Hello! This week I went to a trail in Dublin, CA located in Alameda County. This trail is also by my house and is considered a regional park. I was hesitant to go because a couple of weeks ago there was a 6-year old girl attacked by a coyote on her neck (she is all fine now) up on the trail, but I went and it was all good. The vegetation was honestly pretty low as things are drying out. A lot of the plants were brown grasses and the occasional trees, it was super super dry and brown, which is a bummer because there's usually so much life and green during the rainy season. The landscape of this trail is uphill at first then levels out to view the entirety of the bay. This is a very pretty viewpoint at sunset or sunrise. I walked about a mile up and a mile back in the Donlon Point Staging Area. I look forward to continuing my adventures in places near my home.
The first tree I decided to observe and key is a Silver Maple tree that I found while walking my dog through the neighborhood park. There's a bunch of these located in my neighborhood and I was curious to as of what they were, especially because they have puzzle-like shaped leaves. The keying for this is:
Key to groups: 1', 2', 3', 5', 8.
Group- 7: 1', 2', 5', 7., 8'
Kind of Maple- 1', 2., 3', 6.
Species and book page: Acer spp., pages 25, Silver Maple
The next tree that I decided to observe and key is a Chinese Pistache. This tree is located in the front of my house and the leaves are pinnately compound which looks really cool. The keying for this is:
Key to groups: 1', 2', 3', 6', 7'
Group- 6: 1', 3', 11', 18', 24', 29', 30', 31', 32', 33'
Kind of Maple- 1', 2., 3', 6.
Species and book page: Pistacia chinensis, page 91
I have found keying to be not too difficult. I usually key the tree using the book before I upload to iNatualist and see how I do with that and then check myself using iNaturalist and work backwards through the book. I have found that with practice it has become more familiar and easier.