Jepson Prairie Preserve is a unique ecosystem on the western edge of the Sacramento Valley, managed by Solano Land Trust. It features claypan vernal pools and the associated plants and aquatic life that have evolved to survive in that ecosystem. Vernal pools form from rainwater but dry up in the Central Valley hot dry summer.

I like to visit Jepson Prairie once each year during the wildflower season, but it is worth more than one visit. I visited a couple of weeks ago when there was a docent-led tour and enjoyed it immensely. It was an informal tour but great fun to have an expert there to identify plants and relate more info.

When you see masses of flowers like these Goldfields it is stunning, but when you look more closely you see so much more.

Sometimes that means getting on hands and knees. It was fun to walk around with people who were interested enough to look closely like this.

White hyacinth.

Baker’s Navarretia.

Vernal Pool Popcornflower, endemic to California vernal pools. Flowers are only 1/4” across.

This flower is only showy when it is in fruit. What looks like white petals are the pappus at the top of each seed. The green objects in the lower right corner are Blow Wives flowers—the small yellow flowers are inside the green part.

There are several species of Downingia at Jepson Prairie and it sometimes takes close observation to tell them apart. Cupped Downingia has long anthers and the bees that pollinate the flowers have to hang upside down to gather pollen.

Vernal Pool Goldfields.

You can see Popcorn Flower and Navarretia here, but do you notice that round pale green plant? Those are flowers called Woolly Marbles. I read that later the leaves fully enclose the flower and it really does resemble a woolly marble.

Another Downingia flower that looks a lot like Cupped Downingia, but is a paler flower

Yellow Mariposa Lily (Calochortus luteus).

Downingia, Goldfields, Navarretia, and Brass Buttons.

At the time of this visit many flowers had dried out, but the goldfields were still striking. As the water in the lake evaporates, different flowers bloom.

Jepson Prairie is home to more than pretty flowers. At the start of the tour one of the docent volunteers shared creatures he had dipped from Olcott Lake (to be put back after the tour). This is the immature California Tiger Salamander. These salamanders spend most of the year underground in rodent burrows.

I enjoyed my time here so much that I went back on the next Sunday (a week ago). Stay tuned for more photos.