List

Marin CNPS 50th Anniversary Native Plant Challenge

(74 plants)

Marin Chapter CNPS - List of plants from which to find 50 and document on iNaturalist March 1, to July 31, 2024.


Common Manzanita Arctostaphylos manzanita CA Bloom Jan - Mar White flower Five petals Alternate leaves Canyons slopes CA native
Lace Fern Aspidotis densa Grows near rocks. Frond leaves (pinnae) are narrow and curled under. Frond stems (stipes) are dark and shiny. CA native	Grows near rocks.	Frond leaves (pinnae) are narrow.	Stems (stipes) are dark and shiny.
Rosin Weed Calycadenia multiglandulosa CA Bloom May - Aug Height to 1 ft. Foliage and stem are glandular-hairy and quite sticky. Found in open, gravelly areas, often in serpentine soil. CA native. Not a weed, as the name suggests; it's a California endemic.	This is a single aster head. Showy ray flowers surround tubular disc flowers.	Each ray flower has 3 uneven lobes, the middle one smaller. Green, narrow phyllaries have long glandular hairs.	Each flower head is nestled in many narrow, ascending phyllaries. Leaves are hairy, sticky, narrow, and often curl under.
Smooth Western Morning Glory Calystegia purpurata CA Bloom Apr - Sep Pink, white flower Five petals Alternate leaves CA native
Woolly Paintbrush Castilleja foliolosa CA Bloom Mar - Aug Orange-red cluster of flowers on top of a 2 to 6 inch tem. Fuzzy, long, thin, cupped, pale green leaves. CA native	Fuzzy, long, thin, cupped, pale green leaves.	Flowers on the end of stems less than 1 foot tall.	Flowers orange and red.
Jepson Ceanothus Ceanothus jepsonii CA Bloom Mar - Apr Found in serpentine soil. Leaves are small and holly-like. Lavender flowers generally have 6-petals. CA native.	This low-lying shrub is found in rocky serpentine chaparral.	Holly-like leaves and red fruits make this plant easy to spot.	Petals are generally in 6s, unusual for ceanothus which normally has 5 petals.
Cobweb Thistle Cirsium occidentale Height 2 - 10 ft. CA Bloom May - Jul Cobweb Thistle often looks like it is covered in cobwebs. The flower head is made up of many tiny disk flowers. Several varieties come in different sizes. Widespread in California. CA native - not a weed like many other thistles in California.	Cobweb Thistle gives a white or grey appearance, due to its long hairs.	Notice the flower base which is spherical, hairy, and spiny. Flowers can be red, white, or shades of purple.	Basal leaves are spiny and hairy, spreading out from the stem.
Bush Poppy Dendromecon rigida CA Bloom Feb - May 4 roundish, overlapping yellow petals. Leaves are slightly leathery with a fine serration - very different from California Poppy leaves. Fruits are long and thin. CA native	Four roundish, overlapping yellow petals. Many stamens.	Fruits are thin and up to 4 inches long.	Grow in bunches to 10 feet tall.
Fork Toothed Ookow Dichelostemma congestum CA Bloom May - Jun Like Blue Dicks, Ookow has a cluster of 6-petaled flowers bunched tightly at the top of a leafless stem. It stores food in its roots to use when flowering. Found from the Bay Area north in grassy meadows and other open places. Compare to Blue Dicks CA native	Ookow has a tight cluster of lavender-purple flowers at the top of a 2 foot stem.	Each flower has six petal-like tepals and unique tooth-like projections that stand away from the yellow-tipped stamens.	There are no leaves on the stem, which is erect but twists. 2 or 3 narrow basal leaves grow to 2 feet long.
Rock Lettuce Dudleya cymosa CA Bloom Mar - July Flower is an elongated yellow or orange tube. Pointed, cupped leaves. Found on rocks. CA native, only grows in California	Bright red and orange flowers above a bed of succulent leaves.	5 petals at the top of a tube flower.	Found in rocky areas.
