Plant Species of the Borrego Desert: 2009-2010 Blooms
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Both pictures taken on 24 January 2010 in Hellhole Canyon (one canyon south of Borrego Palm Canyon immediately west of Borrego Springs) by Mike Crouse.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Rainfall This Season
Annual Germination, Growth and Blooms
General Requirements for Annual Germination
Peak Bloom: What Does That Mean?
Summary of Annual Germination, Growth and Blooms in 2009-2010
Detailed Germination, Growth and Bloom Reports From Each Hike
Pictures From Each Hike
How Long Will An Annual Bloom Last
General Factors
Predictions for This Year
Species in Bloom On Each Trip
Number of Species and Plants in Bloom On Each Trip
List of Species in Bloom On Each Trip, With Photographs
Pictorial Gallery of Species in Bloom To Date in 2009-2010, organized by flower color
Links to Other Webpages on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Blooms
Introduction
The Borrego Desert is the northern part of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park below an elevation of ~3000 feet, named for the Borrego Valley and the town of Borrego Springs (map and expanded definition).
This page gives information about the 2009-2010 bloom for all species in this area, with emphasis on the annuals that are responsible for the widespread showy blooms that appear in some years on the desert floor. The date of the last update to this page is given at the bottom of this page.
For the progress of last year's bloom, see 2008-2009 Blooms.
In addition to specific information about current conditions, this page also gives some general information on what is needed to germinate those annuals, and what is needed to sustain the annual bloom.
The information here is by no means a definitive list to what is blooming at all locations in the Borrego Desert; it only records the species I've seen in bloom on my trips that occur roughly every fourth day. Because the locations change, the numbers of species in bloom, and the number of plants in bloom, cannot usually be directly compared from trip to trip. However, the information here will give the reader an idea of what the bloom is doing in the Borrego Desert.
Note that there is often quite a difference in the annual bloom between the moister canyons west of Borrego Springs and the drier areas around the Badlands. Similarly, even within those canyons on the west, there can be large differences between the north-facing and south-facing slopes, and between canyons with permanent water, like Borrego Palm Canyon, and drier canyons. In the drier areas to the east, there can be large differences between the edges of washes and the middle of washes, and between shady canyons and open areas.
The locations for each hike are in the detailed reports below; more information is sometimes given in Botanical Trail Reports in Chronological Order, which usually includes more information about the bloom on each trip.
Rainfall This Season
Rainfall is the most important determinant of blooms. Rainfall is usually highest on the mountain slopes, especially on the west edge of the Borrego Desert, and falls off dramatically with lower elevation to the east. This occurs whenever our rainfall is mostly orographic. However, when rainfall is from convection, the deserts can at times get more rainfall than the coast. (See Precipitation types.)
In addition to desert stations, I've also given the rainfall from my house in Fallbrook, on the coastal side at 680 feet elevation, to show the large difference in rainfall between the wet side of the mountains and the dry side.
Table 1 gives the storm totals, in inches, as of the last day of each storm. The storm totals were taken from the Weather Service Rainfall Storm Summary, except for Fallbrook and the Borrego Badlands / Ocotillo Wells. Occasionally other stations are missing in that report; if so, totals are taken from the Rainfall Summary Map. Rainfall reports for Ocotillo Wells are reported at here for the month to date.
If a station didn't appear in the summary, or I couldn't find it elsewhere on line, I usually assumed the rainfall total was zero. Although this assumption is probably usually correct, it is not necessarily always valid since missing data plague all rain reports. In a few cases, when it was clear that some rainfall must have been received at those missing stations, I've guesstimated the rainfall.
Note that the total rainfall at the bottom of the table is since 1 October, since rain that falls earlier doesn't germinate the desert annuals (see below). This rainfall total may be different from the rainfall reported by the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Visitor Center using the normal California rainfall year that begins on 1 July.
Table 1. Rainfall Events Since 1 October 2009
| Date | Fallbrook | San Felipe | Agua Caliente | Borrego Palm Canyon | Borrego Springs | Borrego Badlands / Ocotillo Wells |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 October 2009 | 0.07 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| 28 November 2009 | 0.42 | 0.20 | 0.08 | 0.14 | 0.03 | 0.00 |
| 7 December 2009 | 1.93 | 1.41 | 1.09 | ~1.0 | 1.24 | ~1.2 |
| 11-13 December 2009 | 1.46 | 0.5?? | 0.3?? | 0.13 | 0.18 | ~0.00 |
| 22 December 2009 | 0.13 | 0.2? | 0.2? | ~0.08 | 0.08 | ~0.00 |
| 18-22 January 2010 | 5.24 | ~6.0? | ~6.0? | ~5.5? | 4.89 | 1.65 |
| 27 January 2010 | 0.16 | ~0.0? | ~0.0? | ~0.0? | 0.01 | 0.00 |
| 6-7 February 2010 | 1.73 | 0.43 | 0.36 | 0.07? | 0.07 | 0.18 |
| 10 February 2010 | 0.47 | 0.15 | 0.15? | 0.25? | 0.25 | 0.05 |
| Total Since 1 October | 11.85 | ~8.88? | ~8.21? | ~7.12? | 6.75 | ~3.08 |
The reported rainfall of 0.34 inches for Borrego Palm Canyon on 12/7/09 is unlikely to be correct, since nearly everywhere in San Diego County received an inch of rain or more. Automatic rainfall gauges often get clogged, causing under-reported rainfall, which is probably what happened here. I've replaced it by an estimated 1.0 inches.
