Generated by CNPLX; checklist last changed on 06/04/2003 08:48
	Note: The following is a substantial excerpt from a brochure available in the parking lot of Jughandle State Reserve just off Highway 1, directly north of Caspar, Mendocino County. The brochure is printed by the State of California and distributed by Califormia State Parks. The text quoted here is © 1998 by Teresa Sholars. The purpose of re-presenting part of the brochure here is to demonstrate the checklist and report capabilities of CNPLX. This HTML document was generated by CNPLX from a checklist.
	Jughandle State Reserve Ecological Staircase Trail
	You are standing on one of the most interesting geological areas in the northern hemisphere. Here, time, geological forces and climate have all interacted to form a staircase of distinct plant communities and associated soils, culminating in the unique Pygmy Forest. The numbers in this brochure correspond to numbered posts that you will find along the trail. The trail is about 2.5 miles long and takes approximately 3 hours to complete.

Picea sitchensis	Sitka spruce	(Tree)
5. At the edge of the bluff stands a grove of small Sitka spruce. The bluish needles of the young foliage stand out against the green foliage of the surrounding forest trees. At close glance this species is easy to identify with its sharply pointed needles growing from a small sturdy peg or wooden petiole. Find a branch without needles so you can feel the bumpy pegs. Only spruces have these wooden pegs. Its cones are similar to Douglas fir without the "mouse tail" like bract. Sitka spruce is a fairly rare tree this far south. It is found in the Pacific northwest from Alaska down to Mendocino county. Habitats coastal Wetland FAC Elevation 0 - 656 feet		Charles Webber © 2000 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Abies grandis	grand fir	(Tree)
6. This oddly shaped Grand fir is lying on its side, its upright branches killed by the drying effect of salt-laden winds. Growing to about 200', its thin bark is often covered with patches of white crustose lichens and sap pockets. The needle tips are shaped in an 'm', with two white stomatal lines on the back of each needle. All true firs have erect deciduous cones, shattering on the tree, spreading their seeds in the winds. Thus mature cones are seldom seen on the ground. Occasionally immature cones partially eaten by a Gray or Douglas squirrel may be seen along the trail. Seedlings germinate well in shady sites. The heartwood and sapwood is white and like the foliage is quite aromatic. These trees are common near the coast, where they tolerate the salty winds, but more rare inland to about 10 miles. They grow from northern Sonoma Co to southern British Columbia eastward to Montana and Idaho. The wood is used for general construction and pulpwood. They live up to 200 years. Elevation 0 - 2296 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Calamagrostis nutkaensis	Pacific reedgrass	(Perennial herb)
7. Once, before plowing and grazing of the Coastal Prairies, this large tufted grass covered much of the headlands. Now it is only common in isolated patches in the Closed-Cone Pine Forest and in the Coastal Prairie where occasionally it can compete with the introduced grasses. Habitats freshwater-marsh Wetland FACW Elevation 0 - 3280 feet		© 2001 Tom Annese (CalPhotos)
Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum	Flowering Currant	(Shrub)
8. This deciduous shrub has pink flowers in the spring and purple currants in the fall that provide food for wildlife. The alternate leaves are veined and lobed like a maple leaf. Its flowers and leaves have a distinctive smell. This species is often used in ornamental landscapes and occurs in riparian moist sites from Washington to central California. Elevation 0 - 3281 feet		coastal scrub, Navarro bluff (c) 2002 J Malpas
Pinus muricata	Bishop pine	(Tree)
9. You are standing in a forest type that is not common in California, the North Coast Bishop Pine Forest. Unlike most conifers, Bishop pine does not open its cones and distribute its seeds when they are mature. They release their seeds only when the cones are exposed to intense heat. This adaptation to fire discharges seeds into a bed of fertile ash. Bishop pine grows to less than 100' and is fairly short lived to approximately 80 years. It grows on sandy soils here on the first terrace near the ocean, on old dunes in patches in the Redwood Forests and in older soils in the Pygmy Forest. It ranges from coastal northern Baja to Humboldt Co. The mature trees are round headed instead of the typical cone shape of most conifers. Elevation 0 - 984 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Rhamnus purshiana	cascara sagrada	(Tree, Shrub)
11. A laxative is derived from the bark of this deciduous tree. This species grows up to 50' tall, with alternate glossy leaves, distinct veins and leaf margins that can be smooth to serrate. Black round fruits provide food for birds and small mammals. It grows in riparian areas and other moist sites from British Columbia to Baja. Moisture moist Wetland FACU* Elevation 0 - 6561 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)