Checker Lily Fritillaria affinis Height 1 - 3 ft. CA Bloom Mar - May Nodding brown and green flowers are about 2 inches across. They have a nice musky smell. Several whorls of leaves appear near the bottom of the stem. Common in woodlands and grasslands in the Pacific Northwest. CA native	Flowers have 6 brown or green tepals with mottled yellow and green areas. They hang upside down like bells from a drooping stalk.	Narrow leaves are whorled near the bottom, and then grow next to flower stalks near the top of the stem.	Leaves are parallel veined. The stem is erect and grows from a bulb.
Blue Field Gilia Gilia capitata CA Bloom Feb - Apr Blue, violet, white flower Five, no petals Alternate, basal leaves Coastal CA native
Sargent Cypress Hesperocyparis sargentii Often the dominant tree on serpentine soils, where other trees have trouble surviving. Grows to about 30 feet, but a couple of sites in Marin and Sonoma County have a pygmy version grows to only about 10 feet. Like other Cypress, Sargent Cypress has round cones and yellow pollen. CA native	Round closed cones. Yellow or orange pollen cones.	Bark is thick and full of fibers.	Grows on serpentine slopes, often in a pure stand.
Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia CA Bloom Jun - Aug This evergreen shrub (or small tree) grows to 15 feet or more. Leaves are about 3 inches long, shiny dark green above and paler below. Bright red berries (pomes) appear Nov - Feb Toyon is found along the coast and the western Sierra foothills, in chaparral and mixed oak woodlands. It is drought tolerant. CA native	Shiny, dark-green, toothed leaves and large clusters of red berries make this plant easy to spot.	White 5-petaled flowers cluster at the end of branches in summer.	Flowers turn into orange and red berries, which stay on the plant well into winter.
Gold Wire Hypericum concinnum CA Bloom Apr - Jul Yellow flower Five petals Opposite leaves Slopes CA native	5 yellow petals that fold back. Many long stamens.	Opposite leaves grow regularly up the stem.	Clusters of plants grow to a few feet tall.
Pitcher Sage Lepechinia calycina Height to 7 ft. CA Bloom Mar - Jun This Mint Family shrub smells like a mint and has 4 ribs along the stem. Bark, stem and leaves are covered in long hairs. Widespread in the coastal foothills and eastern Sierras, it grows above 400 feet and below 2,900. CA native.	Evergreen leaves are coarse, bumpy and hairy. The flower is an open trumpet shape.	The flower's bottom lip is larger than four others that curl back. Brown papery sepals protect the base of the flower.	Crinkled leaves are opposite and have indented veins. Flowers grow along the top of the stem.
Bird's Foot Fern Pellaea mucronata A fern, growing to 2 feet tall. Fronds form a narrow triangle. Leaflets often appear dented, have space between them, and curl under at the edges. Found in rocky habits. CA native	Leaflets are separate from each other, and curled under along the edges.	Underside of leaflet has brown sporangia.	Frond is triangular in shape, with separate leaflets often looking dented from above.
Chaparral Pea Pickeringia montana CA Bloom May - Aug Pink flower Pea petals Alternate leaves Slopes ridges CA native
Leather Oak Quercus durata Height 3 - 12 ft. CA Bloom Apr - May Leather oak is a shrub that does well in poor soils and dry conditions. Leathery leaves are hairy and spiny. It's often found with manzanita in serpentine chaparral. CA native. Found only in California.	Leaves are tough and leathery, curled under, and have spiny teeth on the margins.	Leather Oak is a dense leafy shrub, and is often found serpentine chaparral.	Leaves are covered in hair. Acorn caps are bumpy and rough.
Fremont's 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.
Sand Verbena Abronia latifolia Height to 6 in. CA Bloom Mar - Oct Yellow flower Five, round petals Opposite, simple leaves Coastal CA native
Beach Sagewort Artemisia pycnocephala CA Bloom May - Aug Tiny yellow flowers with some brown and green in them, forming a ball. Not as aromatic as the related sagebrush. Small alternate leaves shaped like mittens. Found on coastal strands CA native	Rounded, yellow flowers among a thick growth of leaves.	Leaves like fingers.	Pale grey to white foliage with flower spikes sticking up to 4 feet tall.