The rainfall given at the Visitor Center since July 1, 2009 matched closely the Borrego Springs total rainfall given above as of 12/31/09 since there was no monsoonal rain at the Visitor Center in 2009.
Annual Germination, Growth and Blooms
General Requirements for Annual Germination
The timing of rainfall is extremely important for the annual bloom. Rainfall received in the summer and early fall will not germinate the annuals that bloom in February and March. Rainfall received after January will either not germinate those annuals, or will germinate them too late for them to produce a robust bloom in most years. Thus rain must fall in October, November, and/or December in order to germinate the annuals that produce the showy mass displays.
The amount in a single storm is also important. Native annuals require about an inch of rainfall, received over no longer than a period of something like several days, in order to germinate. Our native annuals have learned the hard way that any less rainfall doesn't guarantee enough moisture in the soil for them to produce seeds.
Unfortunately, non-native annuals can germinate on less rainfall, and can sometimes get a head start over our native annuals if we get a first rainfall much less than an inch.
See Predicting Desert Wildflower Blooms - The science behind the spectacle from the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum for information relating to Arizona desert blooms.
Peak Bloom: What Does That Mean?
The term Peak Bloom means different things to different people:
- To the casual visitor to the Borrego Desert, it means the time period when there are carpets of showy flowers on the desert floor that will immediately be obvious in a large-scale photograph. As a result, this is also what the Park Staff means by Peak Bloom as well, and what is reported by them in the postcard notifications to those who sign up for that.
Only a few species produce those showy carpets of flowers, and the timing of their bloom does not necessarily correspond to each other, let alone the ~200 other species that bloom in February and March.
Note that other species can produce fields of flowers, but not in the sense of carpets of flowers. For example, brittlebush, Encelia farinosa, can produce very showy displays on hillsides long after the carpets of annuals are gone.
- To a wildflower enthusiast, or a botanist, it might mean the time period when they can see the maximum number of species in bloom on a given one or two day trip. This in general occurs later than the time when showy carpets of flowers are present.
In fact, I have been in the desert at such a time of peak bloom, with perhaps 50 species in full bloom within a mile of my location, and had visitors ask me where the flowers are. Clearly, they were looking for carpets of flowers, and weren't interested in walking around to find all the species in bloom at that location.
Most of the time, I use the latter definition of Peak Bloom, but I also try to mention when the carpets of flowers are present.
If you are looking for a particular species in bloom, the time of Peak Bloom doesn't matter to you; you want to know only when that species is in bloom. Plant species bloom at different times; it is not possible to see every species in bloom even over the time period of a month.
For example, if you want to see the beautiful blooms of beavertail cactus, Opuntia basilaris, you'll need to come just after the showy annual carpets are finished. If you want to see the beautiful flowers of desert-willow, Chilopsis linearis ssp. arcuata, then you'll need to come here in summer, when few species are blooming except for it.
See observed dates of peak bloom in 2008-2009 for various locations.
These annual species produce the showy carpets of flowers:
- hairy sand verbena, Abronia villosa
- brown-eyed primrose, Camissonia claviformis
- spectacle-pod, Dithyrea californica
- hairy desert-sunflower, aka desert gold, Geraea canescens
- Arizona lupine, Lupinus arizonicus
- desert dandelion, Malacothrix glabrata
- dune primrose, Oenothera deltoides
Other annuals can produce carpets of flowers, but are either more limited in their distribution, such as Bigelow's monkeyflower, Mimulus bigelovii, or purple mat, Nama demissum; or don't produce such showy displays, such as Fremont pincushion, Chaenactis fremontii (since fields of white don't show up well against the whitish background of the desert soil).
Summary of Annual Germination, Growth and Blooms in 2009-2010
The widespread inch of rain on 12/7/09 produced excellent native annual germination west of Borrego Springs, but as of mid-January 2010 poor native annual germination east of Borrego Springs. East of Borrego Springs, including the floor of eastern Clark Valley and Beckman Wash in the Borrego Badlands, almost 100% of the germinated annuals are the non-native Asian mustard, Brassica tournefortii.
