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Alkali Marsh Ragwort
Senecio hydrophilus
CA Bloom May - Sep
Yellow flower
Tiny petals
Alternate, basal leaves
Freshwater-marsh
CA native
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Alkali Weed
Cressa truxillensis
CA Bloom May - Jun
White flower
Five petals
Alternate leaves
CA native
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American Wild Mint
Mentha arvensis
CA Bloom Mar - May
Pink, violet, white flower
Four, irreg, irreg, irreg petals
Opposite, simple leaves
CA native
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Annual Beard Grass
Polypogon monspeliensis
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Annual Beard Grass is topped by large, fluffy spikes. They're framed by flat, rough, green leaves to 8" long.
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Soft, dense spikelets are green until they mature. There are lots of spikelets in the spike, each producing 3 awns.
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Long awns let light through around the edge but the center is opaque.
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Arroyo Willow
Salix lasiolepis
- Height 7 - 35 ft.
- CA Bloom Feb - May
- This is the most common willow in California.
- It's deciduous and is found near water.
- Look for narrow leaves that are wider near the tip than at the base.
- CA native.
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Leaves are about 5 inches long, smooth-sided and narrow. They're pale/hairy underneath, and wider near the tip than near the base.
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Classic pussies with yellow stamens. The buds are fused together (not overlapping) before they open.
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This willow has many trunks, sometimes growing as a tree, and sometimes as a tangled shrub.
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Bentgrass
Agrostis exarata
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Spikelets form a dense, slender column with short stalks. At maturity, the column opens up a bit. Awns are so short you may not notice them.
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Leaf blades are about 1/4" wide and 6" long. The ligule is prominent, membranous and not hairy.
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Leaves mostly ascend from the base of the plant. A long, narrow inflorescence rises above them, turning purple and then brown late in the season.
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Bigelow's Sneezeweed
Helenium bigelovii
CA Bloom Jun - Sep
Yellow flower
Many petals
Alternate, basal leaves
CA native
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Bird's Foot Trefoil
Lotus corniculatus
- Height to 8 in.
- CA Bloom May - Jul
- Tiny fruit clusters look like a bird's foot.
- Short, thin compound leaves make bundles along the stem.
- Find it in open grasslands, wetlands, and compacted soil along roads and trails.
- Other Trefoils
- Not CA native
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Tiny pea flowers cluster at the end of the stem.
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Each plant is small. See fruit pods on the left, compound leaves in the middle, and a flower cluster on the right.
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Colonies of Bird's Foot Trefoil can be prominent in grasslands. It is sometimes vine-like, with prostrate stems up to 20 inches.
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Blackwood Acacia
Acacia melanoxylon
- Height 50 - 100 ft.
- CA Bloom Feb - Mar
- This acacia tree has twisted reddish-brown pods.
- The trunk has high levels of tannin, which causes dark stains when people handle it (thus Blackwood).
- Generally found in coastal disturbed areas.
- Not CA native
- Somewhat Invasive
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Pale yellow spherical flowers show many stamens. These develop into reddish-brown pods.
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Mature leaves are generally wide but occasionally have divided fern-like tips. Young leaves are divided too.
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Blackwood Acacia grows to be a substantial tree.
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Bog Yellow Cress
Rorippa palustris
CA Bloom Apr - Jun
Yellow flower
Four petals
Alternate, basal leaves
CA native
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Bristly Ox-Tongue
Helminthotheca echioides
- Height to 7 ft.
- CA Bloom Jun - Dec
- A tall dandelion-like flower, covered in bristles.
- Leaves have large bumps on them.
- Lots of seed in the fall - you'll see it blowing in the air.
- Not CA native.
- Somewhat Invasive
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Leaves have stiff bristles and bumps, giving it its name. Dandelion-like flowers top each branch.
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Dandelion-like flowers are surrounded by distinctive, triangular, upward pointing, bristly green bracts.
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Plants are tall, with many branches.
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Bugleweed
Lycopus americanus
CA Bloom Jun - Jul
White flower
Four, irreg petals
Opposite leaves
CA native
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Bull Thistle
Cirsium vulgare
- CA Bloom June - Sept
- This thistle has spiny everything.
- A pear-shaped spiny base supports a 2-inch-tall purple flower.
- Dead flowers with many spines stay on the plant for a long time.
- Bull Thistle is common in disturbed areas.
- Not CA native.
- Moderately Invasive
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A fairly thin pear-shaped spiny bulge below flower is a good way to distinguish this species.
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Bull Thistle has big spines all the way up the stem, on the leaves, and around the flower.
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Here is a basal rosette of thick, toothed leaves.
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Bur Marigold
Bidens laevis
CA Bloom Aug - Sep
Yellow flower
Many petals
Opposite leaves
Freshwater-marsh
CA native
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California Blackberry
Rubus ursinus
- Height 3 - 6 ft.
- CA Bloom Feb - May
- This shrub forms an impenetrable thicket of branches, full of narrow prickles.
- You'll notice bright white flowers with many stamens.
- Found in canyons, coastal stream banks and disturbed areas
- CA native
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Separate petals, with green leafy sepals in between. This male flower has many stamens.
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Prickles are short, narrow, and plentiful. Himalayan Blackberry has wider, longer, and less densely-packed prickles.
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Red fruit turns black with maturity. Leaves in 3s, coarsely toothed, are hairy and have spines. Veins are indented on the leaves.
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California Bulrush
Schoenoplectus californicus
CA Bloom May - Jun
Freshwater-marsh
CA native
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California Fan Palm
Washingtonia filifera
- CA Bloom Feb - Jun
- Many white flowers turn into black berries.
- Including their stalks, fan-shaped leaves grow to 13 feet long.
- The trunk stands up well to fire, partly because food and water channels run throughout the trunk, rather than just near the surface.
- Grows to 60 feet in desert oases.
- CA native
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This is California's only native palm, found in desert oases. Notice the dead leaves hanging on below new growth.
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Leaves are fan shaped. Heavy petioles connect the leaf to the trunk, and are U-shaped and toothed.
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Leaves are stiff and have v-shaped segments with fibres on the margins.
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California Hemp
Hoita macrostachya
- CA Bloom Jun - Jul
- California Hemp is an erect shrub topped by bunches of purple pea flowers.
- This hairy plant has widely-spaced three-part leaves.
- The fruit is a hairy brown pod.
- Found in a variety of moist areas.
- CA native
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Pea-like flowers bunch tightly together on sturdy stalks.
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Compound leaves are on long stalks, leaving a lot of space around them.
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Grows to 6 feet tall, shown here in a stream bed where it can get plenty of water.
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California Sunflower
Helianthus californicus
CA Bloom Jul - Sep
Yellow flower
Many petals
Alternate leaves
Streambanks meadows freshwater-marsh
CA native
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California Wild Rose
Rosa californica
- CA Bloom May - Aug
- This shrub grows in thickets to 6 feet tall, with large, recurved prickles.
- Pink flowers, up to 2" across, open up flat at the end of branches.
- The fruit is a rose hip with leafy material coming out the top.
- It's common and widespread, especially in moist areas.
- Similar plants.
- CA native. Native only to the California Floristic Province.
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This fragrant rose flower has a single layer of five floppy petals. They surround dozens of yellow-tipped stamens.
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Compound leaves have 5 to 7 leaflets. Each pollinated flower creates one red rose hip, with left-over flower sepals protruding from the end.
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Prickles grow out from the stem; large, flat and often curved.
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Canary Island Date Palm
Phoenix canariensis
CA Bloom Oct - Apr
White flower
Three petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native Somewhat Invasive
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Canyon Dodder
Cuscuta subinclusa
CA Bloom Mar - Oct
White flower
Five petals
CA native
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Cat Tail
Typha latifolia
- Height 5 - 10 ft.
- CA Bloom May - Jun
- Leaves are stiff and grow about 1" wide.
- This cattail is found in salt and freshwater marshes and can grow in 2 feet of water.
- Compare to other Cattails
- CA native
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Male flowers form a narrow, tan spike at the top of the stem. Female flowers form a wider, brown spike. The spikes are close to each other.
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Seeds are borne on the wind, as with dandelions.
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Cattails grow to 10 feet high, always in or near water. Leaves are about 1"
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Cattail
Typha domingensis
- Height to 13 ft.
- CA Bloom Mar - Aug
- Primarily found in Southern California in freshwater marshes
- Compare to other Cattails
- CA native
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The male flower spike is yellow-brown and about an inch above a cinnamon-brown female spike.
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This is the only California cattail with orange-brown glands at the base of the leaves.
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Both spikes and leaves are tall, stiff and fairly narrow.
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Celery Or Smallage
Apium graveolens
CA Bloom May - Jul
White flower
Five petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native
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Chairmaker's Bulrush
Schoenoplectus americanus
Flower
Coastal salt-marsh freshwater-marsh
CA native
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Coast Clover
Trifolium wormskioldii
- CA Bloom May - Jun
- Flowers a round ball of pink-purple petals, often with white tips.
- 3 leaflets join at the tip of a stem. They're often serrated.
- Widespread, often growing low to the ground.
- CA native
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Flowers are rounded, made up of many purple-pink petals, often with whitish tips.
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This closeup shows many pea-shaped flowers in a cluster, to form the clover round shape.
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Leaves in 3s (hence Trifolium)
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Cobwebby Hedge Nettle
Stachys albens
CA Bloom Jun - Aug
Pink, white flower
Irreg petals
Opposite leaves
CA native
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Cockleburr
Xanthium strumarium
- Height 4 in. - 3 ft.
- CA Bloom Jul - Oct
- Cockleburr has separate male and female flowers on the same plant (monoecious). Neither kind of flower has petals.
- Flowers are arranged in tight heads. The female heads have spines around their base. They're light, too, so fertilized seed can be distributed by floating on water, or attaching to passing animals.
- Found in disturbed, wet areas.
- CA native. Widespread around the world.
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This is a female flower - no petals, just pistils at the top of the flower head.
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Male flowers (yellow in this picture) are on separate heads above the female heads (green).
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Stems are thick. Alternate leaves are on stalks, up to 5 inches across.
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Common Bog Rush
Juncus effusus
- Perennial Rush to 4 ft.
- Stem cross section is round with grooves
- Inflorescence branched 1-2"
- No awns
- CA Bloom Jun - Aug
- This water-loving rush grows in tight clumps from stout rhizomes.
- Found in wetlands, along streams, and in marshes.
- CA native
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Yellow-brown flowers appear at the top of the stem, with a stem-like bract proceeding above it. The stem is grooved, the bract is not.
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Brown leaf sheaths grow at the base of stem, but create no leaf blades.
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This rather tall rush is found on lake shores, wet pastures. Some subspecies are native, others weedy.
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Common Buttonbush
Cephalanthus occidentalis
CA Bloom Aug - Oct
White flower
Many, no petals
Opposite, whorled leaves
Streambanks
CA native
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Common Loosestrife
Lythrum californicum
CA Bloom May - Oct
Pink, violet flower
Six petals
Alternate, opposite leaves
CA native
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Common Nightshade
Solanum americanum
- CA Bloom Mar - Nov
- A poisonous member of the tomato family.
- White 5-petaled flower with yellow center.
- Leaves are large and toothed, with long petioles (stalks).
- Found in disturbed areas
- CA native
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White 5-petaled 1/2 inch wide flowers with yellow centers. Leaves and fruit look like a small tomato plant.
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Large leaves on stalks over 1 inch long. Edges wavy or coarsely toothed.
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Shiny black berries hang from leaf connections along the stem. Plant grows to 4 feet tall and is short-lived.
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Common Plantain
Plantago major
CA Bloom Apr - Sep
Green, yellow flower
Tiny petals
Basal leaves
Disturbed
Not CA native
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Common Reed
Phragmites australis
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Common Reed grows in dense stands from thick rhizomes. Phragmites is Greek for "fence", which seems appropriate.
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Branched spikelets are small, about 1/2". Much longer silky hairs grow from the base of the spikelets, creating a plume effect.
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Leaves can be up to 2" wide and 18" long, with rough margins.
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Common Tarweed
Centromadia pungens
CA Bloom Apr - Sep
Yellow flower
Many petals
Alternate leaves
CA native
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Cornish Mallow
Malva multiflora
CA Bloom Apr - Jun
Pink, violet flower
Five petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native
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Cottonbatting Plant
Pseudognaphalium stramineum
- CA Bloom May - Oct
- Tight bunch of flowers with yellow centers surrounded by straw-like bracts.
- Stramineum means straw-colored.
- Alternate, thin, woolly leaves to 3 inches clasp the stem. Not aromatic.
- Widespread in California grasslands and disturbed areas.
- CA native
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Flowers with yellow center surrounded by layers of straw-colored phyllaries.
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Flowers densly grouped at the end of the stem. Leaves woolly.
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Erect plant to 2 feet tall.
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Coyote Brush
Baccharis pilularis
- CA Bloom Sep - Jan
- Coyote Brush, a common evergreen shrub, is often the tallest plant in its neighborhood.
- Its leaves are distinctive, sort of rectangular and with bumpy sides.
- Male flowers grow on separate plants from female.
- CA native
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Coyote Brush has many 1-inch green leaves growing on a thicket of brittle, woody branches.
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1-inch leaves are leathery and stay wide until the very end. Their margins show triangular bumps.
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In the winter, pollinated flowers develop seeds that float away on the wind.
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Coyote Thistle
Eryngium articulatum
CA Bloom Jun - Sep
Blue, violet flower
Tiny petals
Alternate, opposite leaves
Coastal salt-marsh freshwater-marsh
CA native
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Crispate Leaved Pondweed
Potamogeton crispus
CA Bloom Apr - May
Brown, green flower
Tiny petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native Moderately Invasive
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Curly Dock
Rumex crispus
CA Bloom Jan - Dec
Green, white flower
Tiny petals
Alternate leaves
Disturbed
Not CA native Somewhat Invasive
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Delta Tule Pea
Lathyrus jepsonii var. jepsonii
CA Bloom May - Jul
Pink, violet flower
Pea petals
Alternate leaves
Freshwater-marsh brackish-marsh
CA native Endangered (CNPS 1B)
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Desert Lantern
Oenothera deltoides
CA Bloom Mar - Sep
White flower
Four petals
Basal leaves
CA native
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Douglas' Wallflower
Erysimum capitatum var. capitatum
CA Bloom Apr - May
Yellow flower
Four petals
Alternate, basal leaves
CA native
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Eastern Annual Saltmarsh Aster
Symphyotrichum subulatum var. parviflorum
CA Bloom Jul - Oct
Pink, violet, white flower
Many petals
Alternate leaves
CA native
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European Pennyroyal
Mentha pulegium
CA Bloom Jun - Sep
Pink, violet flower
Four, irreg petals
Opposite leaves
Not CA native Moderately Invasive
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Evening Primrose
Oenothera elata
CA Bloom Jun - Sep
Yellow flower
Four petals
Alternate, basal leaves
CA native
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False Daisy
Eclipta prostrata
CA Bloom Jun - Aug
White flower
Many petals
Alternate, opposite leaves
Freshwater-marsh
CA native
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Fat Hen
Atriplex prostrata
- CA Bloom Jun - Nov
- One of the salt bush group, that excrete salt through their leaves.
- Tiny flowers form a spike at the top of the stem.
- Distinctive arrow-shaped leaf.
- Tolerates salty conditions, found on beaches, in salt marshes, etc.
- Not CA native
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Fleshy Jaumea
Jaumea carnosa
CA Bloom May - Jul
Yellow flower
Many, no petals
Opposite leaves
Coastal salt-marsh
CA native
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Floating Water Primrose
Ludwigia peploides
CA Bloom Jun - Oct
Yellow flower
Five petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native Highly Invasive
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Fremont Cottonwood
Populus fremontii
CA Bloom Feb - Mar
Tiny petals
Alternate leaves
CA native
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Garden Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis
CA Bloom Mar - Sep
Green, white, yellow flower
Six petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native
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Giant Reed
Arundo donax
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Giant Reed is distinctive, growing to 30 feet on bamboo-like stems. It has a silvery, hairy plume at the top.
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The stem is bamboo-like and is used to make structures, mats, and reeds for woodwind instruments.
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Leaf blades can grow many feet long. They're flat or folded, with rough margins.
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Gooding's Willow
Salix gooddingii
CA Bloom Feb - Mar
Tiny petals
Alternate leaves
Streambanks
CA native
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Green Dock
Rumex conglomeratus
CA Bloom May - Aug
Green, white flower
Tiny petals
Alternate leaves
Not CA native
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Hemlock Water Parsnip
Sium suave
CA Bloom Jul - Aug
White flower
Five petals
Alternate leaves
Freshwater-marsh
CA native
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Himalayan Blackberry
Rubus armeniacus
- CA Bloom Apr - Aug
- This invasive blackberry produces an impenetrable tangle of prickly canes and showy pink flowers.
- Stems are 5-sided with large prickles. Our local native Blackberry (Rubus ursinus has round stems with many tiny prickles.
- Leaves are dark green above and pale below.
- Not CA native.
- Highly Invasive
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Flowers are about 1 inch wide, with 5 petals and many dark-tipped stamens. Stout prickles.
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Leaves are in patterns of 5 the first year, and in groups of 3 on second year side branches.
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Stout prickles are spaced out on a thick (up to 1 inch wide) cane. (Native blackberry has smaller prickles, closer together).
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Horseweed
Erigeron canadensis
- CA Bloom Jun - Sep
- White composite flower with many short white petals.
- Stands out from other plants, at 5 feet tall with a wide flower inflorescence.
- Leaves are long at 4 inches, and are up to 1/2" across.
- Only slightly hairy.
- Disturbed areas
- CA native
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Neat phyllaries surround an aster-like flower head - a sign of a fleabane.
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Alternate leaves 4 inches long and 1/2" wide.
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Wide distinctive inflorescence with hundreds of composite flowers, growing to about 5 feet tall.
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