Seaside Daisy Erigeron glaucus CA Bloom May - July Grasslands and brushy slopes near the coast. Brown flower color. Grows low to the ground. Puckered, spiny leaves on the ground. Found only in CA
Beach Pea Lathyrus littoralis CA Bloom Mar - May Pink, violet, white flower Pea petals Alternate leaves Coastal CA native
Elegant Brodiaea Brodiaea elegans CA Bloom Mar - Aug Blue, violet flower Six petals Basal leaves Slopes CA native
Yellow Mariposa Lily Calochortus luteus CA Bloom May - June Height to 2 ft. This is a bowl-shaped yellow lily, with exotic markings. It has only a single, narrow basal leaf. Found in grasslands in northern California. CA native. Endemic to California.	3 yellow petals 1 or 2 inches wide, are deep yellow on top and densely decorated in red-brown below.	Narrow sepals grow below and in the gap between petals. Hairs towards the petal bases cover nectar glands.	One to seven flowers bloom on stalks at the top of the plant.
Wight's Indian Paintbrush Castilleja wightii CA Bloom Mar - Aug Flowers hairy. Grows on the roots of other plants. Found in coastal areas CA native	Orange, red or yellow flowers.	A spike of flowers at the top of a robust stem.	Here's a red bloom, on a coastal bluff.
Hayfield Tarweed Hemizonia congesta CA Bloom Apr - Dec White, yellow flower Many petals Alternate, basal leaves CA native
Ground Iris Iris macrosiphon Blooms Mar-May This purple iris flower sits low to the ground. Leaves are narrow and long, with parallel veins. They're glossy on both sides. Found mostly in grassy areas. CA native.	Flowers are low to the ground. Leaves are the same glossy green on top and bottom.	3 upright inner petals are surrounded by 3 similarly-colored sepals that reflex outward. The sepals have markings that act as nectar guides to pollinators.	The flower has a long tube at its base.
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.
Tidy Tips Layia platyglossa CA Bloom February to May. Flower heads are fragrant. Leaves on the stem are narrow and smooth-edged (entire). Basal leaves have lobes. A coastal form has all-yellow petal-like ray flowers; the inland form has white tips. Tidy Tips can cover grasslands in yellow. CA native.	This inland form has white tips. Note the 3 lobes at the end of each ray flower.	Below the flower is a cup of green, hairy, round-tipped phyllaries - one for each ray flower.	Leaves are narrow, rough and hairy.
False Babystars Leptosiphon androsaceus CA Bloom Mar - Jun Height to 8". The flower shows a five- lobed corolla with a long narrow tube. Found in grasslands. CA native	Flowers are about 1/2" wide but extend downward in a thread-like tube about 1". At the base of the flowers are deeply-divided, leaf-like bracts.	Yellow stamens arise from a dark throat, and a slender, 3-part stigma extends further still.	Opposite stem leaves are broadly palmate with narrow divisions.
Lace Parsnip Lomatium dasycarpum CA Bloom Mar - Jun Green, white, yellow flower Five petals Basal leaves Ridges CA native
Purple Needle Grass Stipa pulchra Perennial Bunch Grass 14"-3 ft. Inflorescence branched 7-24" 1 floret per spikelet Floret awns to 3.9" Glume awns to 0.2" CA Bloom Mar - May Stipa pulchra comes from Greek and Latin words meaning "beautiful fiber". It will catch your eye, with its waving, purplish spikelets and long awns. Purple Needle Grass is widespread and is the California State Grass. CA native.	Purple Needlegrass has an open inflorescence and long awns. It has only one floret per spikelet.	Spikelets are purplish. Awns are needle-like and about as long as your pinkie (1.5 to 4"). Awns bend twice when they're mature.	The weight of the spikelets and the length of their awns causes the grass to bend at the top and wave in the wind.
Yampah Perideridia kelloggii CA Bloom Jun - Aug Height to 4 ft. Small white flowers grow on stalks that are arranged like umbrella spokes (an umbel). The umbel clusters are also connected like an umbrella, forming a double umbel. Compound leaves have long, narrow lobes. Found in grasslands. CA native. Endemic to CA.	Rounded clusters of small flowers sit on stalks that join at a point, like an umbrella.	Leaflets near the base of the plant are long and narrow and often forked. Flowers and fruits are tiny and beautiful.	Yampah grows in grasslands, often in serpentine soils.
