Created 6-May-26
Western Bewildering Bushmallow (Malacothamnus arcuatus var. arcuatus) is a rare plant, endemic to the San Francisco Bay Area – growing naturally only here. Botanists realized its uniqueness in 2023. It is a fire-follower, stimulated by gentle fire and the bare conditions that follow.
In May 2024, several piles of cleared chaparral brush were burned near the boundary of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma). Within six months, seedlings of Western Bewildering Bushmallow sprouted in the bare ground, in rings around the ashes – none in the center, which burned too hot. This was in a location where none had been recorded since Europeans colonized the area, supplanting the First People and their practice of land management, which included periodic wildfires. The seeds must have lain dormant for well over a century. By June 2025 some had grown to two meters high, spikes covered with luscious pink flowers*. Here are photos from the second springtime, April 4, 2026 – along with records from my brief earlier sightings of this plant at Jasper Ridge, when it was known by a different name.
First gallery: luxuriant blossoms, opening along soft-tufted stem. Stems, leaves, and buds are adorned with star-shaped hairs (“stellate trichomes”), protecting the plant from herbivory (and evaporation?). Crimson-red as buds, opening to luscious pink petals surrounding dark-red stamens. (Later, pollen will turn the anthers yellow: see the third gallery.) A magnet for pollinators: exotic Western Honeybees, native ants and crickets. A jumping spider snags a green insect.
Surrounding chaparral shelters other native plants: flowering Yerba Santa, elderberry, and Chaparral Clematis; Pitcher Sage, ready to flower soon. Several varieties of naturalized flowering thistles of also thrived in ground laid bare by fires’ heat – until pulled by volunteer docents, careful to stash the still-potent buds away. Blue-belly Lizard shelters beneath a composting sheaf of thistle stems, reluctant to move even once exposed to cold and light. Birds hunt: California Scrub Jay, an omnivore looking for any chance; and a bright iridescent Anna’s Hummingbird, snatching insects from air to satisfy his need for protein.
The second gallery gives more context. Just inside Mapache Gate, a pair of does retreat into the thicket. The path up-slope to the burn pile site is flanked by Blue Oak forest on one side, the Jasper Ridge fence on the other. The fence has been stylishly decorated by fallen Lace Lichen, reminiscent of Christo’s creations. Springtime flowers guide the way: young Sticky Monkeyflower, Coyote-mint, and Golden Yarrow.
The ground levels off where the burn piles were set two years ago. Chaparral has reclaimed the site. In rough circles around many of the burn-pile sites, Western Bewildering Bushmallow stands tall, over our heads, tight-clinging blossoms in profusion along the upper part of each spike, above soft hairy leaves. The center of the piles was too hot, killing all life in the soil – occasional thistles managed to colonize the ground here. Far from the piles, it was not hot enough to awaken the Bushmallow seeds: other chaparral plants thrive. At the magic distance from many – not all yet – burn piles, an exuberance of sturdy bushmallows!
Moving through the plateau of the bushmallows, another rise takes us to the top of the ridge. A lone Pacific Madrone marks the ridgetop, between Chamise chaparral on this side and chaparral dominated by Yerba Santa and Coyote Brush on the other. The view over the chaparral stretches almost up to Goya and Escobar Gates and down along Corte Madera Creek: neighboring houses, chaparral, oak woodland, and grassland.
Happy docents pose beside healthy Bushmallow, brandishing trash bags filled with dangerous thistle buds and seeds, leaving behind an ecosystem closer to that nurtured by the First People.
Since 2008, in my wanderings around Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), I had only noticed this plant twice – occasions widely separated in time and location, though both in a chaparral ecosystem. Two days only. The first time (third gallery) was on a cold morning in May 2011, along Mapache Trail (Trail 12), above Corte Madera Creek. Heavy dewdrops decorated the delicate flowers of a single plant. Insects – pollen-bedecked beetle, hungry thrips – had spent the night in stasis on these blossoms. As the warm sun ascended, they roused themselves for the day’s adventures. A Crab Spider ambushed a beefly.
The final gallery is from a morning along the Grassland Fire Road (Road F) in June 2023, on the chaparral hillside beneath neighboring houses. Even though I have passed that way almost monthly since 2009, I only noticed them there on this one day.
May the Western Bewildering Bushmallow continue to thrive!
References:
< https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/05/renewing-good-fire-returns-to-jasper-ridge> 5/13/2024: burning the piles.
< https://jrbp.stanford.edu/news/intentional-burning-awakens-fire-follower-indigenous-connections> 9/26/2024: Jasper Ridge Faculty Director Tadashi Fukami on the first sighting.
< https://jrbp.stanford.edu/news/intentional-burning-awakens-fire-follower-botanical-account> Biologist Adriana Hernandez on the first sighting.
* My first visit to this location in 2025, the season after the burn piles, is at
<https://capturethelight.zenfolio.com/250609> -- along with a poem.
Click on a photo to see it in full, and to read the caption. Please post a comment to the photo if you have a correction or anything to add.