The widespread 1.5-5 inches of rain on 18-22 January 2010 essentially guarantees a decent wildflower display west of Borrego Springs unless we get several weeks of temperatures over 90° F. It remains to be seen whether this rainfall arrived early enough to produce good annual germination east of Borrego Springs. Even if native annuals were germinated from this rain, in many places they might be overwhelmed by the non-native Asian mustard due to its huge head start.
Unfortunately, many of the first annuals blooming now are very small plants, perhaps because they germinated in December instead of earlier.
We are in the take-off phase for the bloom, the time of year when the number of plants in blooms begins to double every week or two. See the plots below for how the bloom unfolded last year. Since 1 January, we are now following last year's curves of the number of species in bloom, and the number of plants in bloom, for each trip, closely. It thus looks like last year's curves can be used as the best guess for what will happen in the near future this year.
Detailed Germination, Growth and Bloom Reports From Each Hike
Detailed reports for the last two months are given here; for earlier reports, see Reports from 29 October 2009 to 24 January 2010.
These reports are just summaries of these conditions from each hike.
See also Detailed Germination, Growth and Bloom Reports From Each Hike in 2008-2009.
12/15/09: Elephant Tree Area, Alma Canyon. The good bloom here continues, with some species rejuvenated by the recent rain. For example, the Allionia blooms are much better now than they were six days ago.
Amazingly, one perennial plant, Lyrocarpa coulteri var. palmeri, Coulter's lyrepod, is already producing blooms on a plant just a few inches high just eight days after the rain. This plant must have already emerged and grew to its present size prior to the rain, since when we saw the plant on 12/27/09, 20 days after the rain, it looked virtually the same.
We saw over 660 plants of 29 species in bloom.
12/19/09: Clark Valley. We saw only 34 plants of 7 species in bloom today, which is more typical of most places in the Borrego Desert than the places we have been visiting so far this season. It is too early for blooms in most places that don't have a permanent source of water, or received summer rainfall.
We saw a zillion baby annuals that have sprouted, but unfortunately they are all silver dollar size clumps of the non-native Asian mustard, Brassica tournefortii. It is hard to imagine that just 15 years ago this invasive species was not even present here.
12/23/09: Agua Caliente County Park. This area is not in the Borrego Desert, but its report is included here anyway. The star of the show for me was seeing a single open bloom of Lycium parishii, Parish's desert-thorn, which is found only south of the Borrego Desert. This was the first time I had seen this species in bloom. We saw 18 species total in bloom. (Since this area is not in the Borrego Desert, the numbers from this trip are not included in the plots and tables below, or in the list of species in bloom.)
12/27/09: Elephant Tree Area, Alma Canyon, Starfish Cove. The bloom was almost identical to what was seen on 12/15/09, but we noticed fewer plants of each species in bloom, since this was mostly a hiking trip so we could finally get to Starfish Cove.
12/31/09: California Riding and Hiking Trail, Lower Hellhole Canyon part. It seemed like we had gone back in time by coming to this area after the Elephant Tree Area. Annuals were just germinating, with many showing just their cotyledons or first true leaves. Some of the shrubs were just leafing out.
1/3/10: California Riding and Hiking Trail, Culp Valley and upper Hellhole Canyon part. This trip was at 2600 feet elevation and above, and very few plants were in bloom. Interestingly, some of the annuals were a bit more advanced than seen lower on this trail four days ago, instead of being a bit farther behind.
1/7/10: Hellhole Canyon to Maidenhair Falls. There is excellent annual germination in Hellhole Canyon itself, and decent germination underneath the shrubs on the alluvial plain below. In particular, the Phacelia distans plants are growing robustly, with ~8 good-sized leaves or so on each plant. About ten plants of bladderpod, Isomeris arborea, are in good bloom.
1/10/10: Borrego Badlands: Fonts Point Wash and Beckman Wash. It was almost shocking to see the lack of native annual germination in this area. To a first approximation, the only annuals that have germinated here are those of the non-native Asian mustard, Brassica tournefortii. We only observed a few baby plants of narrow-leaved cryptantha, Cryptantha angustifolia, and a few other native annuals. Worse, even if native annuals germinate later, they will be overwhelmed by the non-native Asian mustard due to its huge head start.
We observed rosettes of 3-4 leaves on several desert lilies, Hesperocallis undulata, but the last leaf reverted to a much-smaller size, indicating that it might be running of our moisture. That doesn't augur well for its good bloom unless we get further rain.
As is often the case, the number of plants in bloom in the Borrego Badlands was way less here than we observed any place else so far this year. We found a grand total of 4 plants in bloom, each a different species.