Sandwort Sabulina douglasii CA Bloom Apr - Jun Height less than 8". Flowers appear at the tip of branches. Found on rocky or sandy slopes, often in serpentine soil. CA native	The flower is less than 1/2" across and has a green center. White petals are rounded.	The small, white flower has 5 pointed, green sepals that are shorter than the petals.	A slender stem often branches. Opposite leaves are curling and threadlike.
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.
Blue-Eyed Grass Sisyrinchium bellum Height 1 - 2 ft. CA Bloom Mar - May This is not a grass but an iris. At the top of each stem are violet flowers with darker purple lines leading to a yellow center. It's common in open, usually moist areas. CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.	Beautiful 1/2" wide flowers have blue to violet petals and a golden yellow center to guide pollinators in.	Leaves are grass-like, narrow with parallel veins.	The ovary is below the flower and, if pollinated, develops into a capsule-like fruit.
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.
California Golden Banner Thermopsis californica CA Bloom Apr - Oct Height to 6 ft. Plants grow in colonies, connected by underground stems ( rhizomes). Seeds have very hard coats and generally only open in fire. CA native. Found only in California.	Bright yellow pea-shaped flowers form a spike at the top of the plant.	Leaflets are in 3s. Leaves are hairy, with a pair of leaf-like stipules at their base.	Spikes of yellow flowers extend above the leaves.
Narrow Leaf Mule Ears Wyethia angustifolia CA Bloom Mar - Jul Large yellow flowers, many petals. Generally one flower per stem. Fuzzy phillaries below the flower. Long, fairly narrow flower stems. CA native	A large flower, several inches across, with many bright yellow petals. Brown and yellow center.	Leaf-like structures under the flower (phyllaries are soft and hairy.	Narrow leaves at the base of this plant.
Alkali Heath Frankenia salina CA Bloom May - Oct Small pink 5-petaled trumpet flowers with pointed petals grow from leaf nodes. Opposite leaves Found in coastal salt-marsh, it can excrete salt through its leaves. CA native	Tiny 5-petaled white or pink flowers.	Leaves are opposite, have a strong central vein, smooth edges, and a pointed tip.	Can grow to 18 inches, often prostrate.
Gumweed Grindelia stricta CA Bloom May - Oct Yellow flower Many petals Alternate leaves Coastal salt-marsh CA native
Fleshy Jaumea Jaumea carnosa CA Bloom May - Jul Yellow flower Many, no petals Opposite leaves Coastal salt-marsh CA native
Marsh Rosemary Limonium californicum CA Bloom Jun - Sep Violet flower Five petals Basal leaves Coastal salt-marsh CA native
Elk Clover Aralia californica Height 6 - 10 ft. CA Bloom Jun - Sep This is no clover - it grows to 10 feet tall! Large compound leaves and multiple white flower balls are distinctive. Stems are thick but break easily. Found in or near stream beds. CA native	Spherical clusters of small flowers on tall stalks rise above large compound leaves.	Leaf groups can be over 1 foot long.	Closeup of flower shows a ball-like cluster of tiny flowers at the end of a flower stalk. These turn into dark purple berries.
Leopard Lily Lilium pardalinum CA Bloom Jun - Jul What a treat to find this big showy lily! It has six orange petals, spotted inside and darker orange outside. Since it is a lily, it has narrow parallel-veined leaves. Found on stream banks and damp areas. CA native	Large orange nodding flowers, with long stamens, hang down from the top of the stem. Narrow leaves.	Flower petals have many dark purple spots on the inside.	Leopard Lily grows in small groups to about 4 feet tall, with a nodding flower at the top of the stem.
Twinberry Lonicera involucrata CA Bloom Jun - Aug Orange, yellow flower Five, irreg petals Opposite leaves Coastal CA native
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.
