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3188668
Marine Shale endemic. Flower bud glabrous, but everything else points to E. hypechoides.
Stamens exerted and stigma longer than stamens.
eJepson KeyBase CW filter and limited to David Styer Flora of Ft Ord
Possible hybridization at this locations with L. chamissonis or L. variicolor, tidestromii causing the purple coloration of immature or underutilized flowers.
Much lower-growing than typical L. arboreus.
On Quercus durata durata leaf edge. Host observation here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/234591866
No obvious matches I can see on gallformers:
Associated with a leaf gall, also unknown inducer:
I'm guessing these were made by insects, quite a few on this Garrya elliptica bush.
On/near FONM.
Michael’s or denseflower?
Volunteer
Pretty sure this is Quercus lobata x virginiana which is an unnamed cross-sectional hybrid. Although sect. virentes is a close relative of sect. Quercus and other similar hybrids have been observed. Most famously Quercus x comptoniae.
Other observations of the same tree: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/174290387, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239532263
Another nearby tree with similar features: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/239532042
Photos 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 are of a wild (i.e. not planted) plant in a group of 3 small plants that appear to have grown from seeds that originated from a row of larger planted plants across the road. Photos 6,7,8 are of the planted ones. There's no question in my mind that that this is all the same taxon. All plants had very slender 3-bundled needles much longer than the Pinus radiata, which is the only other likely 3-bundled pine in this area. For scale, my thumbnail is about 16 mm wide.
Pretty sparse in the trichome department for what morphologically looks like QDG. QB x QDG?
Wirelettuce Characteristics (this specimen)
Growth habit: approx 3' tall
Number of Ligules: 13--2nd photo
Phyllaries: Reflexed
Length of the peduncle (between stem and phyllary):
Location: growing in sandy soil near the coast.
Blooming: August
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Wirelettuce (Stephanomeria) References:
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=619
Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell, 2015, p. 55.
Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 60 (only lists S. elata) July-Sept
Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, pp. 21-23.
Monterey County Wildflowers– a photographic guide https://montereywildflowers.com/asteraceae-stephanomeria/
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Wirelettuce (Genus Stephanomeria) Native, annual, leaves usually withered by bloom time in summer/late summer. Fruit is cylindric, each face generally with long, narrow, central groove.
Ligule Count note per INat Tom Chester: "there's some literature from SoCal that suggests that perhaps there's more intra-species variation in Stephanomeria ligule count than the keys might suggest:
https://tchester.org/plants/analysis/stephanomeria/diegensis.html
Central Coast of California (CCo) Wirelettuce species:
Stephanomeria elata. A.k.a. Santa Barbara Wire Lettuce. Corollas have 9-15 bright pink, sometimes overlapping ligules, the largest number of this Genus in Monterey County. Flowers are on short, 3-7 mm peduncles. Outer phyllaries are generally reflexed. Fruits are grooved and roughened and the pappus is wholly plumose (feather-like from top to bottom). Grows in open/sunny places in sandy soils coastal and inland. Peak bloom time: July-Sept. Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=5147 Monterey County Wildflowers, p. 21.
Stephanomeria virgata subsp. pleurocarpa. A.k.a. Wand or Tall Wire Lettuce. Stem: single, long, central, "wand-like." Plant is tall and can be widely branching. Phyllaries appressed. Ligules: 5-6. Peduncles 3-10mm. Ecology: chaparral openings and grassland. Peak bloom time: June-Nov. Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=6227
Stephanomeria virgata ssp. virgata. A.k.a. Rod Wire Lettuce. Stem: single, long, central, "wand-like." Plant is tall and can be widely branching. Phyllaries strongly reflexed. Ligules: 8--9, (occasionally 7). Peduncles 3-10mm. Ecology: Chaparral openings, grassland. Peak bloom time: Jun-Oct. Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=6228
Stephanomeria exigua subsp. carotifera. A.k.a. Small Wire Lettuce. 7-9 ligules, reflexed phyllaries, heads in panicle-like clusters, long peduncle 10-25mm (0.4" -1"), S Lucias, Diablo Range, (lots in So. Cal., no confirmed obs. in Monterey County)
Stephanomeria exigua subsp. coronaria. A.k.a. Small Wire Lettuce. 5-11 ligules, appressed phyllaries, S. Lucias, Diablo Range, (One confirmed obs. in Monterey County)