We also found a single plant on the S22 roadside of Salton milk-vetch, Astragalus crotalariae, with a number of buds.
1/15/10: Hellhole Canyon to beyond Maidenhair Falls. Conditions are much the same as on 1/7/10, with the annuals all a bit bigger.
1/24/10: Hellhole Canyon to beyond Maidenhair Falls. It rained! It rained a lot! This hike was delayed by six days due to a glorious five days of rain.
Hellhole Canyon Creek is flowing quite strongly above the Canyon mouth; water is shooting down Maidenhair Falls; the ground is wet everywhere; and the annuals are looking great. The annuals are no longer little rosettes with a few leaves in many places; they are now forming masses with foliage some distance above the ground.
The widespread ~5 inches of rain here on 18-22 January guarantees a good wildflower display to come at least in this canyon.
The stars of the show today were a few specimens of California fish-hook cactus, Mammillaria dioica, in full bloom along the portion of the trail in the alluvial fan, and the first few plants of desert apricot, Prunus fremontii in bloom (both pix by Mike Crouse).
We observed three tiny plants of the first winter annual in bloom, but unfortunately the species was the non-native redstem filaree, Erodium cicutarium.
1/28/10: Borrego Palm Canyon: Palm Grove Loop. The biggest delight of the day was to quite unexpectedly see the rock crossosoma, Crossosoma bigelovii, in beautiful fragrant bloom. The scent was very strong and delightful, and the plants were beautiful, covered with bloom.
The first mats of annual flowers were present, but they were mats that only a serious botanist would notice. They were from the first flowers of curvenut combseed, Pectocarya recurvata, which has a minute flower, just ~1 mm (1/25 inch) across. The other first-flowering mass annual here, hairy-podded pepper-grass, Lepidium lasiocarpum, was already showing its first fruit, along with what passes for flowers in this self-fertilized species.
We spent considerable time verifying all the species on the plant trail guide, to see how many of the species seen in the glorious year of 2005 were present this year. The variation is almost entirely due to annual species, since the perennials and shrubs stick around for a very long time.
Nearly all annual species are present (of course, these were all babies, with few in flower yet). For example, in the first 0.02 mile of the trail, we found 18 annual species present, most in great abundance, with only three winter annual species seen in prior years not in evidence in this short stretch of trail (Lotus strigosus, Perityle emoryi, Camissonia claviformis). The latter two species were found later on the trail. Most surprisingly, one of those 18 annual species, the native Texas filaree, Erodium texanum, had not been seen previously anywhere on this trail in 2003-2005!
It is going to be a good bloom year in the canyons west of Borrego Springs.
1/31/10: Borrego Palm Canyon: Palm Grove Loop and above the first grove. Three new species popped into bloom today: white fiesta flower, Pholistoma membranaceum; cheesebush, Hymenoclea salsola var. salsola; and deerweed, Lotus scoparius var. brevialatus, all represented by one to two plants or a single location. The fiesta flower was quite a surprise, since we saw it at the end of the day on the Alternate Trail, after previously seeing one zillion plants not yet showing any buds. A number of plants in that one location were quite covered with bloom.
Cheesebush is nearly impossible to tell when it is in bloom by eye. What most people think of as the flowers for this species are actually the bracts on the fruit. But the bees know when it is in bloom, so all we had to do to find the plants in bloom was to watch for the bees!
The Asian mustard, Brassica tournefortii, has begun to bloom in mass in several places on surprisingly tiny plants. I would have thought the abundance of rain would have led these plants to delay bloom while they grew more robustly, which is what 99% of the other plants of this species are doing. Keith Haworth speculated that maybe other nutrients were in short supply here, and I speculated that maybe these plants had already decided to begin blooming before the heavy rain of two weeks previously. But perhaps it was some other feature of this location not easily apparent to humans, just like the patch of fiesta flower in bloom.
Overall, we found at least 491 total plants of 28 species in bloom, including four species not seen previously this season so far (the fourth one was common cudweed, Gnaphalium luteo-album, which had clearly been in bloom previously, but we had just not encountered it before this trip).
2/9/10: Borrego Palm Canyon: Palm Grove Loop and above the first grove. Eight new species were found into bloom today, including one of the stars of the annual show, Phacelia distans. See the list below for the complete list of the species found in bloom here. Many cheesebush plants are now in bloom, and some of them are beginning to produce their showy fruit that many mistake for their bloom.
Many of the species in bloom here can be found right at the parking area, which would keep a plant photographer busy for some time without the need for any hiking.
Surprisingly, many of the first annuals blooming now are very small plants, perhaps because they germinated in December instead of earlier.
In the Canyon above the first palm grove, we were pleased to come across five plants of San Jacinto beardtongue, Penstemon clevelandii var. connatus, that had buds just about to pop.
Altogether, we observed over 1,094 plants of 44 species in bloom today.
Pictures From Each Hike
Most of the pictures in the Pictorial Gallery of Species in Bloom To Date in 2009-2010, organized by flower color, have been taken this year. The date and location of each picture are given in that table.
Most of the rest of my pictures were taken for scientific purposes, and not specifically to show anything about the bloom. However, they may be of interest to people showing some aspects of what the bloom was like on a given date. My pictures are not even on standard webpages; Table 2 gives links to a directory and you have to click on the link for each picture to see it. Scientific names are used almost exclusively for the picture names.
The context for most of these pictures is sometimes given in the botanical reports from each hike.
Table 2. Links to Directories With Pictures From Each Trip
See also Pictures From Each Hike in 2008-2009.
How Long Will An Annual Bloom Last
General Factors
Past Rainfall, Future Rainfall, and Heat are the main factors determining how long an annual bloom will last on the desert floor at about 1000 feet elevation:
- Past rainfall affects how big the plant is, and how many resources it has to keep blooming, especially the root system of the plant and how much moisture is available in the ground. Given enough resources, annuals can withstand conditions that would otherwise abruptly end the bloom.
- Future rainfall can allow a bloom to keep going even if resources are meager. Even annuals near death can produce significant new growth if they receive rainfall.
- Heat is the main factor that terminates a bloom. I've seen a very robust February bloom abruptly end in just two weeks in March when 90° heat begins and is sustained for a few weeks. On the other hand, the bloom can go into April in years with cooler March temperatures.
Predictions for This Year
It looks like we are following last year's pattern quite closely, so the best estimate of when peak bloom will occur is to use the observed dates of peak bloom in 2008-2009. Not surprisingly, the Park Rangers are predicting the peak bloom this year to be the same as last year. On 2/10/10, the Park released a press notice that said:
Environmental Services Intern Paul Johnson predicts a "very good to outstanding" bloom this spring, with the peak expected between the last week of February and the second week of March, depending on the weather.
Species in Bloom On Each Trip
Number of Species and Plants in Bloom On Each Trip
Five plots are given below; each plot has this year's bloom data as well as last year's bloom data for comparison:
- The first two plots, Figures 1-2, show what was observed on each trip, the total number of species in bloom and the total number of plants in bloom. The total number of plants in bloom for each individual species is capped at a maximum of 99 plants.
- The next two plots, Figures 3-4, give the cumulative total numbers from all trips so far this season, of all species seen in bloom and of all annual species that germinated this year and have begun blooming. Thus this does not count any annual species that survived from last year and is now blooming. These cumulative total numbers include the number of species on a given trip as well as those from all trips previous to that trip.
The last plot, Figure 5, gives the percent of the species that have bloomed so far that are annuals.
The plots and the table here must be interpreted cautiously, for at least three reasons:
- First, long hikes will find more plants in bloom than short hikes. For example, the hikes of 12/29/08, 1/2/09 and 1/9/09 were all in Henderson Canyon, but were 4, 7 and 8 miles long, respectively. The increase in the number of plants was due almost entirely to the length covered.
- Second, some areas have a higher species diversity than others, and so will have more species blooming at a given time. For example, on 2/20/09, I botanized the Borrego Badlands, which had significantly fewer species than the Coyote Creek area I had botanized for the previous two trips. As a result, the total number of species observed in bloom skidded from 61 to 35, even though the bloom overall in the Borrego Desert was still getting better. Note that the cumulative number of species, and annuals, seen to be in bloom from all trips that year continued to increase, since the Badlands had some species not found elsewhere.
- In 2009-2010, I began by botanizing the Coyote Creek Area, which had abundant water along the Creek. As a result, I found significantly more species in bloom than I did in 2008-2009, when I began by botanizing the very dry Clark Lake Area.
On 12/1/09, I visited an area that had received a summer thunderstorm on 5 September 2009, and as a result had many more species in bloom than anyplace else I visited in December 2008 or December 2009.
The curves for November and December for 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 could thus easily have been switched between years if I had also switched areas botanized in each year. (I.e., if I had botanized wet / monsoon storm areas in 2008-2009 and dry areas in 2009-2010.)
In fact, the number of species in bloom on a trip to Clark Valley on 12/19/09 produced almost exactly the same number of species in bloom as the 12/19/08 trip a year earlier.
Figure 1. Number of Species in Bloom on Each Trip
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Figure 2. Number of Plants in Bloom on Each Trip
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Figure 3. Cumulative Number of Species Seen in Bloom From All Trips
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Figure 4. Cumulative Number of Annual Species Seen in Bloom From All Trips
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Figure 5. Percent of All Species Seen in Bloom From All Trips That Are Annuals
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Table 3 gives the numbers used for the above plots, for the last two months. For earlier numbers, see Numbers from 29 October 2009 to 24 January 2010. The individual observations used to obtain these numbers are in the List of Species in Bloom On Each Trip.
Table 3. Number of Species and Total Number of Plants in Bloom on Each Trip
| Number of | 12/15 | 12/19 | 12/27 | 12/31 | 1/3 | 1/7 | 1/10 | 1/15 | 1/24 | 1/28 | 1/31 | 2/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Species | 29 | 7 | 25 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 4 | 10 | 14 | 23 | 28 | 44 |
| Plants | 660 | 34 | 269 | 67 | 6 | 100 | 4 | 149 | 151 | 376 | 491 | 1094 |
List of Species in Bloom On Each Trip, With Photographs
Table 4 gives the number of plants observed to be in bloom for each species on each hike, with a maximum value of 99 plants for each species. This maximum value prevents one species from dominating the total plants in bloom, and makes it much easier on me to keep track of the bloom.
Because the hike locations vary, some species will not be present on every hike, so the lack of an entry for a given hike says nothing about whether that species is blooming elsewhere.
The Checklist is sorted first by category, with dicots before monocots, and then by family and scientific name. The Family and Scientific Name are from the Jepson Manual. An asterisk before the Common Name indicates a non-native taxon.
See Plant Family Abbreviations to obtain the full family name from the abbreviations used in the table below.
This table gives the number of plants in bloom only since 1 December 2009. Some species thus have no number of plants in bloom listed in this table since they were observed in bloom only on trips prior to that date. For those earlier trips, see list of species seen in bloom from 29 October 2009 to 24 January 2010..
The Checklist has thumbnail photographs for most of the species, all of which were taken in the Borrego Desert. Clicking on the thumbnail photograph gives a larger version equal in size to the ones at the top of this page.
All the larger versions are also presented in Pictorial Gallery of Species in Bloom To Date in 2009-2010, organized by flower color.
All pictures were taken by myself except the following:
- Mike Crouse kindly contributed the pictures for Camissonia pallida, Crassula connata, Fouquieria splendens, Mammillaria dioica, Mirabilis tenuiloba, Prunus fremontii, and Ribes indecorum.
- Bill Sullivan kindly contributed the pictures for Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima and Mimulus cardinalis.
This table gives the number of plants in bloom only since 1 December 2009. Some species thus have no number of plants in bloom listed in this table since they were observed in bloom only on trips prior to that date. For those earlier trips, see list of species seen in bloom from 29 October 2009 to 24 January 2010.
Some species that have bloomed in the Borrego Desert are not listed here, since I never observed them in bloom. Such species are found only in a few locations, and I either never visited those locations or they bloomed in between my visits to their location.
Of course, species that bloom later in the year, and species that do not have flowers (ferns, etc.) are not present in this list, so it is not the equivalent of a plant checklist for the Borrego Desert.
Table 4. List of Species in Bloom On Each Trip
| # | FAM | Scientific Name | Pix | Common Name | 12/15 | 12/19 | 12/27 | 12/31 | 1/3 | 1/7 | 1/10 | 1/15 | 1/24 | 1/28 | 1/31 | 2/9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ACA | Justicia californica |  | chuparosa | 99 | 20 | 30 | 50 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | 99 | |||
| 2 | AMA | Amaranthus fimbriatus |  | fringed amaranth | 1 | |||||||||||
| 3 | ASC | Asclepias subulata |  | rush milkweed | ||||||||||||
| 4 | ASC | Sarcostemma cynanchoides ssp. hartwegii |  | climbing milkweed | ||||||||||||
| 5 | AST | Adenophyllum porophylloides |  | San Felipe dogweed | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 6 | AST | Ambrosia dumosa |  | burroweed | ||||||||||||
| 7 | AST | Ambrosia psilostachya |  | western ragweed | ||||||||||||
| 8 | AST | Baccharis salicifolia |  | mule fat | 2 | 2 | 1 | |||||||||
| 9 | AST | Bebbia juncea var. aspera |  | sweetbush | 99 | 5 | 50 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 15 | 30 | 10 | |
| 10 | AST | Brickellia desertorum |  | desert brickellia | ||||||||||||
| 11 | AST | Chrysothamnus paniculatus |  | punctate rabbitbrush | 5 | |||||||||||
| 12 | AST | Conyza canadensis |  | horseweed | ||||||||||||
| 13 | AST | Dicoria canescens |  | desert dicoria | ||||||||||||
| 14 | AST | Encelia farinosa |  | brittlebush | 10 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 15 | |||||||