Labrador Tea Rhododendron columbianum CA Bloom May - Aug A shrub that grows to 7 feet tall. Clusters of white flowers with long stamens. Leaves are evergreen, thick, and fragrant when crushed. CA native.	Each flower has 5 white Rhododendron petals, green centers, and long stamens.	Flowers in groups of 10 to 30, each with a long stalk ( pedicel).	Evergreen leaves are fragrant when crushed.
Western Azalea Rhododendron occidentale CA Bloom May - Jun Look for Rhododendron flowers - 5 white or pink petals often with a yellow spot on one of the petals. Alternate leaves are large, up to 4 inches long, and deciduous. Found along stream banks and other wetlands. CA native	Fragrant flowers about 2 inches across, often with yellow on the inside.	Leaves about an inch wide and 4 inches long.	Shrub, grows to 16 feet tall.
Chain Fern Woodwardia fimbriata Chain Fern is easy to recognize. You'll always find it near (or in) water and it's huge. Fronds are flat, 20 inches wide and grow over 6 feet long. The underside often shows chains of large reproductive sori in two rows. Found near streams or seeps. CA native.	Fronds are flat and smooth-edged, and form a regular geometrical pattern. They grow over 6 feet long.	If you turn the frond over you'll sometimes find long chains of tan sori, a velvety substance containing spores for the next generation.	Chain fern loves water and shade. It's bigger than most other ferns.
Hounds Tongue Adelinia grandis CA Bloom Feb - Aug Hound's tongue is an early bloomer, showing blue flowers above big hound's tongue leaves. Flowers are pink in bud, pale blue when fertile, and darker later in life. Found on well-drained shaded slopes. CA native	Leaves are large, wide and long, like a hound's tongue. Flowers appear in a loose cluster at the top of an erect stem.	Flowers have 5 blue petals that surround 5 white nectaries. They look similar to Forget-Me-Not, whose central appendages are yellow.	Tiny nutlets grow in groups of 4, although they may not all develop. They're covered in hooks to cling to passing animals.
Henderson's Angelica Angelica hendersonii CA Bloom May - Aug White flower Five petals Alternate leaves Coastal CA native
Vanilla Grass Anthoxanthum occidentale Perennial Bunch Grass 24"-3 ft. Inflorescence branched 3-5", lower branches droop. 2 infertile and 1 fertile floret per spikelet No awns CA Bloom Jan - Jul Leaves are fragrant - a sweet vanilla smell. Found in conifer forests along the California coast. CA native	Glumes are roundish, almost covering the florets. Flowers are large for a grass. A pair of white stigmas stick way out of the fertile floret.	The inflorescence is loose and drooping. Flower stalks are wavy (not straight).	Fairly wide pointed leaves grow upwards from near the bottom of the stem. They're stiff, widest in the middle, and grow to 12".
Fairy Slipper Calypso bulbosa CA Bloom Mar - Jun Pollinated by bees, but does not give nectar. Leaves grow at the base of the plant CA native	Pink, red and white orchid flower.	Leaves are wide with parallel veins.	Grows to 5" tall, often in sheltered areas under pines or firs.
Beaked Hazelnut Corylus cornuta CA Bloom Feb - Mar Tiny petals Alternate leaves Streambanks slopes CA native
Red Larkspur Delphinium nudicaule CA Bloom Mar - Jun Long flowers are pollinated by hummingbirds. Long very thin stems to 2 feet tall. Wooded, often rocky slopes up to 8,5000 feet. CA native	Trumpet-like larkspur flowers can be red or orange.	Flower stalks ( pedicels)for each flower. Leaves have deep cuts.	Flowers on very thin stems.
California Honeysuckle Lonicera hispidula CA Bloom Apr - Jul This is a woody vine that can climb 30 feet into trees. You'll notice them hanging down from branches. Vines end in pink trumpet flowers whose lips fold back to reveal long stamens. Common in canyons, stream sides and woodlands, especially near the coast. CA native. Endemic to the California Floristic Province.	Vines end in pink flowers, full of nectar (thus, Honeysuckle). Hummingbird and bees pollinate the flowers in their search for the nectar.	Pollinated flowers turn into bright-red translucent berries.	Leaves near the flower wrap around the stem. Leaves further down are opposite.