Reminiscing

  

A commenter on last night's post mentioned Cazadero, and that made me reminisce about visits to The Cedars.  Sadly, I haven't been there since 2019, but I posted about several visits back in 2015, 2016, and 2019.  So if you're interested in learning more or reviewing those photos, check out these posts:

Among the rocks (25 April 2015)
Warming up (26 April 2015)
Slippers and streams (28 April 2015)
Checkers and streaks (29 April 2015)
A hardy Sargent (30 April 2015)
Songs of The Cedars (1 May 2015)

Greenish sheen (8 April 2016)

Jewels, streaks, petals, and rocks (11 May 2019)
Wavy margins (12 May 2019)
Land of contrasts (14 May 2019)
In the sun and the shade (15 May 2019)
Stellate (17 May 2019)
Western beauty (19 May 2019)

Western beauty

 

Western Azalea (Rhododendron occidentale) photographed at The Cedars on 11 May 2019.

To learn more about this beautiful flowering shrub, see "Western Azalea: Beauty and Fragrance" by Roger Raiche at the Pacific Horticulture Society's website.

Stellate

I haven't shown a mystery close-up in a while.  Can you guess what this is?  (The answer is revealed below.)

 

Michelle noticed these stellate (star-like) hairs.

Here's a zoomed out view which will help identify the type of organism this is:

 

The dense stellate hairs make this flowering shrub look fuzzy.  The first photo was a close-up of the surface of a flower petal.  Below you can also see the stellate hairs on the leaves and stems. (Note that these hairs can be irritating to human skin and eyes.)

 

And here's an open flower:

 

Meet California Flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum)!  It's a native evergreen shrub that tends to grow in sandy washes near seasonal creeks or on well-drained slopes.  I'm not that familiar with this species, but it appears to be uncommon in Sonoma County.  Photographed in The Cedars on 11 May 2019.

 

In the sun and the shade

So many interesting pictures from The Cedars, it's been hard to choose which to show!  Here's another view of a creek surrounded by the dry, rocky landscape:

 

And Sagebrush Lizards (Sceloporus graciosus) in the sun (Check out those toes!):

 

 

And back to the water, with some columbine, too:

 

More to come! 

Land of contrasts

  

The Cedars (near Cazadero) is a land of contrasts — extremely dry and rocky cliffs along with incredibly clear creeks and pools:

 

Below are examples of two orchids that grow along the stream banks.

California Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium californicum):

 

 

The amazing leaves of Purple-leaf Stream Orchids (Epipactis gigantea f. rubrifolia):

 

 

I'm so glad so many people have worked so hard to protect this beautiful landscape.

Wavy margins

I've run out of time tonight, but here are two close-ups of Hoffman's Bristly Jewelflower (Streptanthus glandulosus ssp. hoffmanii) photographed on serpentine outcrops at The Cedars yesterday:

 

 

P.S.  I was wondering about the name "Streptanthus."  According to The Jepson Manual it means "twisted flower"— after the wavy margins of the petals (visible in these photos).

Jewels, streaks, petals, and rocks

I felt lucky to join a LandPaths' hike to The Cedars (near Cazadero) today (11 May 2019).  Lots of wonderful scenery and observations...and many photos to sort through.  Here's a preview — just a few pictures that caught my eye on the first time through the photos.

 

Hoffman's Jewelflower (Streptanthus glandulosus ssp. hoffmanii)

 

Muir's Hairstreak (Callophrys muiri)

 

Black Petaltail (Tanypteryx hageni)

 

Rock Wren (Salpinctes obsoletus) — a distant photo, but this is my first Rock Wren photo from Sonoma County.  It was singing at the top of an open rocky ridge.

P.S.  I first went to The Cedars in April 2015.  If you'd like to review some of those photos, you can start with the post called "Among the rocks" on 25 April 2015 and continue forward until 1 May 2015.

 

Songs of The Cedars

We'll wrap up The Cedars Series with a few miscellaneous shots:

 

An ultrabasic spring (pH > 11) where calcium carbonate is a byproduct of serpentinization.  [Serpentinization as defined by Roger Raiche = "a process where igneous ultramafic mantle rock (peridotite) is metamorphosed into secondary serpentine minerals.]

A water strider (and its more obvious shadow) on the surface of the pool downstream from the spring:

 

Mineral Falls (~20-feet high):

 

At the top of the falls, I couldn't help exclaiming, "What sedge is that?" upon encountering this showy inflorescence:

 

When David answered that it was Cotton Grass, I smiled, and thought to myself, "Of course."  I recognized the genus from seeing it in New England and Canadian bogs, but hadn't seen it yet in California.  Be forewarned: the first half of the common name is accurate (it does look like cotton), but the second half is misleading, i.e., it's not a grass.  Perhaps it should be called Cotton Sedge?  [This is Calliscirpus criniger, formerly Eriophorum criniger.]

And one more image from The Cedars, although I wish I had an audio recording to share.  Some of you know how much I appreciate listening to the sounds of landscapes.  While listening to The Cedars, the sounds I will remember most will include the piercing scream of a Peregrine Falcon, the distant call of a raven...and the most common sounds — running water, sometimes close, sometimes far, running over rocks...and singing Black-throated Gray Warblers (Setophaga nigrescens).  I like thinking about their songs carrying across that open landscape, connecting the stands of cypress trees on the slopes and in the ravines.

