Blog by Tina Saravia
Along a well-maintained trail off the parking lot of our first stop on the Sonoma coast, I eyed an old, familiar-looking plant - the bright yellow sticky monkey flower (Diplacus aurantiacus). My first excited response was to touch it to check if it was indeed sticky. Upon contact and positive identification, I heard a voice behind me say, “Careful of the poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum), it’s growing within the blackberries (Rubus spp.)” The wise hiker was right. In my excitement of breathing fresh, cool ocean breeze, I’d forgotten about the adage, “leaves of three, leave it be.”
I did not want to get a rash from the poison oak (shiny, leaves of three), and get scratched from the blackberry rambles (not as shiny but thorny leaves of three) on our first day on the coast. I took a picture and off I went, making sure to keep my wandering hands to myself.
Next stop was the delightful small coastal town of Gualala - pronounced Wa-la-la by the natives. It came from the Kashaya Pomo Indian phrase, "ah kha wa la lee" which means, "Where the water flows down."
We walked the path below our balcony window, overlooking the river that separates the town from the ocean, and found some interesting plants along the cliffs.
The coast buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium) appears to have buds that were not quite ready to open. I can only imagine how much more interesting it will be with its multiple pink flowers.
Another noticeable plant is this towering non-native Echium spp. plant. A close-up of the picture will show the tiny blue flowers. It belongs to the family Boraginaceae — the forget-me-not-family; an appropriate family to be in, for once you see one of these, you can’t forget them.
I also took a picture of a plant that I cannot positively identify, but it serves as a nice foreground contrast to the blue waters to remind me of this wondrous place.
The website from the California Native Plant Society has been very helpful for plant identification. https://calscape.org.
It’s got very good photos and descriptions. It talks about growing different CA native plants in different conditions, like sticky monkey flower, as long as I give it some shade, and I will make sure to grow it away from the “leaves of three.”
Off to the next stop, up north on more winding roads to see more plants and breathe more coastal, foggy air, but that’s a story for next time.
