SANTA CRUZ ISLAND
OCTOBER 2006 PAGE ONE



The pictures displayed here are from a one-day excursion I made in 2006 to Santa Cruz Island under the auspices of the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and led by the exceptionally knowledgeable Steve Junak. Santa Cruz Island is one of the five islands in the Channel Islands National Park, located off the coast of southern California, and is part of Santa Barbara County. It is also the largest of the eight islands in the Channel Islands archipelago. The Chumash named the island Limuw or Place of the Sea and have occupied the island for some 10,000 years. It is 22 miles long and 2 to 6 miles wide and the highest point on the island is Devil's Peak at 2,450'. Currently the National Park Service owns 24% of the island and the Nature Conservancy owns 76%. Passing sea lions on floating buoys and leaping dolphins and viewing from a distance the oddly-shaped Anacapa Island, we disembarked at Prisoners Cove.at the very western end of an area that is now closed due to the Scorpion Canyon Fire of 2020. After an introduction to island flora from Steve, we headed off on a trail to Pelican Bay and Tinker's Cove, a short two-mile jaunt, with Steve pointing out and discussing the various species we were passing. The sea was almost always within our view and the scenery of Santa Cruz Island was beyond spectacular. I would very much like to do more botanizing on these nearby islands. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species. For a more detailed description of this field trip, click here.


   
Island hazardia
Hazardia detonsa
Asteraceae

[Named for Barclay Hazard, 1852-1938]


 
Island alumroot
Heuchera maxima
Saxifragaceae

[Named for Johann Heinrich von Heucher, 1677-1747]


 
 
California bulrush
Schoenoplectus californicus
Cyperaceae
 
 
 
 
Channel Island scrub oak
Quercus pacifica
Fagaceae

Flat-leaf summer-holly
Comarostaphylos diversifolia ssp. planifolia
Ericaceae

 
 


   

Santa Cruz Island bush mallow
Malacothamnus fasciculatus var. nesioticus
Malvaceae





 
Santa Cruz Island fringpod
Thysanocarpus conchuliferus
Brassicaceae
 
 
 
Five-finger fern
Adiantum aleuticum
Pteridaceae


 
 Island ceanothus
Ceanothus arboreus
Rhamnaceae


   
Coast goldenbush
Isocoma menziesii
Asteraceae

[Named for Archibald Menzies, 1754-1842]
 
   
Island sagebrush
Artemisia nesiotica
Asteraceae
Red-flowered buckwheat
Eriogonum grande var. rubescens
Polygonaceae


 
Island manzanita
Arctostaphylos insularis
Ericaceae
  Giant coreopsis
Leptosyne gigantea
Asteraceae


   
Santa Cruz Island buckwheat
Eriogonum arborescens
Polygonaceae


 
Sea rocket *
Cakile maritima
Brassicaceae
Steve told us about a very interesting feature of the fruits which are segmented into upper and lower sections. The terminal segments are tolerant of salt water and break off to float in the waves to new locations. That's why sea rocket is one of the first plants to colonize a shore.


PHOTO GALLERIES
INDEX
CALFLORA.NET PAGE TWO
OF TWO
CALIFORNIA PLANT NAMES: LATIN AND GREEK MEANINGS AND DERIVATIONS
VIRGINIA PLANT NAMES: LATIN AND GREEK MEANINGS AND DERIVATIONS


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