Scientific name: Taeniatherum caput-medusae Family: Poaceae (grass) Habitat: grassland, disturbed areas Size: plant 6 to 10 inches tall; floret 5 to 8 cm including awns
Scientific name:Eleocharis macrostachya Family: Cyperaceae (rush) Habitat: vernal pools, wetlands Size: Plants are up to 24 inches tall; stem looks like a long green straw with a tiny pine cone-like flower at the tip.
Scientific name: Callitriche marginata Family: Callitrichaceae (water starwort) Habitat: vernal pools, wet areas
Size: Clusters of floating leaves are 1.0 to 1.5 cm across.
Scientific name: Psilocarphus brevissimus Family: Asteraceae (sunflower) Habitat: vernal pools Size: plant up to 4 inches tall, each “marble” 1 to 2 cm across
“If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable.” - Rainer Maria Rilka
For 2 billion years, bacteria were the only creatures on Earth. Long before the dinosaurs, a special type of bacteria slowly increased the level of oxygen in the Earth’s air to 20 percent. Without this oxygen other plants and animals could not have evolved, including us.
