Water Parsely

Let us leave redwoods for a little while and go walk in the marshes. Marshes usually have a very rich habitat with fertile soil so many plants really strive in this environment. One plant that is fairly common there is water parsley. Here is the picture of this plant growing among other plants:

Water parsley

In the above picture notice poison hemlock growing north of horsetail plants. Be careful to identify these plants correctly. Hemlock has lacy leaves, smooth stems and purple blotches on the stem. Parsley leaves are not so lacy.

Here is the picture of water parsley in bloom. Notice that parsley usually blooms when exposed to the sun. From my observations species in the shade seldom if ever have blooms.

 Water parsley bloom

Here is a nice branch of water parsley:

Water parsley composite leaf

Water parsley is reputed edible. I have tried it myself, it has kind of a mustard taste (that is mustard leaves, not the condiment). Again, be careful to identify it correctly though as parsley, hemlock, wild carrot and angelica have family resemblance (they all belong to Umbelliferae family, also known as Apiaceae or carrot family).

Here is another patch, mainly parsley than other plants:

 Water parsley at Butcher's Slough

Incidentally water parsley also grows in the redwood forest but it is more typical in the marshes. I happen to have a picture of parsley growing in the redwood forest:

More water parsley

Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot is another popular plant that grows in the redwood forest. It seems to like thimbleberries, as I saw lots of coltsfoot plants under thimbleberry bushes. The leaves even look a little similar but they are different enough to tell that they are two different plants.

 Coltsfoot

Coltsfoot has very big leaves, deeply lobed. The flowers are small and white and form a head with multiple flowers. It belongs to aster family (Asteraceae).

Figwort

I managed to identify another plant. It first attracted my attention in Escondido where it grew sporadically. Well, it turns out it is spread all over, including redwood forests. I found several plants in the nearest forest. The plant is called figwort.

Figwort is the plant that reminds me of epazote, especially the leaves (after all, my blog is called Leaves of Plants). See my first entry for this blog The Mystery of Epazote. Took me awhile to identify it but here it is. I give you... figwort.

Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) in Escondido, CA

Apparently there are several varieties of figwort. The peculiar characteristic is symmetrical leaves alternating on stem. The leaves are serrated, though the degree of serration varies among the species. It produces tiny red flowers. Here is another picture:

 Figwort

Figwort is a medicinal plant. It belongs to figwort family (Scrophulariaceae). One feature that allows you to easily identify this plant is its rather unpleasant odor. That is why, one of the names it is known by is Stinking Christopher.

And here is the picture of figwort in the redwood forest:

Figwort plants among redwood sorrel

Another picture of figwort flowers

Figwort flowers

Notice that figwort is also looks similar to nettle.

Wood nettle

Nettle will sting you but figwort won't. Nettle has kind of a square stem. These plants have very different flowers.The flowers of nettle are tiny and hang in clusters or tassels. They are wind pollinated. Figwort is pollinated by bees.

False Lily-of-the-Valley

False lily-of-the-valley (Maianthemum dilatatum) is another plant that grows in abundance in the redwood forest and some other areas. It seems to like shade. Sometimes it covers the ground like a thick green carpet. It seems to grow in groups, like sorrel: I have not seen any isolated plant. This lily has beautiful shiny rounded leaves with a distinctive corner. In fact, the leaves look a lot like wild ginger. Unfortunately as for the moment of this writing I was not able to find any wild ginger and photograph it, but when I do, be assured that I will post a picture as soon as I find one, as I have read that wild ginger grows in the redwood forest. The leaves of ginger are not shiny though but matte.

So this is the carpet that false lily-of-the-valley forms on the forest floor:

False lily-of-the-valley

And here's a close-up of the plants. The plant just started to bloom so I don't have a picture of the flowers yet.

False lily-of-the-valley (close-up)

False lily-of-the-valley used to belong to lily family (Liliaceae). It does not look much like (real) lily-of-the-valley, though there is some similarities in leaves. The flowers are totally different. However phylogenetic research moved the plant to the Asparagus family (Asparagaceae).

Candy Flower

So now I am going to show you another resident plant that is often found in the redwood forest. The flower of that plant looks amazingly similar to redwood sorrel's and you have to look very close to tell the difference.

The plant is called candy flower. Like sorrel it has 5 petals, white in color but with deep purple veins. If you look close, you'll notice that candy flower's petals are more narrow and are cleft at the outside edge. The leaves of these two plants are also quite different, in fact, leaves are enough to tell them apart. Candy flower has lily-like round double leaves wrapped around the stem.

Candy flower among redwood sorrels

Yes, to add to the confusion, they also grow in the same patch, like in the picture above.

And here's the picture of redwood sorrel again, so you can see the difference:

Redwood sorrel

Notice the sorrel has more rounded leaves. In fact, they belong to different plant families. Redwood sorrel (oxalis oregana) belongs to sorrel family or Oxalidaceae. Candy flower (claytonia sibirica) belongs to  Portulacaceae or purslane family. In fact, one of the names for it is pink purslane.

Redwood Sorrel

Now I am going to show you some typical plants that grow in the redwood forest. We live fairly close to several of these forests, including the famous Avenue of the Giant - the oldest redwood grove on the planet. Lots of trees have been logged of a long time ago but fortunately what we have left is a National Park so it's protected from further logging.

 A path through the redwood forest

Redwood forest is a peculiar environment. They like cool (but not cold) damp climate with high moisture in the air. They like fog. They don't like any other trees: seldom you see some other tree species besides redwoods. As a result, there are not that many plant species that are found in the redwood forest. We shall make an attempt to identify as many as we can.

So we'll start with redwood sorrel (oxalis oregana), the most abundant plant on the forest floor. The leaves look very similar to oxalis or yellow wood sorrel that grows both in Southern California and in the north. Here is the picture of redwood sorrel meadow:

Redwood sorrel (oxalis oregana)

The leaves close when exposed to sunlight and open again when in the shade. The movement only takes a few minutes.

 Closed leaves of redwood sorrel. Notice the bright sunlight.

And here is the picture of redwood sorrel close-up with a flower:

Blooming redwood sorrel

And here is an extreme close-up for sorrel flower. I managed to get a pretty good shot .

Redwood sorrel flower close-up

It has small flower, white in colour but covered with purple veins so it looks pinkish. The leaves grow in triplets and fold down in the sun to preserve moisture. The plant really loves shade and moist areas as I don't remember seeing it in sunny patches though it can tolerate some sunshine.

Here is the picture of oxalis or yellow wood sorrel. As you can see, the leaves are quite similar.

 Oxalis stricta or yellow wood sorrel 

Update. I found another oxalis plant right in town on somebody's lawn. The leaves and flowers are definitely that of oxalis, only this time the flowers are pink. They seem to be oddly out of place.

 Pink sorrel (oxalis articulata)

There is another plant that grows in redwood forest with a flower that looks stunningly similar to redwood sorrel. Just the flower, the leaves look quite different. Stay tuned for the next post to find out what it is.

Mugwort

Mugwort, also known as artemisia, is an interesting plant. It is known mainly for its medicinal purposes. It grows wild pretty much everywhere. The leaves smell really good when crushed.

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Note that there are several varieties of Artemisia genus. The most common are Artemisia californica (coastal sagebrush) and this Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort).