shxx60's Identifications

California Buckeyes are starting to flower which is attracting many species of pollinators, including butterflies.

California Buckeye (Aesculus californica) Endemic in California. It grows 4-12m (up to 39ft) tall. It is a summer-deciduous tree with several common names: Buckeye, California buckeye, California horse chestnut, and Shrub california buckeye. Flowers are very fragrant, pinkish-white, in erect 15–25 cm long spikes. Peak bloom time: April-June. The large fruit has a beige-green leather-like capsule surrounding a brown nut. Link to California Buckeye with the ornament-like nuts in late summer/fall: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/100462982

Indigenous people had many uses for this plant as medicine, tools, food, and more. For example, "Boiled nuts eaten with baked kelp, meat and seafood. Nuts were put into boiling water to loosen the husk. After the husk was removed, the nut meat was returned to boiling water and cooked until it was soft like cooked potatoes. The nut meat was then mashed with a mortar stone. The grounds could be strained at this stage or strained after soaking. The grounds would be soaked and leached a long time to remove the poisonous tannin. An older method was to peel the nuts and roast them in ashes until they were soft. They were then crushed and the meal was put in a sandy leaching basin beside a stream. For about five hours, the meal was leached with water from the stream. When the bitterness disappeared it was ready to eat without further cooking." . . . "Native American tribes, including the Pomo, Yokuts, and Luiseño, used the poisonous nuts and seeds to stupefy schools of fish in small streams to make them easier to catch. The bark, leaves, and fruits contain the neurotoxic glycoside aesculin, which causes hemolysis of red blood cells. Buckeye also makes a good fire board for a bow drill or hand drill. Native groups occasionally used the plant as a food supply; after boiling and leaching the toxin out of the seeds or nut meats for several days, they could be ground into a flour or meal similar to that made from acorns." 25 more traditional uses are described here: Native American Ethnobotany: http://naeb.brit.org/uses/search/?string=Aesculus+californica

Calflora: (includes species distribution map in CA): https://www.calflora.org/app/taxon?crn=111 and sightings in Monterey County: https://www.calflora.org/entry/observ.html?track=m#srch=t&lpcli=t&taxon=Aesculus+californica&chk=t&cch=t&cnabh=t&inat=r&cc=MNT

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=12026

Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016, p. 272.

Monterey County Wildflowers: https://montereywildflowers.com/tree-sapindaceae-platanaceae/

Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California, David Styer, 2019, p. 195.

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PLANTS (Annotated References)

Calflora (CA native plants, includes species distribution maps, plant communities, links) https://www.calflora.org/search.html
Jepson eFlora (CA native and naturalized plants with botanical illustrations, some videos) https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/
Plants of Monterey County: an Illustrated Field Key, 2nd edition, Matthews and Mitchell ,2015 (2300+ species)
Monterey County Wildflowers (photographic guide of wildflowers, shrubs and trees) https://montereywildflowers.com/index/
Monterey County Wildflowers: a Field Guide, Yeager and Mitchell, 2016 (950+ species with photos)
Flora of Fort Ord: Monterey County, California , David Styer, 2019 (includes peak bloom times)
Native American Ethnobotany: Traditional Native Plant Uses (U.S. plants for medicines, fibers, tools): http://naeb.brit.org/
CNPS Calscape--7934+ Native CA Plants for Gardens: https://calscape.org
Leaf Terminology: Simple Diagrams/Definitions: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Leaf_morphology.svg
Plant Identification Terminology: An Illustrated Glossary, 2nd ed., by James G. Harris and M. Harris, 2022.