Footsteps-of-spring

First entry of Spring!

On the bluffs at the end of Jefferson Way in Fort Bragg yesterday, there were a handful of species starting to bloom, but the footsteps of spring (Sanicula arctopoides), were the most prolific.

These plants are aptly named - they're flat and cheery and scattered about the green grassy bluffs like the footprints of a happy little elf. They're are cousins of the cow parsnip from a few weeks ago. They're both in the carrot family (Apiaceae), and characteristically have flowers in an umbel formation. They're so small and compact that they look like little buttons, smaller than a penny. The flower stalks are short and either single or clustered like a tiny cabbage patch.

Like the cow parsnip, these flowers were covered with insects - mostly ants.

Also blooming on the bluffs were Mendocino paintbrush (Castilleja mendocinensis), California buttercup (Ranunculus californicus) and beach strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis).

Happy trails.

A Humble Umbel

Cow Parsnip - Heracleum lanatum - is a member of the carrot family. It has well-known non-native wild cousins: Queen Anne's lace (Daucus), wild fennel (Foeniculum), and poison hemlock (Conium). The family is united by its umbel-type inflorescences, pungent smell, and often irritative qualities. Our cultivated carrots, celery, and parsley have this family's gift of strong smell and flavor without the skin rash-causing qualities.

Cow parsnip are fairly tall but understated plants, normally found in wet areas, whether seeps in an open field, or a roadside ditch, or in a shady riparian area. These photos were of one individual growing on a stream bank by Hwy 1 just south of Westport (Chadbourne Gulch, a.k.a. Blues Beach). Arthropods of all kinds - beetles, flies, spiders, caterpillars - were all over the new blooms and got into most of the shots...

When you get up close, the beauty of the flowers becomes more apparent than from afar.

The inflorescence is an umbel (umbrella-shaped) spread of smaller umbels that radiate from a single point at the top of the stem. The hundreds of tiny flowers form a flat network that makes an intricate floral pattern, and a nice platform for the insects.

Underneath the inflorescence was a nice shady place for a spider web.

Also blooming in said riparian corridor were Coltsfoot (Petasites), which will be featured next...