AKA, in Which Carl has a Lifer Fern Family.
And two lifer fern genera.
We had a fantastic pseudo-Rothfels lab expedition to the Jepson Prairie Reserve this past weekend. This site is part of the UC reserve system, a fantastic suite of protected natural areas dedicated to research, education, and conservation. The Jepson Prairie, for example, is a rare remaining remnant of California’s vernal pool habitats, and with the rain this year, it was in its glory, even though we visited well past the prime bloom.
Our intrepid team consisted of me (Carl), Forrest, Cathy Rushworth, Seema Sheth, Will Freyman, and Adam Schneider, and we spent a delightful several hours crouching low, muttering about the distinguishing features of, e.g., various species of Downingia.
Forrest’s keen ability to differentiate among very small grass-like plants led to my first honest-to-goodness Pilularia americana, in Marsileaceae! This heterosporous beauty was devilishly difficult to pick out among all the Juncus, etc. that invariably surrounded it.
And that’s not all! Forrest also pointed out a colony of Marsilea vestita, one of the “water clovers”, for a clean sweep of North American Marsileaceae genera.
And, of course, no trip with Forrest would be complete without the most inconspicuous of inconspicuous plants–Isoetes! In this case, the California floristic province vernal pool specialist, Isoetes orcuttii.
Jepson Prairie was all about heterospory–the Pilularia, Marsilea, and Isoetes exhausted the local supply of seed-free vascular plants (although Azolla, also heterosporous, has been reported from the site). We were, however, able to delight in members of that third evolution of heterospory, in the form of crazy vernal pool annual angiosperms.
And finally, we even saw some non-plants! Loggerhead Shrikes put on a good show, Seema found a fence lizard, there were lots of tadpole shrimp exoskeletons scattered around the margin of the playa, and American Avocets took noisy exception to our presence.
