May 27, 2020

Week 7 Keyed Trees

Tree #1:

  1. – Group One: Monocots
    Group 1: 1’, 2., 3’ – New Zealand Cabbage Palm (Cordyline Australis)

Tree #2:

1’, 2’, 3, 4. – Group Two
Group 2: 1’, 4., 5’ – Italian Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens)

Tree #1 was found in northern, coastal California. Tree #2 was found along my neighborhood street in north SF Bay Area.

Posted on May 27, 2020 01:43 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 2 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 26, 2020

Week 7 Observations

I found all except for the garland daisies at my grandpa's campground. My grandpa owns Ocean Cove Campground north of the city Jenner where I spent my Memorial Day weekend. His campground is right on the cliffs of Northern California backed by a woodland forest. These specific plants were found growing naturally throughout the campground and around his house and cabins. The climate there is pretty mediterranean and is warm throughout the day with an ocean breeze and cools of immensely in the night. I found the garland daisies in a new open spot where I live. I found these growing in a wildflower patch near the bay.

Posted on May 26, 2020 08:07 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 20, 2020

Week 7 Keyed Trees

Tree 1:
1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8’, 9’, 13. – group 8
8: 1, 2 – Bottlebrushes (Callistemon spp.)

Tree 2:
1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8’, 9’, 13’, 14’, 15’. – group 11
11: 1’, 2, 3’, 4’, 5. Sawleaf Zelkova

Found in Mustang Village Apartment Complex, San Luis Obispo.

Posted on May 20, 2020 05:04 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 2 observations | 1 comment | Leave a comment

May 12, 2020

Week 5 Keyed Trees

Using the Key Guide in "A Californian's Guide to the Trees Among US" by Matt Ritter, I was able to identify these two trees found in my neighborhood. These are the steps I took that brought me to my conclusions:

Tree #1:

1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8. – Group 7: Trees with simple, opposite or whorled leaves.
7: 1’, 2, 3. Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)

Tree #2:

1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8. – Group 7: Trees with simple, opposite or whorled leaves.
7: 1’, 2’, 5’, 7’, 9. Eucalypts, Gum trees (Eucalyptus spp.)

Posted on May 12, 2020 01:28 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 2 observations | 1 comment | Leave a comment

Week 5 Natural Area

All of these plants were found on a pathway in my new selected natural area. This area is about half a mile past my previous natural area, but has a larger number of wild plants. Most of the plants I found and identified are considered weeds and are more broadly categorized as being mainly grass, thistles and ferns. The area in which I found these is a paved path way that begins from one park to another. The first park being my first natural area. The pathway then goes through an area shaded by a number of tall redwood trees and continues on through a court and then finally to the next park. At this second park, there is a large grassy, flat area in which is surrounded by many of the plants from this observation like the wild oats and thistles. The rest were found on the path leading between the two parks.

Posted on May 12, 2020 12:53 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

May 3, 2020

5 non-cultivated plants

I am almost certain about the cheatgrass, late cotoneaster, common toadflax and trip convolvuleae, however I am unsure about my 5th observation. It is a common shrub in the park where I am collecting my findings. It has needle-like leaves similar to a rosemary bush and is a shrub. However, I know it is not rosemary because it doesn't have the rosemary smell or the flowers that rosemary produces. The flowers on this shrub are small and purple.

I found these plants in Jack London Park, 0.3 miles from my house. The main pathway I took to find these plants is really the only cemented path in the park, so if someone wanted to find the same plants they would just need to look closely around them as they walked the path. The landscape characteristics of the park are relatively flat. There is a park with tan bark, a paved basketball cart and two small baseball fields. The greenery surrounding these things are mostly planted and planned but there is a lot of vegetation that is wildly growing. There are a lot of shrubs, trees and grasses but hardly any wildflowers. The nearest body of water is a small pond about 0.3 miles away.

Posted on May 3, 2020 09:47 PM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

Two Keyed Trees

Tree #1:

1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8 – Group 7
7 - 1’ ,2’ ,5’ ,7 ,8’ – Maples (Acer spp.)

Tree #2:

1’, 2’, 3’, 5’, 8 – Group 7: Trees with simple, opposite, or whorled leaves
7 – 1’, 2’, 5’, 7’, 9’, 10’, 12’, 13’, 15 - Dogwoods (Cornus spp.)

Posted on May 3, 2020 09:44 PM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 2 observations | 1 comment | Leave a comment

April 27, 2020

5 Trees from Jack London Park

I collected observations of these 5 trees from Jack London Park 0.3 miles from my house. I keyed each of these trees myself and identified them as so. Hopefully I did it right!! Each tree is very different although all in very close proximity.

Posted on April 27, 2020 01:16 AM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

April 17, 2020

Street Tree Project

If I had to pick one tree to use the leaves as toilet paper from the 5 observations I made, I would have to go with the tree that I found on my street with the white flowers. I am not quite sure what type of tree it is, but it has pretty good size round and smooth leaves. Yes, I really enjoyed this project because I went up and down my street with a new set of eyes and noticed so many more beautiful trees and shrubs. One pro of planting non native trees is that they are beautiful and add beauty to a neighborhood. One con is that they may non grow as well or last as long as they would in their native habitat.

Posted on April 17, 2020 07:16 PM by peytonvpederson peytonvpederson | 5 observations | 0 comments | Leave a comment

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