Shasta Chapter CNPS and Shasta Environmental Alliance co-sponsored a three-mile walk along the Sacramento River Trail in the cool, early morning of May 25. Working off of a plant list, we started identifying common plants along the trail. One now common invasive plant on the trail is the annual moonwort (Lunaria annua), a pretty plant in the mustard family with a round seed pod (silicle) about the size of a 50-cent piece. Redding Parks and Recreation has eliminated a lot of the Japanese honeysuckle on the trail as well as many black locust trees, but they still keep popping up in various places.
Close to the one-mile mark from the parking lot, we headed up a primitive dirt trail that led to the lower portion of the Sunset Heights neighborhood. This short dirt provides easy access to the River Trail for the neighborhood, and even has a concrete bench on it. Here we found many native plants including Bolander’s onion (Allium bolanderi), forked-tooth ookow (Dichelostemma congestum), bird’s-foot fern (Pellaea mucronata), many soap plants, toyon, coffeeberry, buckeye, and an open canopy of blue oaks. Along the River Trail, one can find scouring rush as well as many fern species: maidenhair fern, fragile fern, narrowleaf sword fern, rock fern, bird’s-foot fern, chain fern, and goldback fern. There really is a great diversity of native plants, once you ignore the invasives. ~David Ledger
