Spring officially begins this year on the March equinox, March 19. The vernal equinox occurs when the sun is directly above the equator creating an equal length of day and night. If our local bees, working furiously since January are any indicator, the onset of Spring has little to do with the calendar.
The Bryson area enjoys a prolonged season of wildflower bloom, often lasting from late December into June. One of the earliest flowers to appear is Big Berry Manzanita (Arctostaphylos glauca). This attractive shrub is identified by its red branching structure and white bell-like flowers. It can grow quite large, becoming a small tree up to 20 feet tall. Like our native oaks, manzanita is allelopathic. Chemicals in the leaf litter and root system inhibit the germination of other plants in its understory. You can observe this in the clean circle around a bush containing only dried leaves, flowers, and berries.
Just outside the manzanita detritus circle, you may notice the red plumes of Indian Warrior (Pedicularis densiflora). Indian Warrior is a root parasite, drawing water and nutrients from plants of the heath family like manzanita.
Bees are not the only ones to enjoy the first fruits of the season. Indigenous people, hungry for spring greens, boiled the early heart-shaped leaves of Viola pedunculata. California Golden Violet is a perennial growing from rhizomes. The bright yellow flowers with distinctive brown markings on the back, spread like a carpet in areas of filtered sunlight.
Miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata), takes its name from California gold rush miners who used it as a salad. This tender herbaceous annual was also eaten by the Cahuilla people. The unique leaf with a round base pierced through the center by the stem makes it easy to identify.
Another harbinger of Spring is Padre's Shooting Star (Primula clevelandii). This pretty purple and gold perennial herb covers wide swaths of the hillsides in February and March. Though it looks good enough to eat it is not edible. There is also a pure white subspecies that you may find interspersed among the purple.
While it is impossible to assign dates and times to the appearance of specific wildflowers, there is a predictable succession to many of our local favorites. This will be the topic for next month's article as well as a Wildflower Hike scheduled for Saturday, April 20th from 1-3 pm.
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