Native Plants

Native Plants

Native Plants of Famosa Slough

 

Listed are some of the many plants native to wetlands areas, all of which can now be found at Famosa Slough. Areas restored with native plants become a food source for birds and insects and return the slough to a more natural condition.

The plants are grouped according to the location they naturally prefer. Within and along the edges of the water live salt marsh plants that tolerate high salinity and being submerged by salt water. There are almost no non-native plants that live in this region of the Slough.

At a higher level or upland area live the typical coastal sage scrub plants-sage and buckwheat predominating. To accommodate the low water of our climate, uplands plants are adapted to be dormant in summer and often look as if they were not living. However, the first rains in fall bring them back into leaf. Within the runoff ponds plants that can tolerant having roots constantly under brackish water live such as reed, sedges, and willows. Many of these plants attract insects and have seeds seaten by birds.

Trees that afford nesting areas for perching birds include the native willows as well as the cottonwoods and sycamores around the south parking lot.

Fifteen years ago, the upland areas of the slough and channel contained almost no native plants. The plants along the west side of the slough and around the treatment ponds have been selected for planting because they are native to the area and probably lived there before the development of Point Loma. Over 80% of the plants along the paths are now natives.  Please see the link to iNaturalist native plant link.

Salt Marsh Plants

Alkali heath Frankenia salinia
Arrow grass Triglochin concinna
Cordgrass Spartina foliosa
Dodder Cuscuta salina
Glasswort Salicornia subterminalis
Pickleweed Salicornia virginica
Saltwort Batis maritima
Sea lavender, San Diego rosemary Limonium californicum
Seaside daisy, jaumea Jaumea carnosa
Shoregrass Monanthochloe littoralis
Spiny rush Juncus acutus

Coastal Sage Scrub (Upland) Plants

Alkali weed Cressa truxillensis
Bladderpod Isomeris arborea
Bluff buckwheat Eriogonum parvifolium
Box thorn Lycium californicum
California buckwheat Eriogonum fasciculatum
California fuchsia Epilobium canum
California sagebrush Artemesia californica
California rose Rosa californica
California saltbush Atriplex californica
Coyote Brush Baccharis pilularis
Coastal goldenbush Isocoma menziesii
Encelia, California sunflower Encelia californica
Flannel Bush Fremontodendron californicum
Halberd-leaf saltbush Atriplex patula
Iva Iva haysianna
Lady fingers Dudleya edulis
Lemonadeberry Rhus integrifolia
Saltgrass Distichlis spicata
San Diego sunflower Viguiera laciniata
Sea blite Suaeda taxifolia

Trees

Arroyo willow Salix lasiolepis
Black willow Salix gooddingii
Cottonwood Populus fremontii
Mexican elderberry Sambucus mexicana
Mulefat Baccharis salisifolia
Sandbar willow Salix hindsiana
Sycamore Platanus racemosa
Toyon Heteromeles arbutifolia

Freshwater Marsh Plants

California bulrush Scirpus californicus
Cattail Typha latifolia
Monkeyflower Mimulus guttatus
Prairie bulrush Scirpus robustus
Yerba mansa Anemopsis californica