Observations by rosita-rios

This type of shrub was found in the chaparral. The leaves were not soft but more hard and dense. It was also a very bright green and in a healthy condition. It was long and approximately about two inches or more. The leaves were also spiky around the sides. Another detail that this shrub had was the berries that it had which were little and green. Looked like it was still growing. Had nearly thirty or more each containment of berries in the shrub.

It was a little tiny plant had leaves everywhere forming almost like a shrub. The leaves were green underneath the tiny white hairs. What made it truly speak out to me was when it had these white pebbles within the leaves. The little pebbles had white inside and brown outside of it. It seems like they were flowers but not blooming yet. The leaves were very soft. It was found in the Chaparral and growing in the ground.

The spider has a white and brown body. It has a total of eight legs and it was white and brown striped. It had a small face and found far away from the pond. In was found in the tall grassland. The web was stretched to almost nine to ten inches in diameter. It was in a circular motion kind of spider web. The spider itself measured up to one inch.

This spider has it's abdomen black and yellow. Also what is black and yellow is their legs and in a striped form. However the head of this spider was white. When observing up close I noticed long fangs and also it was not a hairy kind of spider. It was the smallest orb weaver compared to the others. I found it away from the pond in the tall dry grass. Its web was medium size and did not make much motion.

This flower was found surrounding a pond and sent out this minty smell. It also does not contain petals but are in clusters of little tiny flowers in each stem. Also in the biggest main stem it had six clusters. The leaves are an issue to lead me to believe if this plant is actually an American Wild Mint. Because based on the leaves in the field guide "Wildflowers of North American" they are bigger then the plant I saw in the pond. However, the flower had the similar details of having a pointy wide leave like the one in the field guide. Instead of the flowers being pink I found it to be light purple.

It was a male newt and it was the longest one. It measured at about approximately cm long. The stomach was orange and had a bumpy black back. It has big brown eyes and had four legs with 4-5 fingers. It was found near a dried up pond under a rock. From what I first found noticed was that even though it was in the desiccated area of the pond it was still wet and indicated to me that these amphibians need water. What I also found was that it was also with another family of baby newts and another male newt as well.

It was fat and wide so to me it indicated that it might be a female due to pregnancy. It was also at least 2.5 inches long. It was found under a rock near an oak tree. It had a brown stinger and had bright whitish, yellowish color. It had two pincers that were medium size. It ran off really quickly to hid under a stone and then bury itself.

It was found near the trail and others were found near it as well. The flower in the center was yellow and at the bottom was a green sphere that is full of spikes. It also has a long green stem and leaves that are green too. The leaves seem spiky and at the tips they are brown. Later on it fades quickly to green. The spikes around the flower made a formation of a star which is really irony because it points to what the name is.

This frog was found in the double pond with long, wet, green grass. Also this amphibian was green on top of its back with few bumps too. The four legs were yellow and had three slimy fingers. In its face it had a black strip going through its face. The eyes was black and the pupil was colored almost mixed of yellow and green. The stomach was none of these colors but particularly white almost. It was approximately more than two inches. The skin on its back was peeling off but it was really squishy and soft and it felt bumpy.

The flower in my opinion looked like a california poppy. It was found in the dried grassy area. It had leaves that were long and at the bottom of the stem. It was approximately at least 2 inches. The stem was thin in the bottom and as it got to the top it got think and wider. The flower seems to not have bloom yet and if it does it might have orange tint in the middle. It also has 4 petals and are yellow on the outside as seen in the photo. The flower itself was approximately nearly half an inch.

It is a white petal flower with a bit of yellow tint in the middle as well as the pollen going out of the flower with some yellow vines. Flowers consisted of 5 petals each. The flowers are close together on each vine. Mostly gather together at the top of the vine and in the bottom these minute green leaves. Found in a shrub in the Chaparral area of pepperwood. It measured at least less than an inch. The shrub was nearly more than 3 yards. The flowers all where outside of the shrub and mostly green leaves on the center of the shrub. Made up of twigs and small branches. It crosses over very much.

It had a grayish and blackish skin which was scaly. It had long nails. Found in the rocks near the pepperwood garden. It is about more than 10 inches long. It seems to move really quickly when feeling in danger. Can climb trees and hide under rocks.

Has petals that are pink and yellow. In the tips of the petals are white puffs. At the bottom has a green/black spiky and sharp thorns.Down to its stem it had green leaves with hair and thorns. It is nearly 2-3 inches tall. Ants were located predating it. At least 3 more were located near this plant. Grew in a dry, grassy area.