On this field trip, we walked through a maze of short trails in the riparian area behind Boulder Creek Elementary School, Redding. Our friendly group of 11 people had to learn plants the hard way as few plants were in bloom.
We started with the easy plants: valley oak, interior live oak, oracle oak, redbud, and gray pine. From there, we found a white-leaved manzanita (Arctostaphylos viscida) and a common manzanita (Arctostaphylos manzanita) in bloom. These are in the Heath Family, Ericaceae. As the flowers were already pollinated and fertilized, it was easy to identify ovary, style, and stigma when we pulled the united flower petal off.
This area has two willows, the arroyo willow and the red willow. We found a female arroyo willow in bloom and, using a magnifying glass, we were able to see the female ovary and the stigma, which are the only flower parts present on a female willow flower. They grow in a catkin and are easy to identify; arroyo willows are usually the first willows to bloom, their flowers maturing before or along with the emerging leaves. They also have a fat, arched bud. The catkins have nectaries on them to attract insects for pollination. Some willows are both insect and wind pollinated, but the arroyo willow is only insect pollinated.
Photo taken February 16, 2025, by Brigitte Robertson.
Most participants were familiar with the other plants that we identified: mugwort, gumweed, buckbrush, chaparral honeysuckle, California pipevine, California poppy, California rose, coffeeberry, Fremont’s cottonwood, and leafless Oregon ash. None of these were in bloom except for the pipevine.
This was an easy, level walk meant to give participants a little deeper understanding of plants beyond simple identification. A brief explanation of photosynthesis and water movement was provided to round out participants’ knowledge. For instance, we talked about the thousands of pores (i.e., stomata) that can be found on the lower part of the leaves of most plants, and how these let carbon dioxide in, and water vapor and oxygen out—a necessary part of photosynthesis and water transportation in plants. ~David Ledger
