Wildflower Mount Diablo Spring Gold, Bladder Parsnip, Common Lomatium Scientific Name: Lomatium utriculatum Family: Apiaceae (Parsley-Carrot Family) Blooms: Feb - May Color: Yellow-Orange Perennial herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Kevin Hintsa

Wildflower Mount Diablo Q-tips Scientific Name: Micropus californicus Family: Asteraceae (Sunflower Family) Blooms: March Color: White Annual herb Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald

Wildflower Mount Diablo Candy Stripe, Claytonia Scientific Name: Claytonia gypsophiloides Family: Montiaceae (Spring Beauty Family) Blooms: Mar - May Color: Red-Pink Annual herb Native, endemic to California Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Redwood Forest Excerpted from MDIA's book Plants of the East Bay Parks by Glenn Keator, Ph. D. Plant Communities of Mount Diablo State Park January 1, 1999 Redwood National Forest, Humboldt County Redwood forests are represented in our area by isolated fragments found in the deepest, most protected canyon bottoms with reach of summer fogs. Although historically we know that other stands of redwoods once clothed coast-facing slopes in Oakland and Berkeley hills, redwood forest was never a major plant community in this part of California. Redwoods are remarkable trees that extend back in time to the beginnings of the cone-bearing trees called conifers. Once, great forests of various kinds of redwoods covered large tracts in North America, Europe, and Asia. Now they exist only in protected pockets as relics from a time when the climate was more uniformly wet and had moderate year-round temperatures. The present distribution of coast redwood -- canyon bottoms and slopes in the fog belt of coastal central and northern California -- reminds us of how these trees are prevented from growing elsewhere. To the north, winters become too cold; to the south, summers are too hot and winters have too little rain; to the west, heavy salt-laden winds thwart growth next to the ocean; and to the east, summers lack fog and are too hot. Redwoods are also restricted from climbing higher than two- to three- thousand feet, owing to cold winter temperatures. Redwoods -- if allowed to grow unhindered for hundreds of years -- exclude other trees by their tall, needle-covered branches that effectively shade out everything else. Where virgin redwood forest grows unimpeded, few smaller trees or shrubs live happily under the deep shade that their branches create. Yet redwood forest habitat is full of berry-producing shrubs. These favor forest edges and streamsides, especially in second-growth forests, where immature trees have not completed their overshadowing canopies. In the deep shade of mature redwood forests live several smaller, herbaceous plants, such as various ferns, and sword fern (Polystichum munitum ) in particular. Also in this shade are redwood sorrel (a ground-cover-forming oxalis); various violets; inside-out flower; various members of the lily family (such as trillium; false Solomon's seal, fetid adder's tongue and bead lily); wild ginger; and several saxifrages (sugar scoops, fringe-cups, piggyback plant). All must do with short, periodic bursts of sunlight, and all take advantage of their locales by vegetative means of increasing their territory. Many of these forest denizens are limited in abundance in areas with minimal winter rainfall or only periodic summer fogs; to see the redwood forest understory at its best, journey to Humboldt and Del Norte counties in the northwestern extreme of our state. Two fascinating aspects of redwood forest plants include the abundance of fleshy-fruited, berry-producing shrubs along streams, where birds depend on them for food and so help in their dispersal; and the many ant-dispersed seeds in the shade of mature redwoods. Ant-dispersed seeds have easily-seen white elaisomes (oil bodies) appended to the main seed body. Ants are attracted by them, carry the seeds away, eat the elaiosomes, and discard the main seed with its embryo. Unrelated plants -- trillium, fetid adder's tongue, western bleeding heart, smooth yellow violet and inside-out-flower -- have hit upon this strategy as the best bet for moving their seeds. Because deep shade creates cool, moist conditions most of the year, redwood-forest-floor plants have broad, water-wasteful leaves with maximum surface area t trap as much of the sun's light energy as possible. Trail plant (Adenocaulon bicolor ), western coltsfoot (Petasites palmatus ), and redwood sorrel all show thin, broad leaves that wilt easily in strong summer sun, yet that manage to remain turgid and healthy in the refreshing shade of forest aisles. Many plants here even have highly divided, fernlike leaves for efficient trapping of light energy; western bleeding heart, inside-out-flower, and baneberry are examples. Despite the fact that redwoods create a very special niche for low-growing herbaceous plants -- cool, moist, acid soils -- these plants are seldom exclusive to redwood forests. Many other coastal forests provide the same cool, moist conditions. So although closed-cone ping and Douglas fir forests, for example, are missing from our area, they are home to the same array of plants. Fire and flooding have helped to maintain redwood forests where otherwise redwoods might be outcompeted by other kinds of trees. Redwood bark resists burning, since it lacks pitch and sap; mature trees also recover their fire wounds efficiently. Flooding may uproot old redwoods, but seeds are adapted to germinate in litter-free, sun drenched soils such as those left behind after floods. And trees not uprooted by floods may send roots upward toward the surface or build a whole new set of roots near the surface even when the trunk and roots have been deeply buried under silt. Redwoods are also efficient at replacing themselves when they're burned to the ground or, in the case of human intervention, at growing after being felled by logging. Dormant buds at the base of each tree are the secret; the grow into stump sprouts every year but are inhibited from growing more than a few feet tall by hormones produced by the top crown of the parent trunk. Once that source of hormones has been eliminated, the stump sprouts are free to grow, and grow they do. Circles of these sprouts become rings of mature trees in relatively short time. This ability to regrow is what has saved many now-protected redwood forests that have been logged one or more times. Download Common Ferns of Mitchell Canyon (pdf) Prairie Creek Redwoods Ferns of Mitchell Canyon BACK TO LIST

