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Nature

Mother Nature

Welcome to the Nature and Science section of the John Muir National Historic Site website. There is a large variety of plants, animals and insects that inhabit this park, including the many acres of Mount Wanda. We work hard to protect and preserve this land and it's inhabitants. There are many native and some non-native species that thrive here. We have provided lists of all the animals, plants and insects that we are aware of, which are accessible by clicking on the sub-menus underneath the main menu of "Nature and Science". From time to time, we are looking for volunteers to help with maintaining the plants and land around the John Muir NHS and Mount Wanda. If you are interested in volunteering, you may contact:

Keith Park
Horticulturalist
925-228-8860 Ext. 6312

 

Mt. Wanda Ethnobotany Cards

These flashcards are intended for the layperson interested in ethnobotany, the scientific study of the relationship between people and plants. We hope these flashcards will help foster an appreciation for California Native People's knowledge and uses of plants, as well as their intimate relationship to the environments in which they lived. These cards feature native plants commonly found on Mt. Wanda.

You can download a set of ethnobotany cards in pdf. format by clicking on the link at the end of this paragraph. The pdf. contains a set of images and descriptions, which can be printed front to back, in order to complete a card set. The file size of the cards is 6.9 MB. Click HERE to download.

Information comes from many sources, including: Timbrook, Janice. Chumash Ethnobotany: Plant Knowledge among the Chumash People of Southern California. Santa Barbara, CA: Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, 2007. Print.

WARNING:
These flashcards are not intended for the personal collection and/or use of wild plants.

Protect the Park
Mt. Wanda is preserved for future generations by the National Park Service. In order to protect our natural resources, the taking of plants is strictly prohibited.

Protect Your Health
Identifying plants incorrectly poses a danger to one's health. Use of the wrong plant – or even the right plant in the wrong way – could result in undesired effects, including death.

 

Plants, Grasses and Wildflowers

 

Plant List For The John Muir National Historic Site
Apple	Apricot	Atlas Cedar	Autumn Sage
Black Locust	Black Walnut	Blue Elderberry	Bluegum Eucalyptus
California Poppy	California Wild Rose	California Fuchsia	California Hibisucs
California Scrub Oak	Canary Island Date	Carmel Creeper	Catalina Cherry
Cedar-of-Lebanon	Chasmanthe	Cherokee Rose	Chinese Wisteria
Coast Live Oak	Coast Silk Tassel	Common Fig	Cork Oak
Coulter Pine	Coyote Bush	Deodar Cedar	Douglas Iris
English Hawthorn	English Walnut	Fuchsia-flowering Gooseberry	Gian Sequoia
Grapes: Muscat, Tokay, Zinfandel	Harison's Yellow Rose	Honey Locust	Honey Mesquite
Incense Cedar	Italian Stone Pine	Japanese Plum	Japanese Flowering Quince
Jeffery Pine	Lady Bank's Rose	Lemon	Loquat
Manzanita	Matillija Poppy	Mexican FanPalm	Mourning Cypress
Naked Lady	Olive	Orange	Oregon Grape
Oregon White Oak	Pacific Dogwood	Pacific Willow	Peach
Pear	Pecan	Periwinkle	Plum
Pomegranate	Purple Needle Grass	Quince	Red Fescue
Red Hot Poker	Redwood	Sticky Monkeyflower	Strawberry Tree

 

Native Grasses at the John Muir National Historic Site
Poacaeae (Grass)	Spike Redtop (Agrostis exarata)	California Brome (Bromus carinatus)	Blue Wild Rye (Elymus glaucus)
Giant Wild Rye (Leymus codensatus)	Creeping Wild Rye (Leymus triticoides)	California Melic (Melica californica)	Torrey Meli (Melica torreyana)
Foothill Needlegrass (Nasella lepida)	Purple Needlegrass (Nasella pulchra)	One-sided Bluegrass (Poa secunda)	Few-flowered fescue (Vulpia microstachys)

 

Wildflowers at the John Muir National Historic Site
Amaranthaceae (Amaranth)	Prostrate Pigweed	Anacardiaceae (Sumac)	Western Poison Oak
Western Poison Ivy	Apiaceae(Carrot)	Rattlesnake weed	Bladder Parsnip
Mountain Sweet Cicely	Foothill Lomatium	Kellogg's Yampah	Purple Sanicle
Pacific Snakeroot	Aristolochiaceae (Birthwort)	California Dutchman's Pipe	Asclepiadaceae (Milkweed)
Heart-leaved Milkweed	Narrowleaf Milkweed	Asteraceae (Sunflower)	Yarrow
Blow Wives	California Dandelion	California Sagebrush	California Mugwort
Woodland Aster	Pacific Aster	Coyote Brush	Horseweed
Golden Yarrow	Fluff Weed

 

Please visit the San Francisco Bay Area National Parks Science and Learning website to learn more about John Muir NHS science and resources.

 

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Species Attribute Definitions

Definitions

Occurrence

Occurrence values are defined below. One or more Occurrence Tags may be associated with each Occurrence value.

Present: Species occurs in park; current, reliable evidence available.

Probably Present: High confidence species occurs in park but current, verified evidence needed.

Unconfirmed: Species is attributed to park but evidence is weak or absent.

Not In Park: Species is not known to occur in park.

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Occurrence Tags

Adjacent: Species is known to occur in areas near to or contiguous with park boundaries.

False Report: Species was reported to occur within the park, but current evidence indicates the report was based on misidentification, a taxonomic concept no longer accepted, or other similar problem of error or interpretation.

Historical: Species' historical occurrence in park is documented. Assigned based on judgment as opposed to determination based on age of the most recent evidence.

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Abundance

Abundant:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, and counted in relatively large numbers.
• Plants: Large number of individuals; wide ecological amplitude or occurring in habitats covering a large portion of the park.

Common:

• Animals: May be seen daily, in suitable habitat and season, but not in large numbers.
• Plants: Large numbers of individuals predictably occurring in commonly encountered habitats but not those covering a large portion of the park.

Uncommon:

• Animals: Likely to be seen monthly in appropriate habitat and season. May be locally common.
• Plants: Few to moderate numbers of individuals; occurring either sporadically in commonly encountered habitats or in uncommon habitats.

Rare:

• Animals: Present, but usually seen only a few times each year.
• Plants: Few individuals, usually restricted to small areas of rare habitat.

Occasional:

• Animals: Occurs in the park at least once every few years, varying in numbers, but not necessarily every year.
• Plants: Abundance variable from year to year (e.g., desert plants).

Unknown: Abundance unknown

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Nativeness

Native: Species naturally occurs in park or region.

Non-native: Species occurs on park lands as a result of deliberate or accidental human activities.

Unknown: Nativeness status is unknown or ambiguous.

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List Differences

The Checklist contains only those species that are designated as "present" or "probably present" in the park.

The Full List includes all the checklist species in addition to species that are unconfirmed, historically detected, or incorrectly reported as being found in the park. The full list also contains species that are "in review" because their status in the park hasn't been fully determined. Additional details about the status of each species is included in the full list.

The checklist will almost always contain fewer species than the full list.

Select a Park:

John Muir National Historic Site

Select a Species Category (optional):

All Amphibians Birds Fish Mammals Reptiles Vascular Plants

Get Checklist Get Full List List Differences

Species attribute definitions

Search results will be displayed here.

Visit NPSpecies for more comprehensive information and advanced search capability. Have a suggestion or comment on this list? Let us know.