All the rain has brought lots of flowers out. Hound’s tongue and milkmaids are at meadow’s edge while footsteps of spring are up on the ridge, warrior plume’s large patch is still very colorful at 15 and trillium is in the canyons.

California buttercup
Ranunculus californicus

Douglas iris
Iris douglasiana

Fairy bells
Prosartes hookeri

Wild cucumber
Marah fabacea

Miner's lettuce
Claytonia perfoliata

Oso berry
Oemleria cerasiformis

Suncups
Taraxia ovata

Woodland strawberry
Fragaria vesca

NEW
– California buttercup’s (Ranunculus californicus) glossy yellow flowers are starting to brighten meadows. They are one of the few wildflowers that will persist into the warm months when most other spring flowers have faded.

– Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana) blooms white or pale purple in forests. Ground iris’s dark purple blooms started a few weeks ago in ridgetop meadows.

– Fairy bells (Prosartes hookeri) is a forest wildflower. Small and multibranched, the flowers are often hidden below the leaves.

– Wild cucumber (Marah fabacea), this vine is climbing up from the forest floor with white flowers.

– Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) will bloom in wet seeps for as long as they’re wet. Edible.

– Oso berry (Oemleria cerasiformis) has flowers blooming white and fragrant as this shrub is leafing out.

– Suncups (Taraxia ovata), a yellow, four-petaled flower blooms in a rosette of leaves. It is the first wildflower this spring in South-facing meadows.

– Woodland strawberry (Fragaria vesca), is blooming with white flowers under chaparral and at forest edges.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

California blackberry
Rubus ursinus

Footsteps of spring
Sanicula arctopoides

Fremont's deathcamas
Toxicoscordion fremontii

Ground iris
Iris macrosiphon

Spring gold
Lomatium utriculatum

Woolly lomatium
Lomatium dasycarpum

North-facing meadows are coming alive with wildflowers. Seek them out for hound’s tongue, milkmaid and iris now with fritillary lilies coming soon. Find trillium, fetid adder’s tongue and warrior’s plume along the Homestead Trail in our north-facing forests.

NEW
– California blackberry (Rubus ursinus), the native blackberry grows low as a groundcover.

– Footsteps of spring (Sanicula arctopoides) is blooming bright chartreuse, tight against the ground like footsteps.

– Fremont’s deathcamas (Toxicoscordion fremontii) is blooming with large white clusters in meadows.

– Ground iris (Iris macrosiphon) is blooming deep purple in meadows.

– Spring gold (Lomatium utriculatum) is blooming with bright yellow clusters and carroty foliage in meadows.

– Woolly lomatium (Lomatium dasycarpum) is blooming with cream clusters and carroty foliage in meadows.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

Greene's saxifrage
Micranthes californica

Warrior's plume
Pedicularis densiflora

The forest is waking up with all this rain. Hound’s tongue is in bud and will be blooming soon.

NEW
– Greene’s saxifrage (Micranthes californica) is blooming on the Ridgewood Rock. Small and delicate, this is the only place it is found in Homestead.

– Warrior’s plume (Pedicularis densiflora) is blooming along the Homestead Trail (at junction 15 on the HVLT trail map). This large patch blooms every year at this location and is one of the best and easiest to observe displays of wildflowers in Homestead.

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.

Alum root
Heuchera micrantha

American speedwell
Veronica americana

American trailplant
Adenocaulon bicolor

California everlasting
Pseudognaphalium californicum

California spikenard
Aralia californica

Chamise
Adenostoma fasciculatum

Hayfield tarweed
Hemizonia congesta s. lutescens

Lance leaf selfheal
Prunella vulgaris v. lanceolata

Naked buckwheat
Eriogonum nudum v. nudum

Sticky monkeyflower
Diplacus aurantiacus

Toyon
Heteromeles arbutifolia

Wavyleaf soap plant
Chlorogalum pomeridianum

NEW
– Alum root (Heuchera micrantha) is blooming with small white flowers in forests seeps.
– American speedwell (Veronica americana) has small blue flowers and grows in seeps.
– American trailplant (Adenocaulon bicolor) has white flowers on top of a long stalk over arrow-shaped leaves.
– California everlasting (Pseudognaphalium californicum) with white straw flowers is blooming in meadows.
– California spikenard (Aralia californica), a large shrub growing along creeks is blooming white.
– Chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) is blooming white and frothy on the Red Plum Trail knoll. The most widespread of chaparral plants, this is the only one in Homestead.
– Hayfield tarweed (Hemizonia congesta s. lutescens) bright yellow ray flowers are blooming in meadows.
– Lance leaf self heal (Prunella vulgaris v. lanceolata) is blooming with purple velvet beehive flowers in seeps.
– Naked buckwheat (Eriogonum nudum v. nudum) is blooming on rocks in sun.
– Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), a small tree is blooming with white clusters that will be red berries later.
– Wavyleaf soap plant (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) is blooming with sprays of white flowers at forest edge that bloom in late afternoon.

Forests
– Broadleaf hellebore* (Epipactis helleborine), an orchid native to Eurasia, is blooming green and pink in forests.
– Buckeye (Aesculus californica), a deciduous tree has leafed out and is just starting to bloom with white clusters.
– Thimbleberry (Rubus parviflorus) is just leafing out for the season and is blooming white in forests.
– White hawkweed is blooming white in forests.

Forest Edge
– Hedgenettle (Stachys rigida quercetorum) with purple flower towers is blooming at forest edge.
– Spicebush is blooming with large burgundy flowers along Laverne in gardens and in Three Groves below the first bridge.
– Yerba buena, a creeping ground cover with bright green leaves is blooming with small white flowers at forest edge.

Meadow
– California poppy (Eschscholzia californica) with its bright orange bell blooms in meadows.
– Common yarrow is blooming with white clusters in meadows.

*non-native

Gallery of wildflowers and plants found in Homestead.