Ring Mountain Preserve — growing wild

On this early June visit to the Ring Mountain Preserve on the Tiburon Peninsula, the color palette was pink and gold. There were rouge veiny backlit ears of a jackrabbit, blushing white and salmon pink buckwheat blooms, ripe peaches and cream petals of the Tiburon Mariposa lily, deep magenta stems of sea bluff lettuce, and fields of ruby chalice clarkia—all displayed against a backdrop of dry golden grasses. These blooms are the last of the spring displays, before the quiet summer season is in full force.

The serpentine soils of Ring Mountain have shaped its unusual ecosystem—one that supports several rare and endangered plant species.

Serpentine soils are poor in nutrients and contain high heavy metal concentrations, making growing conditions difficult. Many of the plants on Ring Mountain have adaptations that allow them to thrive in these harsh soils, but they cannot grow elsewhere—they are called narrow endemics.

A few of these fascinating species include the Tiburon Mariposa lily (found nowhere else in the world), the Tiburon jewelflower, Tiberon buckwheat, and showy Indian clover.