Blooming wildflowers Mount Diablo native plants Blooming Native Plants Download list Prev 1 2 3 1 ... 1 2 3 ... 3 Next Alkali Heliotrope, Seaside Heliotrope Heliotropium curassavicum var. oculatum American Brooklime Veronica americana California Swamp Thistle Cirsium douglasii Purple Sanicle Sanicula bipinnatifida Tall Stephanomeria, Rod Wirelettuce Stephanomeria virgata ssp. pleurocarpa Vinegar Weed Trichostema lanceolatum Western Lupine Lupinus formosus California Fuchsia, Hummingbird Fuchsia, Zauschneria Epilobium canum California Milkweed Asclepias californica California Rose Rosa californica Clammy Clover Trifolium obtusiflorum Dense Flowered Willowherb, Dense boisduvalia, Dense flowered boisduvalia, Dense flowered spike primrose Epilobium densiflorium Fringed Willowherb, Northern willow herb, Slender willow herb Epilobium ciliatum Little Springbeauty Claytonia exigua ssp exigua Muehlenburgers Centaury Zeltnera muehlenbergii Narrow Leaf Milkweed Asclepias fascicularis Panicled Willowherb, Summer Cottonweed Epilobium brachycarpum Ruby Chalice Clarkia Clarkia rubicunda Spanish Clover, Spanish Lotus Acmispon americanus var. americanus Van Houtte's Columbine, Stream Columbine Aquilegia eximia Broad-leaf Aster, Roughleaf Aster Eurybia radulina California Ash, Foothill Ash Fraxinus dipetala Canyon Dodder Cuscuta subinclusa Common Eucrypta Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia var. chrysanthemifolia Golden-carpet Buckwheat, Wicker Buckwheat Eriogonum luteolum luteolum Prev 1 2 3 1 ... 1 2 3 ... 3 Next Blooming Non-Native Jump to Blooming (all) Wildflower Guide Up

Wildflower Mount Diablo Hop Clover Scientific Name: trifolia campestre Family: Fabaceae (Pea Family) Blooms: Apr-Jun Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Introduced Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants

Monarch Danaus plexippus Nymphalidae Brushfoots Flies March to December Host Plant Milkweed Nectar Plant California buckeye, Bull thistle Daniel Fitzgerald Kevin Hinsta Underwing

Wildflower Mount Diablo Turkey Tangle Frogfruit Scientific Name: Phyla nodiflora Family: Verbenaceae Blooms: May-Jun Color: White Perennial herb Native There is also a blue-purple form. Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Steven Beatty Steven Beatty

Wildflower Mount Diablo Clay Mariposa Lily Scientific Name: Calochortus argillosus Family: Liliaceae (Lily Family) Blooms: May - Jul Color: White Perennial herb (bulb) Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Mike Woodring

Wildflower Mount Diablo Blue Witch, Nightshade Scientific Name: Solanum umbelliferum Family: Solanaceae (Nightshade Family) Blooms: Mar - Jun Color: Blue-Purple Shrub Native Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Kevin Hintsa

Wildflower Mount Diablo Yellow Unicorn Plant Scientific Name: Ibicella lutea Family: Martyniaceae Blooms: Jul-Aug Color: Yellow-Orange Annual herb Introduced Jump to Blooming Now Blue / Purple Red / Pink White Yellow / Orange Invasive Plants Daniel Fitzgerald Daniel Fitzgerald