In May 2024, several piles of cleared chaparral brush were burned near the boundary of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma). Within six months, seedlings of Western Bewildering Bushmallow sprouted in the bare ground, in rings around the ashes – none in the center, which burned too hot. This was in a location where none had been recorded since Europeans colonized the area, supplanting the First People and their practice of land management, which included periodic wildfires. The seeds must have lain dormant for well over a century. By June 2025 some had grown to two meters high, spikes covered with luscious pink flowers*. Here are photos from the second springtime, April 4, 2026 – along with records from my brief earlier sightings of this plant at Jasper Ridge, when it was known by a different name.
First gallery: luxuriant blossoms, opening along soft-tufted stem. Stems, leaves, and buds are adorned with star-shaped hairs (“stellate trichomes”), protecting the plant from herbivory (and evaporation?). Crimson-red as buds, opening to luscious pink petals surrounding dark-red stamens. (Later, pollen will turn the anthers yellow: see the third gallery.) A magnet for pollinators: exotic Western Honeybees, native ants and crickets. A jumping spider snags a green insect.
Surrounding chaparral shelters other native plants: flowering Yerba Santa, elderberry, and Chaparral Clematis; Pitcher Sage, ready to flower soon. Several varieties of naturalized flowering thistles of also thrived in ground laid bare by fires’ heat – until pulled by volunteer docents, careful to stash the still-potent buds away. Blue-belly Lizard shelters beneath a composting sheaf of thistle stems, reluctant to move even once exposed to cold and light. Birds hunt: California Scrub Jay, an omnivore looking for any chance; and a bright iridescent Anna’s Hummingbird, snatching insects from air to satisfy his need for protein.
The second gallery gives more context. Just inside Mapache Gate, a pair of does retreat into the thicket. The path up-slope to the burn pile site is flanked by Blue Oak forest on one side, the Jasper Ridge fence on the other. The fence has been stylishly decorated by fallen Lace Lichen, reminiscent of Christo’s creations. Springtime flowers guide the way: young Sticky Monkeyflower, Coyote-mint, and Golden Yarrow.
The ground levels off where the burn piles were set two years ago. Chaparral has reclaimed the site. In rough circles around many of the burn-pile sites, Western Bewildering Bushmallow stands tall, over our heads, tight-clinging blossoms in profusion along the upper part of each spike, above soft hairy leaves. The center of the piles was too hot, killing all life in the soil – occasional thistles managed to colonize the ground here. Far from the piles, it was not hot enough to awaken the Bushmallow seeds: other chaparral plants thrive. At the magic distance from many – not all yet – burn piles, an exuberance of sturdy bushmallows!
Moving through the plateau of the bushmallows, another rise takes us to the top of the ridge. A lone Pacific Madrone marks the ridgetop, between Chamise chaparral on this side and chaparral dominated by Yerba Santa and Coyote Brush on the other. The view over the chaparral stretches almost up to Goya and Escobar Gates and down along Corte Madera Creek: neighboring houses, chaparral, oak woodland, and grassland.
Happy docents pose beside healthy Bushmallow, brandishing trash bags filled with dangerous thistle buds and seeds, leaving behind an ecosystem closer to that nurtured by the First People.
Since 2008, in my wanderings around Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), I had only noticed this plant twice – occasions widely separated in time and location, though both in a chaparral ecosystem. Two days only. The first time (third gallery) was on a cold morning in May 2011, along Mapache Trail (Trail 12), above Corte Madera Creek. Heavy dewdrops decorated the delicate flowers of a single plant. Insects – pollen-bedecked beetle, hungry thrips – had spent the night in stasis on these blossoms. As the warm sun ascended, they roused themselves for the day’s adventures. A Crab Spider ambushed a beefly.
The final gallery is from a morning along the Grassland Fire Road (Road F) in June 2023, on the chaparral hillside beneath neighboring houses. Even though I have passed that way almost monthly since 2009, I only noticed them there on this one day.
May the Western Bewildering Bushmallow continue to thrive!
References:
< https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2024/05/renewing-good-fire-returns-to-jasper-ridge> 5/13/2024: burning the piles.
< https://jrbp.stanford.edu/news/intentional-burning-awakens-fire-follower-indigenous-connections> 9/26/2024: Jasper Ridge Faculty Director Tadashi Fukami on the first sighting.
< https://jrbp.stanford.edu/news/intentional-burning-awakens-fire-follower-botanical-account> Biologist Adriana Hernandez on the first sighting.
* My first visit to this location in 2025, the season after the burn piles, is at
<https://capturethelight.zenfolio.com/250609> -- along with a poem.
Click on a photo to see it in full, and to read the caption. Please post a comment to the photo if you have a correction or anything to add.
4/23-24/2026 Bushmallow and More Up Close
Visitors 91
36 photos
Created 7-May-26
Modified 7-May-26
4/24-25/2026 Western Bewildeing Bushmallow Blossoms for a Second Season
Visitors 82
24 photos
Created 7-May-26
Modified 7-May-26
5/13/2011 A Shelter for Cold Wet Insects
Visitors 9
10 photos
Created 9-May-26
Modified 9-May-26
6/7/2023 On Chaparral Hillside
Visitors 10
4 photos
Created 8-May-26
Modified 8-May-26
Dan Quinn