Salix lucida ssp. lasiandra	Pacific willow	(Tree)
12. Willows are one of the most common riparian plants in temperate regions worldwide. Willows are all deciduous with long alternate leaves. This species can be a shrub or a tree to 40' tall. At the base of its finely serrate, darker green leaves is a leaf-like structure called a stipule. Willow bark has long been known as a pain reliever. Chemists copied natural molecules from this plant to make the synthetic drug aspirin. Shining willow is common in wet meadows, along rivers and seashores to 6,000' throughout California north to Alaska. Moisture moist wet Wetland OBL Elevation 0 - 8000 feet		Charles Webber © 1999 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Alnus rubra	Oregon Alder	(Tree, Shrub)
13. Red alder reaches up to 130' tall. It has alternate, doubly serrate deciduous leaves with distinct veins. Turn over the leaf and look at the rolled under leaf margin. This feature distinguishes it from the inland white alder that has float leaf margins. Alder fruits resemble small cones, distributing the seed by gusts of wind. Red alder is a very important tree due to the nitrogen-fixing bacterium, Frankia, living within its roots. The bacterium provides the nitrogen that is used to create amino acids and protein. These nutrients then filter through the riparian food web. Red alder occurs along stream beds and moist sites along the coast from Alaska to southern California. Wetland FACW Elevation 0 - 3281 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Sambucus racemosa	red elderberry	(Shrub)
14. Notive the opposite leaves on this deciduous tree. Each leaf is made up of 5 to 7 leaflets. The white flowers produce red fruits that are toxic to humans, but important to birds. Red elderberry grows along the coast from British Columbia to southern California. The word Sambucus for the genus of all elderberries is derived from the musical instrument Sambuke because this tree was the source of its wood. Pith used in botany laboratories is derived from this tree. Wetland FACU Elevation 0 - 11000 feet		Charles Webber © 1999 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Myrica californica	California Wax-myrtle	(Shrub)
15. This white barked small evergreen tree can grow to approximately 30'. Birds like the fruit. Its roots also host the nitrogen-fixing bacterium Frankia. Habitats coastal Wetland FAC+ Elevation 0 - 492 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Pinus radiata	Monterey pine	(Tree)
17. Look and see if you can tell the difference between the greener 3-needled Monterey pine and the native 2-needled Bishop pine. The Monterey pines were planted here by early landowners but are native only to the Monterey peninsula. Rarity 3		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii	Douglas-fir	(Tree)
20. This is a young tree. At maturity it can grow well over 300'. Douglas fir is easy to identify with its uniform length needles on branches that end in a red pointed bud. The sapwood is white and the heartwood pink. Old bark is deeply furrowed; when cut you can see alternating layers of red phloem and yellow cork. The cones resemble Sitka spruce cones except that there is a 3-lobed bract sticking out from each scale. This is a widely distributed tree growing in the mountains and coastal regions from central California to British Columbia and from mountains in Mexico north through the Rocky Mountains to Canada. Depending on local conditions it can live from 500 to 1,200 years. Douglas fir is the most important timber tree in the U.S. because its wood is very strong and hard. Most framing lumber is Douglas fir. It is also the leading species for plywood veneer. The bark is used as a potting soil amendment and as a source of tannins, waxes, and food preservatives. Important nitrogen fixing lichens live in the canopy of old growth Douglas fir and contribute to the minerals cycle needed for forest health. This tree provides food for the Douglas squirrel and other forest animals. Moisture moist Elevation 0 - 5000 feet		Charles Webber © 1998 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)

Arctostaphylos columbiana	hairy manzanita	(Tree, Shrub)
21. Feel the bark on this manzanita. Last year's bark is sparse and peeling away. This year's bark is red, hard, and smooth. Hairy manzanita can grow as a shrub or small tree depending on light availability. It has white flowers, blooming in January and February when there are few other flowers in bloom, providing a source of food for bumblebees. It is similar to one of its relatives, the madrone tree, which has orange peeling bark and larger leaves. Madrones are rare this close to the coast. Manzanita berries are mealy but edible. Hairy manzanita grows in coniferous forest along the coast from sea level to 2,500' from northern California to British Columbia. Elevation 0 - 2624 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Rhododendron macrophyllum	California rose-bay	(Shrub)
