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Have you ever noticed that Edgewood Park here in Redwood City has some of the most stunning wildflower displays around? The reason is the rare serpentine soils found at Edgewood, which nurture many of California’s iconic native wildflowers.
Serpentine: a hostile environment that breeds rare native plants
You may have known that we have a state flower (the California poppy) and a state bird (California quail), but did you know we have a state rock? Serpentine is not only the official rock of California; it’s home to an amazing community of native California plants.
Serpentine soil constitutes only 1% of the land in California, but it is home to 12% of the state’s endemic plant species (meaning species that exist only in California). This is not because serpentine soil is especially fertile – on the contrary, it’s unusually harsh and forbidding. Serpentine soils have extremely low levels of the nutrients most plants need to thrive (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and calcium) and they also have extremely high levels of heavy metals that can be harmful to plants. Most plants simply can’t survive in serpentine soil.
But over millennia, certain plants – including many California wildflowers – adapted to thrive in exactly these harsh conditions. As a result, those plants were safe from competition from invasive species that are not accustomed to serpentine’s nutrient-poor environment.
However, in modern times, an unexpected threat has emerged to California’s serpentine plant community – nitrogen deposition from automobile exhaust. You may not have realized that the nitrogen oxides that our cars spew into the air are deposited on the soil – and nitrogen is a potent fertilizer that does not naturally occur in serpentine soils. Now, invasive plants that couldn’t previously grow in serpentine soils are encroaching on this rare and fragile habitat.
Edgewood Park has 160 acres of serpentine soils, and the park is home to several plant species that only live in serpentine soils – in fact, one species, the endangered San Mateo thornmint, existed only at Edgewood before conservation efforts introduced it at Pulgas Ridge, just to the north. To protect this threatened habitat, Edgewood was declared a Natural Preserve thirty years ago, and a dedicated corps of volunteers spend their days removing invasive plants and restoring the native serpentine plant community.
What’s in bloom at Edgewood?
Wildflower season is almost over, but there are still plenty of gorgeous blooms to see at Edgewood! I went hiking there last weekend, and the photo collage above is composed entirely of flowers I spotted on my hike. (From left to right and top to bottom, they are: California poppy, yerba santa, fringed checkerbloom, tidy-tip, yellow mariposa lily, clarkia, hawksbeard, sticky monkeyflower, and pale flax.)
Grasslands are the best places to see wildflowers, so your best bet is to start at the Sunset Gate and check out the Sunset, Serpentine or Clarkia trails. The Clarkia trail in particular is a great place to experience masses of flaming orange sticky monkeyflower bushes, delicate purple yerba santa blossoms, and of course the deep pink clarkia for which the trail is named. Clarkia (also called “farewell-to-spring”) will usually keep blooming well into July, so now is a great time to hike the Clarkia trail to see these lovely wildflowers.
Finally, you should NEVER EVER pick wildflowers! Edgewood is a nature preserve, meaning it’s illegal to remove or disturb any plants or animals or to go off of the designated trails. Many volunteers have worked for years to restore and protect Edgewood’s fragile habitat, so please don’t destroy everything they’ve worked for by picking or stepping on the wildflowers.
What are your favorite Edgewood wildflowers? Tell me in the comments!
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