List

Early Wildflowers of Mount Burdell

(20 plants)

Goldfields

Mt. Burdell, in northern Marin County, is a favorite place to see native California plants.

Doreen Smith has compiled this list of common early spring wildflowers you'll see there.

The wildflowers you actually see will vary, based on rainfall patterns, seed dispersal the year before, and each species' strategies for handling the variety of climatic challenges they encounter in surviving for many generations.

Google Maps link to Mt. Burdell hike parking

Have fun!


California Buttercup Ranunculus californicus Height 6 in. - 2 ft. CA Bloom Feb - May This bright yellow flower is 1" across, with 7 to 22 shiny petals. Buttercups flower in early spring, and die back (including the leaves) in the summer. Found on coastal bluffs, grassland, woodland and moist meadows. CA native	The buttercup looks like butter, with 7 to 22 elliptic, overlapping, shiny yellow petals.	Each buttercup flower gets its own stalk. The center is a half sphere of packed green pistils, surrounded by dozens of yellow stamens.	Long-stalked basal leaves have 3 deeply- lobed leaflets. Leaves on the flower stems have narrow divisions.
California Poppy Eschscholzia californica CA Bloom Feb - Sep Height to 18". Flowers have four large overlapping petals. They're orange most places, but usually yellow with an orange center along the coast. CA native, and the state flower	Thin orange petals overlap each other. Notice the sheath covering the young bud. Petals close at night and open in the morning.	Leaves are grey-green and are much divided. The round flat base just below the petals is distinctive and edged in rose-pink.	Across the state, California Poppies fill grassy areas with an orange display from April to July.
Blue Dicks Dipterostemon capitatus CA Bloom Feb - Apr Look for a tight bunch of 6-petaled flowers on a single stem, about 1 foot tall. Flowers can be purple, pink or white. This common springtime flower is widespread where there is sun. Compare to Ookow CA native	A tight bunch of 6-petaled flowers appears at the top of a tall, wavy stalk.	The centers of the flowers feature a forked, white sheath that surrounds yellow-tipped stamens.	Long, narrow leaves grow from the base of the plant. Below, the roots connect to food-storing corms.
Star Lily Toxicoscordion fremontii Height to 4 ft. CA Bloom Mar - May It's easy to spot Star Lily, with its bright white starry flowers clustering 3 or 4 feet in the air, and its long narrow leaves. It's found in California coastal ranges on grassy, scrub-covered or wooded slopes. CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.	Star-shaped flowers cluster to form a pyramid shape at the top of an erect, thick stem.	Each petal-like tepal is separate and ends in a point. They have raised yellow dots near the center. These are nectar glands.	Flowers grow on sturdy stems that are perhaps 3 feet tall. Note the long leaves with parallel veins.
Sun Cups Taraxia ovata CA Bloom Feb - Apr This 4-petaled yellow flower is easy to spot in late spring. Leaves are fleshy and roughly oval, often with red veins. It's primarily found west of the Central Valley, from San Francisco to Mendocino. CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.	The flower has four separate yellow petals. Long stamens and a pistil emerge from the center.	Sun cups grows low to the ground, above a rosette of leaves.	Each flower grows on a separate stalk. The stalks are often red.
Common Stickyseed Blennosperma nanum var. nanum CA Bloom Feb - Apr. Small yellow flower with many petals, growing only a few inches tall. Center is also yellow, with white areas. CA Bloom in moist areas in poor soils, including serpentine. CA native	Many yellow petals. Note ring of white stigmas. Buds are covered with green bracts.	Yellow petals are separate from each other, with green bracts below each one.	Leaves are thin but fleshy.
Purple Sanicle Sanicula bipinnatifida Height 6 in. - 2 ft. CA Bloom Mar - May Each spherical purple flower head is less than 1" across. Compound leaves have many irregular divisioins. It's found in open, often grassy areas from British Columbia to Mexico. CA native.	Look for divided leaves and small purple flowers in round heads.	Flowerheads form at the top and along the stem.	Looking down at this plant, you'll notice purple spots over lots of compound leaves.
Checker Bloom Sidalcea malviflora CA Bloom May - Aug Flower petals pink, strongly veined, squared off at the end, 1/2" to 1" long each. A perennial flower, often with a woody base. Leaves vary greatly, with basal leaves fairly round and upper leaves deeply cut. Found in grasslands, woodlands and scrub to 7,500 feet. CA native	Five pink petals with radiating lines on each petal.	Basal leaves round and not deeply cut.	Deeply cut leaves.
Red Maids Calandrinia menziesii CA Bloom Feb - May This low-growing plant is easy to spot because of its five dark-pink petals surrounding a yellow center. It's a relative to Miner's Lettuce and also has thick leaves that are edible and taste sour. This annual is found in places with damp spring conditions. CA native	This flower has 5 dark pink petals, yellow-tipped stamens, and is less than 1" wide. Leaves are thick and edible.	Leaves are alternate, thick, fairly long, and wider towards the tip.	Red Maids needs wet conditions to germinate and start growing, but does well in full sun and gravelly soil after that.