 

A hardy Sargent

 

So I can't talk about "The Cedars" without highlighting the tree for which the area has been named.

It was so much fun to spend some time with Sargent Cypress (Hesperocyparis sargentii).  I was impressed with its ability to grow in such harsh conditions.

 

I also appreciated this insight into its habitat: "Sargent Cypress often grows near redwood in the more mesic bottoms of ravines or on open slopes of the inner Coast Range where fog is nearly continuous."

Recently, I was trying to describe to some friends how much I liked seeing the Sargent Cypress bark.  Although it's not in the same genus, somehow it reminded me of the bark of Atlantic White Cedar from the East Coast.  I hadn't realized how much I missed seeing those long, fibrous furrows and the patterns they make as they wrap around the trunk.

 

Sargent Cypress has a limited geographic distribution — from southern Oregon to Santa Barbara County.  If you want to see some locally and can't get to The Cedars, click here for other locations in Sonoma County.

I was curious how Sargent Cypress got its name.  It took me a little while, but eventually I found out.  It was a fun story for me to learn about because there's a New England connection!

 

Jepson named this tree after Charles Sprague Sargent, the first director of the Arnold Arboretum (of Harvard University) in Boston.  Charles Sprague Sargent was born in 1841, grew up in Brookline, MA (my family has a few connections there), was appointed director of the Arnold Arboretum in 1873 and served as director until his death in 1927.  I did the math — he became director when he was 32 years old and served as director for 54 years until he was 86 years old!

Jepson seems to have made a good choice — he named a hardy tree after a hardy man!

P.S.  Habitat information above from "Cypress Species in Oregon" by Frank Callahan in Kalmiopsis, Vol. 20, 2013.  Biographical information about Charles Sprague Sargent from Wikipedia and the Arnold Arboretum website.

Checkers and streaks

 

You guessed it — tonight's post features butterflies seen at The Cedars on 25 April 2015. 

First, the checkerspot:

 

I'm pretty sure these are Edith's Checkerspots (Euphydryas editha).  However, I'm a little hampered without access to my field guides right now.  If you think this identification is wrong, just let me know and I'll correct it (I'm happy to hear about confirmations, too!).

They were actively nectaring on Yerba Santa (Eriodictyon californicum).

 

Next, the hairstreak:

 

Muir's Hairstreak (Callophrys muiri) is a serpentine endemic.  Its host plant at The Cedars is probably Sargent Cypress (Hesperocyparis sargentii).

I had trouble photographing the hairstreaks, but I'm including one more image below:

 

And for the record, I also photographed a duskywing:

 

My guess is Propertius Duskywing (Erynnis propertius).  But I'm open to other ideas, as I don't have a lot of experience with duskywings in California yet.

Here's one more picture of it — not great, but it shows the light spots in the wings that are useful for identification:

 

Although none of these butterflies are likely to be found on Bodega Head, it's fun to think about them in The Cedars, only about 20 miles away.

Slippers and streams

Okay, back to The Cedars.  I don't have much time tonight, but here are two wildflowers that I think you'll enjoy.

 

California Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium californicum).  The Cedars is one of the southern-most sites for this wonderful orchid associated with habitats like seeps, moist slopes, streambanks, bogs, and fens.

 

For my relatives and friends in New England — this species is similar to a Pink Lady's Slipper (Cypripedium acaule), but the showy part of the flower (i.e., the white lower lip) is much smaller.  In the California Lady's Slipper, the lip ranges from ~15-20 mm (~3/4 inch) long...while in the Pink Lady's Slipper it ranges from ~30-67 mm (~1-2.5 inches) long.

 

And here's another wildflower highlight:

 

Purple-leaf Stream Orchids (Epipactis gigantea f. rubrifolia) were just starting to flower.  Although this species of orchid occurs elsewhere in the state, The Cedars is apparently the only place where the purple-leaved variety grows.

 

This next picture makes me wish I was Alice in Wonderland so I could become very small and then crawl right in to start exploring!

 

 

Warming up

 

We had several nice looks at lizards during our hike at The Cedars on 25 April 2015.  I'm pretty sure these were Sagebrush Lizards (Scleropus graciosus).  However, since I'm new to identifying lizards, I'd like to ask for some help.  I'll show all five individuals that I photographed.

Here's the next individual:

 

I'm leaning towards Sagebrush Lizard (rather than Western Fence Lizard) for several reasons: (1) finer, smoother scales (with less of a keel and a shorter spine); (2) no yellow on the hind legs; (3) a dark bar on the "shoulder."

The next picture shows a close-up of the scales.  (And don't miss those emerald green colors behind the back leg!  Click on the image for a larger version.)

 

The photo below shows one of the smallest individuals I photographed.  This is a good opportunity to note the extremely long toes, if you haven't already.

 

Whereas the first three individuals were pale with greenish overtones, the last two were amazingly red!

 

Is this a color variant?  Does it have to do with the breeding season?  What a wonderful match for the red rocks of The Cedars!

 

One more orange-red lizard — this one was sunning on the rocks by the creek:

 

I'd welcome any help you can provide in confirming the identity of this lizard or offering another suggestion.  And please share any thoughts you have about the red coloration.  I'm curious!