| 15 | AST | Ericameria brachylepis |  | boundary goldenbush | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 16 | AST | Gnaphalium luteo-album |  | *common cudweed | 2 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 17 | AST | Gutierrezia sarothrae |  | matchweed | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 18 | AST | Hymenoclea salsola var. salsola |  | cheesebush | 2 | 99 | ||||||||||
| 19 | AST | Isocoma acradenia var. eremophila |  | solitary-leaved alkali goldenbush | ||||||||||||
| 20 | AST | Lepidospartum squamatum |  | scale-broom | ||||||||||||
| 21 | AST | Palafoxia arida var. arida |  | desert needle | 5 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 22 | AST | Pectis papposa var. papposa |  | chinch-weed | ||||||||||||
| 23 | AST | Perityle emoryi |  | Emory's rock-daisy | 1 | |||||||||||
| 24 | AST | Senecio flaccidus var. monoensis |  | Mono ragwort | ||||||||||||
| 25 | AST | Solidago californica |  | goldenrod | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 26 | AST | Stephanomeria exigua ssp. exigua |  | slender wreathplant | ||||||||||||
| 27 | AST | Stephanomeria pauciflora var. pauciflora |  | wire-lettuce | 15 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 3 | |||||||
| 28 | AST | Viguiera parishii |  | Parish's viguiera | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| 29 | BOR | Cryptantha angustifolia |  | narrow-leaved cryptantha | ||||||||||||
| 30 | BOR | Cryptantha racemosa |  | bushy cryptantha | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 31 | BOR | Heliotropium curassavicum |  | seaside heliotrope | ||||||||||||
| 32 | BOR | Pectocarya recurvata |  | curvenut combseed | 99 | 99 | 99 | |||||||||
| 33 | BOR | Tiquilia palmeri |  | Palmer's coldenia | ||||||||||||
| 34 | BOR | Tiquilia plicata |  | plicate coldenia | ||||||||||||
| 35 | BRA | Brassica tournefortii |  | *Asian mustard | 50 | 99 | ||||||||||
| 36 | BRA | Lepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpum |  | hairy-podded pepper-grass | 20 | |||||||||||
| 37 | BRA | Lyrocarpa coulteri var. palmeri |  | Coulter's lyrepod | 3 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| 38 | BRA | Sisymbrium irio |  | *London rocket | 20 | |||||||||||
| 39 | CAC | Mammillaria dioica |  | California fish-hook cactus | 1 | 3 | 1 | |||||||||
| 40 | CAP | Isomeris arborea |  | bladderpod | 10 | 10 | 10 | |||||||||
| 41 | CHE | Chenopodium murale |  | *nettle-leaved goosefoot | 10 | |||||||||||
| 42 | CRA | Crassula connata |  | pygmy-weed | 99 | |||||||||||
| 43 | CRO | Crossosoma bigelovii |  | rock crossosoma | 4 | 18 | 20 | |||||||||
| 44 | EUP | Chamaesyce micromera |  | Sonoran spurge | 10 | |||||||||||
| 45 | EUP | Chamaesyce polycarpa |  | small-seeded spurge | 20 | 10 | 20 | 1 | ||||||||
| 46 | EUP | Chamaesyce setiloba |  | Yuma spurge | 99 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 47 | EUP | Croton californicus |  | California croton | 1 | |||||||||||
| 48 | EUP | Ditaxis lanceolata |  | narrowleaf ditaxis | 20 | 5 | 1 | 10 | 10 | |||||||
| 49 | EUP | Ditaxis neomexicana |  | New Mexico ditaxis | 1 | |||||||||||
| 50 | EUP | Euphorbia eriantha |  | beetle spurge | 1 | |||||||||||
| 51 | FAB | Acacia greggii |  | catclaw | 1 | |||||||||||
| 52 | FAB | Lotus rigidus |  | desert lotus | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||||||
| 53 | FAB | Lotus scoparius var. brevialatus |  | short-winged deerweed | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 54 | FAB | Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana |  | honey mesquite | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 55 | FAB | Psorothamnus emoryi |  | Emory's indigo-bush | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 56 | FAB | Psorothamnus schottii |  | indigo bush | 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||
| 57 | FOU | Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens |  | ocotillo | 99 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 1 | 20 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 5 | |
| 58 | GER | Erodium cicutarium |  | *redstem filaree | 3 | 1 | 2 | 99 | ||||||||
| 59 | GRO | Ribes indecorum |  | white-flowering currant | 1 | |||||||||||
| 60 | HYD | Phacelia distans |  | common phacelia | 30 | |||||||||||
| 61 | HYD | Phacelia minor |  | wild canterbury bells | 1 | |||||||||||
| 62 | HYD | Pholistoma membranaceum |  | white fiesta flower | 20 | 99 | ||||||||||
| 63 | KRA | Krameria grayi |  | white rhatany | ||||||||||||
