Serpentine is a magical rock who paints abstract art with lichen partners and creates unusual plant communities. Botanists seek out serpentine because we are likely to find uncommon plants. We also learn to assess soil substrate using plants we see growing there because some plants, like California fawn lily (Erythronium californicum) above, have a strong affinity for serpentine. This plant guide links to serpentine’s spirit and tells us how the land formed.
On a ridge a few miles from home, an extensive belt of serpentine begins at the main road and continues across the Sierras for miles. This habitat is between me and my vet’s office, so in early February when avatar eye guy Bailey had to stay there a couple hours for X-rays, I spent the wait time on serp.
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On the that first visit February 11th, the fawn lilies were barely poking their heads up.
By the second visit on March 26th, it was a sea of fawn lilies. The fawn lily image at the top was also taken on March 26th.
Serpentine’s toxic chemistry (asbestos is one component) and shortage of essential nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium (the NPK of fertilizers) make the soil inhospitable to many plants, although a few plants grow primarily on serpentine soils. One of them, MacNab cypress (Hesperocyparis macnabiana), lives in small scattered populations only in northern California. MacNab is another serpentine plant guide and endemic to this substrate.
Other common plants here include two more serpentine plant guides. Neither was visible in early February, but I’ve seen them by April in previous years: azure Penstemon (Penstemon azureus var. azureus), and the rare Eastwood’s fritillary (Fritillaria eastwoodiae). Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia), buck brush (Ceanothus cuneatus) and grey pine (Pinus sabiniana) also grow here and have no special affinity for serpentine. Grey or foothill pine occurs at lower, drier elevations (usually to about 1,500-2,000 feet) and then ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) takes over. I’m standing at about 2,350 feet here and see grey pines because it takes one tough drought-tolerant pine to handle serpentine.
Rocks speak to me, not just the ecological language of substrate. I learn the official geology as much as necessary for my profession and then ignore the rest because science drowns out rock spirit voices. Walking among the shining gleam of the Feather River Peridotite belt, I see the ultramafic and metamorphic rocks: serpentinite (we just call it serpentine or serp), quartz, mica and hornblende schists. These names whisper geologic poems. Our serpentine formed when parts of the ocean floor pushed up to the surface of the land.
Hornblende is a trickster rock as it name implies. It’s from the German horn and blenden, meaning “to deceive” because it looks like valuable metal-bearing ore minerals, but isn’t worth mining. Pockets within this belt hold semi-precious gem quality serpentine that was mined years ago. The serpentine here is whiter than other areas of this Peridotite belt and I don’t know science’s answer. Hornblende schists, mica, serpentine, quartz. That’s enough rock science for me.
All the photos except the top image of the Sierra fawn lily were taken with my old camera that has a mind of its own and randomly changes focus, aperture and in/out of telephoto every minute or two, so it takes forever to get one useful photo. Now, my two hour wait is nearly over and it’s time to return to the vet for Bailey. I look across the serpentine art gallery and propitiate the camera gods’ favor again.
Turning around to face southeast, I look across a fork of the Feather River (out of view at the bottom of the canyon) towards the fire lookout atop Sawmill Peak. My eyes follow the Peridotite belt’s path towards and around Sawmill and beyond, miles further, then upstream along another branch of the Feather River for over 35 miles.
Outcrops of the serpentine habitat with similar plants similar to these, at least two more with MacNab cypress pops up often along the belt. Some of the outcrops cover thousands of acres. Other endemic and rare plant guides show us where.
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