Join Don Thomas and other members of the Santa Clara Valley and Yerba Buena CNPS Chapters for our spring fountain thistle habitat restoration work party near the intersection of I-280 and Hwy. 92. We’ll meet on&n bsp;Saturday, May 31 and work from 10am to noon.

Fo untain thistle (Cirsium fontinale var. fontinal e) is a federally endangered plant species that grows in an unusual specialized habitat, serpentine seeps, and is only found at our work location and in a few other nearby locations on&nbs p;the Peninsula.

Fountain thistle’s recovery here is a res toration success story. Once almost completely displaced by jubatagras s (Andean pampas grass), it has largely recovered here, as a resu lt of the work done by CNPS volunteers. The CNPS project is a cooperat ive of our Santa Clara Valley and Yerba Buena Chapters. However, fount ain thistle is still under threat from invasion by new jubatagrass see dlings, by other non-native plants and by woody plants threatening to& nbsp;convert the area to shrubland or woodland.

In additio n, the bordering dry serpentine zone is habitat to another rare plant, Crystal Springs lessingia (Lessingia arachnoidea), whic h is threatened by invasion of yellow star-thistle, fennel, tufted wal laby grass (Rytidosperma caespitosum) and other non-nati ve plants. We should be able to observe some late-flowering spring wil dflowers.

Sturdy gloves are recommended; you might also wa nt to wear long sleeves/pants and bring sunscreen, water, a hat a nd layered clothing. If you have them, bring tools, such as trowels, s pades and shovels. Some tools will also be provided.

We’ll meet at the end of Lessingia Court in San Mateo. For more inform ation, contact Don Thomas at < span id="cloak50b206dca9528337d151efdab77fb4cd">This email address is being pr otected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..