Acacia: Australia (parallel veins) – Leaves are actually modified petioles called
phylloids to reduce water loss; common name: Golden wattles (from its yellow
flowers)
Ash Tree: Compound leaves; used for making baseball bat; riparian species
(grows nearby river or stream)
Bladderpod: (desert species with pods for dispersal) – compound leaves, smells to
keep animals from eating – yellow flowers; strong odor;
Brazilian Pepper Tree: compound leaves, red berries (with pepper scent), needs
water
Black Sage: smell like sage; mint family; flowers arranged in stacked balls;
coastal sage scrub habitat (Lamiaceae Family )
Bulrush: indicator for fresh water
California Buckeye: only buckeye endemic to calif. North, chaparral, neurotoxic
glycoside aesculin causes hemolysis of rbc’s, kills bees and other insects; whirled
leaves
California Buckwheat: coastal sage scrub, dry slopes – stabilizer - may help the
heart
California Redbud: small tree found in calif. Utah and Arizona. Soil stabilizer.
Favored by native Americans for basket weaving (red bark when young)
naturally found in higher woodlands. Strong seed coat. Pea Family
California Sagebrush: native CSB plant; smell like sage;
California Sweet Bay: Mediterranean, (bay laurel) evergreen, wreaths for
Olympics. leaf is added at the beginning of cooking soups and stews and
slowly imparts a deep, rich flavor. The leaf is left whole so it can be retrieved
before serving the dish. Medicinally, bay laurel has been used as an antiseptic
and a digestive
Caster Bean: palmate leaves with beans that have points, ricin; used to make
caster oil
Catalina Cherry: Catalina island plant with teeth, cherries with little fruit
Catalina Ironwood: evergreen, endemic to Catalina; Rosaceae Family
Cattails: indicator of fresh water
Ceonothus: genus is only found in U.S. evergreen, chaparral, 3 prominent parallel
veins, loved by deer (mountain Lilac)
Coast Live Oak: produces tannins – leave do not grow underneath due to
chemical and lack of light
Coffeeberry: evergreen plant, Ca. Arizona, baja, not eaten by deer, natives used as
laxative
Encelia: Brittlebush – desert with yellow flower, white leaves to reflect sun,
reduce heat
Incense cedar: overlapping leaf called scale
Elderberry: used as a food or to make alcohol, yellow flowers, native tree
Eucalyptus: Australian plant brought here for railroads – chemicals keep animals
from other. Peeling bark
Fremont Cottonwood: Joshua National Park; flat petiole as wind adaptation
Flannel bush: trichomes – stickers that keep things from eating them
Ginkgo: originates from China; only male is planted in the US due to female
produce odorous fruits
Horehoud: can be used to make candy (tasted like licorice)
Jojoba: leaves stand straight up, leathery, and found in local desert
Jacaranda: from S. America; doubly compound, evergreen, purple sticky flower
due to insect hiding inside the flowers
Liquid Amber: 60-80 feet tall, typical bark, palmate leaves, shiny leaf surface,
species from Eastern U.S., deciduous, invading riparian area
Lemonade Berry: Coastal sage scrub/ chaparral habitat; tannin, sumac family
Mulefat: sunflower family – riparian areas – used to make arrows – lotion used as
wash for wounds, scalp, eyewash – eaten during famine
Mesquite: tiny lesves, desert species, green stems, spines on stem
Palms:
California Fan: skirt to the bottom – only native palm in the US
Mexican Fan: taller and thinner
Pampas Grass: Argentina/ if animal move toward the center of the plant, leaves
adapt to sharply cut the animal to prevent it from doing it
Pine Trees: fascicles, recessed stomata, flexible limbs for snow
Southern Magnolia: rusty underneath – large waxy leaves – South eastern U.S.
Sugar bush: big thick leaves with cuticle; coastal sage, chaparral
Western Sycamore: palmate leaf, hairy deciduous, peeling bark
Walnut Tree: compound leaf with odor.
White Alder: catkins: male
Stroboli: female
Needs lots of water
Wild blackberry: with prickles along the stem for protection
Willow: needs lots of water; irregular bumps on the bark