Mary Bowerman Trail by J. Frank Valle-Riestra Reproduced from Mountain News Spring/Summer 2014 May 1, 2014 Mike Woodring In 2024 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association. One of the first major projects undertaken by the infant association was a survey of the park’s trails network. Small groups of dedicated hiker-environmentalists spread out over the far reaches of the park as it was in the mid-’70s, assessing the existing trails and recommending new trails. One recommendation was construction of what is now known as the Mary Bowerman Trail. The summit of the main peak was a primary destination of the visiting public, but no trails were there for visitors to experience close contact with the mountain’s exceptional natural environment. The first step was to lay out a possible route. Surveys of the topography revealed that a logical circuit of the summit region could be visualized with no anticipated damage to plant life and geological formations. The circuit was to be fairly level, along a contour line, with an overall distance of about a mile. Full of enthusiasm, our little band of interpreters marked the route with wooden stakes with red ribbons. We came back a few days later to find almost all of the stakes gone! So back we went and repeated our layout. A couple of days later, the same thing! And then it dawned on us. This was not the work of vandals, it was the work of animals (raccoons? skunks?) resenting this intrusion into their homeland. This was one of many delays; some, as expected, came as a result of environmental reviews by the Department of Parks and Recreation in Sacramento. Finally, with preliminary approval, Park Ranger Dick VanEtta single-handedly constructed a primitive path along the proposed circuit, in just a few days. But all in vain. For it was August of 1977, and soon after VanEtta’s efforts, lightning struck on Twin Peaks, and the resulting fire roared upward toward the summit. The summit buildings were saved, but the fire destroyed the plants on the north-facing slopes below, as well as vestiges of the new trail. The Bay Area was stunned by the damage to the park, and money poured in to help regeneration, along with suggestions which simply proved that many kind-hearted people did not understand that post-fire regeneration was best left to nature. Proposals such as aerial scattering of grass seeds, planting of redwood groves, even introducing palm trees were mercifully rejected. But the money was put to good use. The decision was made to build the trail as originally envisioned, through the burnt area, and to dedicate the trail to fire interpretation. After almost five years of planning, a spectacular trail, The Fire Interpretive Trail, was completed in 1982 by a wonderful group of young people from the California Conservation Corps, under the direction of Carlos Espinoza, a dynamo in a wheelchair. A grand trail dedication was held at the trailhead, with lots of visiting celebrities, fluttering flags, and politicians. William Penn Mott Jr., then superintendent of California State Parks, spoke, as did Senator John Nejedly and Mary Leo Bowerman, celebrated botanizer of Mount Diablo. Dr. Bowerman was a founding member of MDIA and co-founder of Save Mount Diablo, our sister organization. Dr. Bowerman passed away in 2005 at the age of 97; The Fire Interpretive Trail was renamed in her honor. Following extensive incineration during the recent Morgan Fire, the trail continues to serve as a fire interpretive trail, to allow the public to monitor post-fire recovery of the plant communities over the coming years. Ironically, Dr. Bowerman did not originally favor a trail through the area. She was afraid, with some justification, that the construction effort and large visitor volume would impact the fragile plant life. Fortunately, rare and sensitive plants such as Bitterroot (Lewisia Redidiva) have fared well. The trail has been developed as a nature trail, and numbered posts refer to some highlights listed in a brochure available in a box at the trailhead. The 0.7-mile loop is no great challenge to the dedicated hiker, but with the help of the trail brochure, it offers an unusual range of discoveries. There is actually much more to see than the described features at the numbered posts, and close observation rewards you with some surprises. For instance, upon reaching the wooden platform called “The Bridge”, you might notice in the lower right corner a textbook example of a geological nonconformity. This is a phenomenon of two different rock types (in this case, shale and greenstone) being joined together along a seam. This kind of sudden change implies that the two rock types, formed separately perhaps millions of years apart, were squeezed and rubbed together by displacement forces, such as the upward thrust of the mountain’s piercement structure. On the trail’s southern rocky section, look for evidence of “slickensides”, highly polished surfaces formed by friction between rock masses moving relative to one another. During the spring months, be on the lookout for some unusual wildflowers. Just beyond The Bridge, at the point where the trail turns sharply toward the east, you pass a cherty scree slope on your right. Close inspection of the loose rocks will reveal the presence of small plants struggling to come to the surface, in the shape of small green spiders about the size of a tarantula. These are examples of Bitterroot, and if you are lucky, you will be there to welcome the spectacular white blooms. Other flowers worthy of attention: Brewer’s Rock Cress, seemingly growing out of the rock, in greenstone crevices in the cliff behind The Bridge. Astounding fields of pink Claytonia smothering an expanse of broken chert just before you reach the short side trail to Devil’s Pulpit. The side trail is often graced in June with Mariposa Lilies, and miniature Penstemon fight to survive at the base of the Devil’s Pulpit monolith, a favorite climbing rock. Ah, there are so many wonderful things to see on this trail, which, along with MDIA, has now been with us some fifty years. After parking your car at the lower summit parking lot, walk up a few steps to the trailhead, at the bottom of the steep one-way road leading to the summit. A clockwise circuit is recommended; you will finish your hike just across the road from the trailhead. Enjoy and celebrate! Mary Bowerman Interpretive Trail Guide Check out more Spring Wildflower Hikes: Globe Lily Trail Springtime in North Peak Black Point Trail Mary Bowerman Trail Map by Kevin Hintsa Mary Bowerman Trail Fire Recovery BACK TO LIST