22. There are over 100 species of rhododendron in the north temperate region and Austrailia. The leaves are poisonous to livestock. This species is an evergreen shrub or small tree with beautiful pink flowers and leaves that cluster at the ends of branches. It grows in acidic soils in moist coniferous forest in coastal mountains from San Francisco to British Columbia. Elevation 0 - 3609 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Lithocarpus densiflorus	Tanbark Oak	(Tree, Shrub)
23. The leaning moss covered tree near you is a tanbark oak. This evergreen tree can grow over 100' tall. Its stiff, leathery sharply serrate leaves have distinctive veins, with thick hair covering the underside. In the spring new leaves emerge pink and then turn green. Its acorns are highly sought after by squirrels and birds and the bark was harvested in the past for tanning leather. Today tanbark oak is used for fax paper, flooring, furniture and firewood. It's an extremely vigorous stump sprouter after it is cut. Habitats slopes Moisture dry Elevation 0 - 8000 feet		Beatrice F. Howitt © 1999 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Sequoia sempervirens	coast redwood	(Tree)
24. Now that we are away from the salt laden breezes of the ocean the forest changes and is now dominated by redwoods. Redwoods have a limited distribution, occurring only along the coast between southern Oregon and central California where summer fog and moderate temperatures prevail. The bark is thick, red, fibrous and fire resistant. Look on the ground and you can see that the needles fall in branchlets instead on singly like in other conifers. The heartwood is red, and the sapwood is pink. The small oval cone is about 1 inch in diameter with its scales touching like in a soccer ball instead of overlapping like in the cones of pines, firs, and spruces. The heartwood, especially in old growth, is rot resistant. The timber is highly valued for use as siding, paneling, fencing, decking, garden landscaping and building foundations. This tree can live to about 2,000 years. It is one of the only conifers that stump sprouts, forming rings of new trees after one is cut. The tallest redwood is 368' tall and 12'6" in diameter. Elevation 0 - 3608 feet		Walter Knight © 1999 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Veratrum fimbriatum	Fringed cornlily	(Perennial herb)
25. You are standing by one of the many small tributaries that make up the watershed of Jughandle creek. To your left is a line of corn lillies with their large pleated leaves. In the winter a stream runs here and in the summer these moisture loving plants are the only indication of that stream. Habitats meadows Moisture moist Wetland OBL Rarity 1		Rick York © 2002 California Native Plant Society (CalPhotos)
Vaccinium parvifolium	California red huckleberry	(Shrub)
26. A large hemlock with exposed roots shades the red huckleberry and deer fern (Blechnum spicant). The red huckleberry differs from its relative the blue huckleberry by its strongly angled, green twigs and red berries. All huckleberries are edible. The leaves are thin smooth to serrate. The urn shaped, greenish to pink flowers are shaped like the flowers of its cousins manzanita and madrone. You will often find red huckleberry growing on top of old stumps in moist shaded woods, between sea level and 4,500'. They range along the coast from San Francisco to Alaska and throughout the Sierra Nevada. Habitats canyons Moisture moist Elevation 0 - 7000 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)

Tsuga heterophylla	western hemlock	(Tree)
28. Wetland FACU Elevation 0 - 2296 feet		Charles Webber © 1998 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Gaultheria shallon	salal	(Shrub)
29. Wetland FACU Elevation 0 - 2624 feet		1 mi S of Mendocino 6/2002 (c) 2002 J Malpas
Vaccinium ovatum	California huckleberry	(Shrub)
31. Elevation 9 - 2624 feet		Huckleberry canyon, Oakland 2/2003 (c) J Malpas 2003
Pinus contorta ssp. bolanderi	Bolander pine	(Tree)
33. Wetland FAC Rarity 1		Rick York © 1986 California Native Plant Society (CalPhotos)
Cupressus goveniana ssp. pigmaea	pygmy cypress	(Tree)
35. Rarity 1		Charles Webber © 1998 California Academy of Sciences (CalPhotos)
Ledum glandulosum	western Labrador tea	(Shrub)
36. Moisture wet saturated Wetland OBL Elevation 4000 - 12000 feet		Brother Alfred Brousseau © 1995 Saint Mary's College of California (CalPhotos)
Arctostaphylos nummularia	Shatterberry	(Shrub)
37. This low growing manzanita grows most abundantly in the Pygmy Forest but ranges as far south as San Francisco on poor soils. It has small dark green leaves and red peeling bark. Pink urn shaped flowers produce small apple-like fruit in the fall. Elevation 0 - 1968 feet		(c) 2003 J Malpas