Plants at the Piedras Blancas Rookery

California Sagebrush (Artemisia californica)

California Sagebrush is an ever-gray shrub, three to four feet high. The plant branches from the base and grows out from there, becoming rounded. The stems of the plant are slender, flexible and hairless or fuzzy. The leaves range from 1 to 10 centimeters long. The plant contains terpenes which make it quite aromatic. The Chumash had several medical uses for it and also used it in funeral and winter solstice ceremonies.

The branches were sometimes used as parts of arrow shafts.

Coastal Buckwheat (Eriogonum latifolium)

aka: Seaside, Coast or Wild Buckwheat, Coast Eriogonum

This plant is native to the coastline from California to Washington state. It is a perennial herb. Its height depends in part on its degree of exposure to the stiff maritime winds of its habitat. It may be quite small or sprawl to a height of nearly 30 inches. The pale green leaves are oval, woolly, and sometimes waxy and are mostly basal. At the end of each branch is a cluster of pinkish flowers.

Buckwheat Flowers

*Common Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)

Fennel is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is generally considered indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean, but has become widely naturalized and may now be found growing wild in many parts of the world, especially on dry soils near the sea coast and on river banks. It is not native to the U.S. It is a highly aromatic and flavorful herb with a fragrance reminiscent of anise, licorice and tarragon. The variety azoricumis or Florence Fennel, forms an edible bulb-like structure. It is much less invasive than Common Fennel. *Non-native plant currently being removed.

Coyote Brush (Baccharis pilularis)

aka: Coyote Bush or Chaparral Broom

Coyote Brush is a common chaparral plant in California and Oregon. In windy coastal areas like ours it tends to grow low to the ground. Its numerous small and stiff gray-green leaves are jagged on the edges. Egg-shaped and from 0.5 to 1.0 inch long, the leaves have a waxy coating. The bush has male and female flowers on separate plants. (Females are white; males are yellow). Native Americans used the leaves to brush spines from prickly-pear fruit. Boiled, the leaves, or the tea from them, were used to heal wounds and poison oak rashes.

Coyote Brush Flowers

Gum Weed (Grindelia robusta)

aka: Tarweed, Rosinweed, Sticky-Heads

A genus of coarse, tap-rooted, mostly perennial plants or subshrubs native to the Americas. They have alternate leaves and heads of aster- like yellow flowers, often sweet-smelling and sticky. The flower head fills with a copious white exudate, especially during the early stages of blooming. This plant has a number of historical medical uses.

Dudleya aka: Live-Forever

Dudleya is a large genus of about 40 species, many of which are native to California and several of which thrive along the central coast. Typically they are found in rock outcroppings, cliff faces, or road cuts, where their leaves help them store water in a set-ting too dry for most types of plants. Dudleya flowers normally arise from somewhere near the bottom of the rosettes. Flower colors range from white to yellow to bright red. With proper care, some species can survive up to a hundred years—hence their common name Live-Forever.

*Ice Plant Marigold Family

(Carpobrotus chilensis) aka: Sea Fig. Flowers are a magenta color. A native of South Africa. It has a very invasive nature. It has climbed willows and killed them.

(Carpobrotus edulis) aka: Hottentot Fig. Flowers yellow to pink. A native of South Africa. Originally used for erosion control and highway plantings. It has a very invasive nature. *Non-native plant currently being removed.

Ice Plant

(Green color)

Sea Fig Hottentot Fig

*Oxalis (Oxalis pres-caprae) Wood Sorrel Family

aka: Bermuda Buttercup, African Wood-Sorrel, Bermuda Sorrel, Buttercup Oxalis, Cape Sorrel, English Weed, Goats-Foot, Sourgrass, Soursob, and Soursop.

A very invasive plant indigenous to South Africa, it has trifoliate heart-shaped leaves with brown or purple spots on top. It is a winter or spring biennial plant. Its yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers grow in groups of 3-16. *Non-native plant currently being removed.

Three leaflets with scalloped, toothed, or lobed edges.

Summer Red colors of Fall

Poison Oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum)

aka: Western Poison Oak, Pacific Poison Oak.

Western Poison Oak is extremely variable in growth habit and leaf appearance. It grows as a dense shrub in open sunlight or as a climbing vine in the shade. The leaves are divided into three leaflets with scalloped, toothed or lobed edges, that generally resemble the leaves of a true oak—though the Western Poison Oak leaves tend to be more glossy. The leaves are typically bronze when they first unfold, bright green in the Spring, yellow-green to reddish in the Summer, and bright red or pink in the Fall. In the Winter, it is with-out leaves. Western Poison Oak leaves and twigs have a surface oil which causes an allergic reaction to many humans.

If you come in contact with poison oak, it is a good idea to wash your skin and clothes as soon as possible.

Seaside Woolly Yarrow (Eriophyllum staechadifolium)

aka: Woolly Sunflower, Lizard Tail

Flowers are bright yellow with 8-15 petals growing in loose clusters at the top of the stems. The tips of the petals turn pale with age. Seaside Woolly Yarrow is a native perennial that blooms May to July. The leaves are gray-green on top, white woolly below, deeply cut, and are very fragrant. It is found at elevations between sea level and 330 feet.