California goldfields (Lasthenia californica), California poppies (Eschscholzia californica), and purple owls' clover (Castilleja exserta) line Road F winding through the serpentine grassland. The disturbance provided by the road allows these native plants some competitive advantage over the invading European annual grasses and native perennial grasses. A lonely valley oak (Quercus lobata) is leafing out in the spring. In recent years (2015), the goldfields display has become more muted: perhaps invasive non-native (European) grasses are finding more of a foothold in the serpentine soil, due to nitrogen deposition from the catalytic converters in the cars on nearby Highway 280 -- or perhaps the annual European grasses are evolving to colonize this soil, or both. Road F, Jasper Ridge, 4/3/2008, 12:18 pm.