Walking Waterhoods: Temescal Creek Headwaters Preview

Temescal Creek Headwater Exposed

Glory Bush

Glory Bush (Tibouchina urvilleana) can grow up to a whopping 20 feet tall. Other names for this plant include Princess Flower, Pleroma, and Purple Glory tree. This plant's showy flowers are a beautiful purple and feature striking black stamens. Many Bay Area gardeners plant Glory bush because of its tolerance to drought and its tendency to attract pollinators. Butterflies are especially drawn to this plant, though birds and bees also frequent the blooms.

Common Lion's Paw

Common Lions Paw (Leonotis leonurus) has many names, including Lions Tail and wild dagga. It is a drought-tolerant plant in the mint family and is native to the grasslands of southern Africa. The plant's tubular orange blooms attract all sorts of pollinators, including bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. While the name dagga has some commonalities with the cannabis plant, Lions Tail is not used as a hallucinogen.

Critical Fire Warning Sign

The East Bay Hills are experiencing an increase in periods of extreme fire danger. They have many restrictions during fire season to keep the community and wildlife as safe as possible. Laws prohibit smoking and building, lighting, or maintaining any type of fire.

Shining Cranesbill

Shining Cranesbill (Geranium lucidum) is a type of geranium with deep pink flowers featuring five petals. This plant shoots its seeds into the air, enabling the seeds to travel up to 20 feet. This ability means this plant has started taking over areas outside of its natural habitat. California considers the plant invasive.

New Zealand Cabbage Tree

As its name suggests, New Zealand Cabbage Tree (Cordyline australis) is an understory plant native to New Zealand. The cabbage tree has a spiky silhouette and is sometimes called the Torbay palm. The San Francisco Bay District Horticultural Society's first annual flower show took place in 1871 and included this plant species alongside five other species from New Zealand. You can find this plant in gardens around the Bay Area. Unfortunately, this plant has begun to invade certain wild places in California, including some areas of Sonoma County.

Crimson Bottlebrush

The Crimson Bottlebrush (Callistemon citrinus), also known as Melaleuca citrina, common red bottlebrush, and lemon bottlebrush, is a plant native to Australia. It was one of the first Australian plants to be grown outside of Australia. This shrub can grow to be 3-10 feet tall. The spiky red flowers have a shape similar to a bottle brush cleaner. This plant is known to grow along creeks and rivers and is pollinated by bees and hummingbirds.

Sweet Pittosporum

Sweet pittosporum (Pittosporum undulatum), also known as Victorian box or mock orange, is a fast-growing tree. It is widely adapted to forests, woodlands, grasslands, scrub, and chaparral habitats. It spreads via seeds, roots and sticky seeds dispersed by birds and mammals. Native to Australia, it is on the invasive-watch list in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Knobcone Pine

Native to the San Francisco Bay Area, the knobcone pine (Pinus attenuata, also called Pinus tuberculat) is found from Baja California to the mountain slopes of southern Oregon. This plant has an extensive distribution in Northern California. Growing up to 80', the cones remain closed until fire strikes, as they need above 350 degrees to open and disperse their seeds. This seed dispersal often occurs over several years.

Lemmon's Marigold

Lemmon's marigold (Tagetes lemmonii) is also known as Copper Canyon daisy, mountain marigold, and Mexican marigold. Well-known field botanists John and Sara Lemmon discovered this species of Tagetes growing in Arizona at elevations from 5,000 to 8,000 feet while camping there on their honeymoon in 1880. This adventurous couple was enamored with the plants they came across in their travels and brought this particular species back to grow in their garden in Oakland. They eventually introduced this plant to the nursery trade.

Lemmon's Marigold

Lemmon's marigold (Tagetes lemmonii) is also known as Copper Canyon daisy, mountain marigold, and Mexican marigold. Well-known field botanists John and Sara Lemmon discovered this species of Tagetes growing in Arizona at elevations from 5,000 to 8,000 feet while camping there on their honeymoon in 1880. This adventurous couple was enamored with the plants they came across in their travels and brought this particular species back to grow in their garden in Oakland. They eventually introduced this plant to the nursery trade.

Convergent Lady Beetle

Most people call these beetles ladybugs. The convergent lady beetle (Hippodamia convergens) is one of the most common lady beetle species in North America. It consumes aphids, scales, thrips, and other soft-bodied insects, and you'll often find both adults and larvae feeding. This type of beetle will also feed on pollen and nectar from flowers when prey is scarce. This species can be found in habitats ranging from grasslands, forests, agricultural fields, gardens, and natural parks. The number of spots on this species varies from zero to thirteen! The spot where the wings meet does count — it's called a "suture spot."

Yarrow Nursery

Mak and Kris Bryan-Kjaer own Yarrow Nursery, a flora nursery bursting with a selection of native and drought-resistant plants. If you visit the nursery, you'll walk over a bridge above Temescal Creek. The owners decided to construct the nursery around the creek and prioritize environmental and social sustainability. The nursery does not use any harmful pesticides or chemicals and encourages the reuse and recycling of plant pots.

American Robin

You're likely to have seen the the American robin (Turdus migratorius) in your yard and as you walk about your neighborhood. This migratory songbird has a reddish-orange chest and gray head and feathers. There is a large population of this bird in North America, ranging from central Mexico, along the Pacific Coast, to Southern Canada. There are seven subspecies of the American robin, and they are the second most "abundant extant land bird in North America." These birds start off their day singing at dawn and get together in large flocks during the night.

Thornhill Park

You can spot part of Temescal Creek flowing through this region right along Thornhill Drive. The area that was once Thornhill Park is now part of Forest Park and Montclair Highlands. First advertised for sale in 1917, Realty Syndicate Company billed Thornhill Park as a place where some Oakland residents could buy parcels of land to raise chickens and plant garden beds. The advertisement announcing the land for sale included a line that read: "No African or Asiatic people will be allowed." The inclusion of this racist proclamation is a reminder that access to undeveloped nature and parks is part of intended structural restrictions built into a systemically racist society. Apparently, the land was difficult to sell because by 1922, a liquidation sale offered parcels for .60 on the $1. Phil Hearty, a local developer, had an office in that area, and he ended up purchasing the rest of the unsold land.

Columbian Blacktail Deer

Columbian black-tail deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus) are the subspecies of black-tails native to the San Francisco Bay Area. They inhabit woodlands and chaparral-covered mountains. Nearly 60% of the 560,000 deer in all California are Columbian black-tails; the rest are various subspecies of mule deer. Juan Bautista de Anza (1736-1783) noted that black-tails were abundant around San Francisco Bay. Their typical life span in the wild is 7 to 10 years, but they can survive in suburban habitats for 17 to 20 years.

Stellar's Jay

Steller's jay (Cyanocitta stelleri) is a bird native to western North America and the mountains of Central America, closely related to the blue jay found in eastern North America. It is also known as the long-crested jay, mountain jay, and pine jay. It is the only crested jay west of the Rocky Mountains. Sometimes colloquially called a "blue jay" in the Pacific Northwest, it is distinct from the blue jay (C. cristata) of eastern North America. The species inhabits pine-oak and coniferous forests.