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| | Field Trip to Irvine
Park
Chaparral Biome
Irvine Regional Park consists of 470
acres of land in the western foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains. The
purpose of our fieldtrip is to visit the natural area of the park known as the chaparral
biome. The chaparral biome of Southern California is characterized by a wet
season (winter and early spring months) and a long dry season (late spring,
summer, and fall months). Precipitation may be quite frequent in the wet
season with lush plant life. However, in the dry seasons, many plants die
while others drop their leaves or appear quite brown. During this later
time of dry conditions, fires are quite common, especially when the hot dry
Santa Ana winds sweep over these mountains from the east. Fire plays an
important ecological role in maintaining the chaparral as a brushland.
CLICK ON THE THUMBNAIL IMAGES TO ENLARGE
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Poison oak is often seen growing in shady
areas of the chaparral. Physical contact with this plant may result in a
skin rash. Toyon is a larger shrub that can grow 10 -20 feet tall.
Toyon produces small red berries in the fall, which is why it is also
known as California Holly. Laurel Sumac is another shrub that
can grow tall (to 15'). This plant only grows in areas that are not
subject to frost. A century Plant can also be seen on our
trip. This plant is very distinctive with its large fleshy
leaves. |
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| Poison Oak |
Toyon |
Laurel Sumac |
Century Plant |
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Another
small plant that is often seen in this area is horehound. This herb
is a non-native (from Spain) and is sometimes used in making natural cough
drops & candy. Coastal Sage and buckwheat are both
low growing shrubs that are quite common. Elderberry is a
small tree that often can be seen in canyons and valleys. |
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| Horehound |
Coastal Sage |
Buckwheat |
Elderberry |
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There
are three kinds of plants in this area that are called sagebrush.
Coastal sage is one of them. The other two are black sage and
white sage. Often seen climbing on other plants like a vine
is Marah (wild cucumber). In the spring the fruit appears as a
green prickly gourd, but beware, the seeds are poisonous. |
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| Black Sage |
White Sage |
Marah Fall |
Marah
Spring |
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When
you hike to lookout point, you will have a panoramic view of most of
Irvine Park. You can see the location of Santiago Creek, Villa Park
Dam, and the San Gabriel Mountains. You will notice that sycamore
trees tend to grow near the creek and oaks can grow away from the creek
and up the slopes of the foothills.
You will also notice that the north-facing slope is more
lush with vegetation compared to the south-facing slope. This is
because the south-facing slope gets more direct sun during the day and
tends to be drier.
Another plant that we will encounter on our field trip
is lemonade berry. This shrub gets up to 10 feet tall and has
rounded, leathery, dark green leaves. Ice plant is a low growing
succulent that is seen in some locations of the park. It was originally
imported from South Africa to control soil erosion. The only cactus that
we will see is the prickly pear. This is a common plant to
the desert and chaparral areas. It has broad flat pads which may be
cooked and eaten, and its fruit can be eaten raw. Dodder (witches
hair) is a parasitic plant with orange, hair-like, waxy stems. It is
often seen as a tangled orange mass on black sage and
buckwheat. |
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| Lemonade Berry |
Ice
Plant |
Prickly Pear Cactus |
Dodder |
THIS SITE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS. MUCH
MORE TO COME.
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