Cream Cups Platystemon californicus CA Bloom Feb - May Height to 12". Leaves are long, thin, and arranged alternately and in whorls. Found in open grasslands and rocky areas, often on serpentine. CA native	Flowers have 4-10 yellow petals, often showing a creamy white at the tips and/or in the center.	Cream Cups has different numbers of petals and many stamens.	Single flowers grow at the tops of stems that branch from the plant base. Leaves are narrow and concentrated on the lower halves of the stems.
Seep Monkey Flower Erythranthe guttata CA Bloom Apr - Jun Here's an easy-to-spot large yellow-orange flower in wet areas. Opposite leaves. Found in wet places, near streams or seeps. CA native	Two-lipped yellow flower, usually spotted red. Found in wet areas.	Opposite leaves are toothed at the base. They can grow to 5" long.	Grows in tightly-packed bunches 1 to 3 feet tall.
Dense Flower Owl's Clover Castilleja densiflora CA Bloom Mar - May Owl's Clover is not a clover at all, but a paintbrush. Flowers and colorful bracts form a dense, round-topped cluster. Leaves are alternate, narrow, and sometimes forked. Found on grassy hillsides, this plant is a larval food for the federally threatened Bay Checkerspot Butterfly. Compare to Purple Owl's Clover CA native	Note white pouches with purple "owl's eyes" on them. Leaves are narrow.	Flowers have a narrow beak above the white spotted pouches.	Found on grassy hillsides, it does well in serpentine soils.
Goldfields Lasthenia californica CA Bloom Feb - June Height less than 6". Goldfields are widespread, from coastal meadows to deserts, often in dense colonies. CA native	6 - 13 bright yellow petal-like ray flowers surround numerous tiny disk flowers. Each disk flower has nectar to attract pollinators.	Opposite leaves are narrow, sometimes with shallow lobes. Solitary flowerheads grow at the tips of stems and side branches.	Goldfields make quite a display, living up to their name.
Woolly Fruited Lomatium Lomatium dasycarpum ssp. dasycarpum CA Bloom Mar - June Many small yellow flowers cluster to form spheres. A narrow taproot, covered with short, dense hairs, is good at gathering water. Found on open grassy and rocky areas, often on serpentine. CA native	Clusters of yellowish-green flowers grow on thick stalks. The flower clusters grow in an umbrella pattern (an umbel).	Leaves are finely dissected.	Flowers turn into clusters of flat, round seeds.
Shooting Star Primula hendersonii Height to 1 ft. CA Bloom Feb - Apr Pointed pink petals, 1/2 to 1" long, reflex back from a drooping stalk, forming a shooting star. Look for these pink beauties in early spring in damp meadows and open woodland. CA native	4 or 5 pink petals bend up, and reproductive parts point down.	Flowers form loose groups at the top of a 1-foot-tall leafless red stem.	Smooth-edged and smooth-topped leaves are rounded. They're all basal.
Smooth Tidytips Layia chrysanthemoides CA Bloom Mar - June A daisy-like plant with 5 - 18 white-tipped yellow petals (ray flowers). Flower center has many darker yellow bumps (disk flowers). Leaves narrow and hairy. Common in grassy meadows. CA native	Individual flowers at the top of stems. White tips are often indented.	5 - 18 yellow petals, often with white tips.	Common in grassy meadows at low elevations, although it can be found up to 6,500 feet.
Purple Mouse Ears Diplacus douglasii CA Bloom Feb - Apr Mouse Ears is often found where other plants have a tough time surviving: low-nutrient serpentine or gravel soils. CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.	These tiny flowers are easy to recognize, with magenta "mouse ears" over a gold and purple cup.	Flowers emerge from a bed of basal leaves. Flower petals are fused, forming a cup, with a couple of "ears" sticking out the top.	Mouse Ears is quite small, growing less than 2 inches tall.
Yellow Owls Clover Triphysaria versicolor ssp. faucibarbata CA Bloom Feb - May Dense spikes of white or yellow flowers. Flowers are pea-like, with 3 petals at the bottom. Leaves are narrow, about 3 inches long, and can have several lobes. Found primarily in the counties just north of San Francisco.. CA native	Flowers are white or yellow, growing in a dense spike at the top of stems that grow to about 2 feet.	Leaves are about 3 inches long, divided into a few narrow, pointed lobes.	Covers moist grassy hillsides in the spring.
Celery Weed Lomatium californicum CA Bloom Mar - Apr Green-yellow flowers and celery leaves are distinctive. Grows to 4 feet tall Found on open grassy slopes to 6,000 feet CA native	Flowers in bunches, starting green and becoming bright yellow.	Divided blue-green leaves. They resemble common celery leaves in appearance and taste.	A spreading plant, can grow to 4 feet tall.
Fritillary Lily Fritillaria liliacea CA Bloom Feb - Apr Please don't touch this fragile and endangered plant! It's native only in the greater Bay Area, from Big Sur to Sonoma It's odorless or faintly fragrant. CA native. Rare, threatened or endangered (CNPS 1B)	Nodding bell-shaped flowers with 6 white tepals with green stripes.	Notice the elegant 3-branched stigma and 6 large yellow anthers.	Leaves are narrow and alternate, mostly around the base.