Phenology Exercise
On Sunday Feb. 10th, Professor Loarie led a field expedition in Strawberry Canyon. While I have traversed the fire trails countless times over the years I have never closely observed the diversity of vegetation in this mixed coastal forest eco-region.
I made two observations of phenological significance.
The first is of the flowered rubus parviflorus (thimbleberry). This plant has soft leaves and a delicate white single flower a the top of the stalk. "The flowers are 2 to 6 centimeters (0.79 to 2.4 in) in diameter, with five white petals and numerous pale yellow stamens" (Wikipedia). There were no berries present.
I also observed a deciduous willow that has small clusters of budding leaves that almost look fuzzy. This grew by a river on the North side of the canyon and is part of the genus salix. I'm not sure what species it is.
Signing off,
Elliot