| 64 | LAM | Hyptis emoryi |  | desert-lavender | 99 | 3 | 99 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 5 | 99 | 99 | 99 | ||
| 65 | LOA | Petalonyx thurberi ssp. thurberi |  | Thurber's sandpaper-plant | ||||||||||||
| 66 | MAL | Hibiscus denudatus |  | rock hibiscus | 5 | |||||||||||
| 67 | MAL | Horsfordia newberryi |  | Newberry's velvet mallow | ||||||||||||
| 68 | MAL | Malacothamnus aboriginum |  | Indian Valley bush mallow | 5 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 69 | NYC | Abronia villosa var. villosa |  | hairy sand-verbena | ||||||||||||
| 70 | NYC | Allionia incarnata |  | trailing four o'clock | 30 | 20 | 1 | |||||||||
| 71 | NYC | Boerhavia intermedia |  | fivewing spiderling | ||||||||||||
| 72 | NYC | Boerhavia wrightii |  | Wright's spiderling | ||||||||||||
| 73 | NYC | Mirabilis bigelovii var. retrorsa |  | wishbone plant | 2 | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| 74 | NYC | Mirabilis tenuiloba |  | slender-lobed four o'clock | 1 | 5 | 10 | |||||||||
| 75 | ONA | Camissonia cardiophylla ssp. cardiophylla |  | heartleaf sun-cup | 1 | |||||||||||
| 76 | ONA | Camissonia claviformis ssp. peirsonii |  | brown-eyed primrose | 2 | |||||||||||
| 77 | ONA | Camissonia pallida ssp. pallida |  | pale sun-cup | 1 | |||||||||||
| 78 | ONA | Epilobium canum ssp. latifolium |  | mountain California-fuchsia | ||||||||||||
| 79 | ONA | Epilobium ciliatum ssp. ciliatum |  | willowherb | ||||||||||||
| 80 | ONA | Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima |  | Hooker's evening-primrose | 2 | |||||||||||
| 81 | PAP | Eschscholzia minutiflora ssp. minutiflora |  | small-flowered poppy | 1 | |||||||||||
| 82 | PLA | Platanus racemosa |  | western sycamore | ||||||||||||
| 83 | POL | Eriogonum elongatum var. elongatum |  | long-stemmed buckwheat | ||||||||||||
| 84 | POL | Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium |  | California buckwheat | 1 | |||||||||||
| 85 | POL | Eriogonum inflatum |  | desert trumpet | 10 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 86 | POL | Eriogonum wrightii var. nodosum |  | Wright's buckwheat | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| 87 | RHA | Ziziphus parryi var. parryi |  | lotebush | 15 | |||||||||||
| 88 | ROS | Prunus fremontii |  | desert apricot | 3 | 10 | ||||||||||
| 89 | SAL | Salix exigua |  | narrowleaf willow | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||||||||
| 90 | SCR | Mimulus cardinalis |  | scarlet monkeyflower | ||||||||||||
| 91 | SOL | Datura discolor |  | desert thornapple | 1 | |||||||||||
| 92 | SOL | Datura wrightii |  | sacred datura | ||||||||||||
| 93 | SOL | Lycium andersonii |  | Anderson's desert-thorn | 4 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
| 94 | SOL | Nicotiana obtusifolia |  | desert tobacco | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 95 | SOL | Physalis crassifolia |  | thick-leaved ground cherry | 10 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 96 | SOL | Solanum douglasii |  | white nightshade | 1 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 97 | VIS | Phoradendron californicum |  | desert mistletoe | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ||||||||
| 98 | ZYG | Fagonia pachyacantha |  | sticky fagonia | ||||||||||||
| 99 | ZYG | Larrea tridentata |  | creosote bush | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 100 | LIL | Agave deserti |  | desert agave | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| 101 | POA | Aristida adscensionis |  | six-weeks three-awn | 3 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 102 | POA | Bouteloua aristidoides var. aristidoides |  | needle grama | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||
| 103 | POA | Bouteloua barbata var. barbata |  | six-weeks grama | 1 | |||||||||||
| 104 | POA | Pennisetum setaceum |  | *fountain grass | 10 | 30 | 99 | |||||||||
| 105 | POA | Pleuraphis rigida |  | big galleta | 1 |
Links to Other Webpages, etc. on Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Blooms
DesertUSA Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Reports For 2010
Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers: Where and When to Look from the Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association
Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Wildflower Hotline: (760)767-4684. "Information on this recording is updated regularly."
Anza-Borrego Foundation and Institute Wildflowers (link didn't work on 9 February 2009)
Theodore Payne Wildflower Hotline (Reports begin in March 2010)