Plant Guide to South Kaibab Trail Grand Canyon National Park Including Pictures of Most Species

(Click on pictures to get the species information pages)

Introduction and Explanation of Plant Trail Guides

Introduction
Highlights of This Trail
Fieldwork Dates and Summary of List Changes With Time
The Plant Guide
     Key to Plant Guide Information
     Introduction To The Linked Species Pages

Introduction

This is a preliminary plant trail guide to the South Kaibab Trail to mile 2.7, resulting from just two days of field work on 23-24 August 2008. It is therefore undoubtedly incomplete, especially for annuals and perennials, missing a number of such species that are seen only in wetter years or earlier in the year. However, it should be fairly complete for the larger shrubs and trees on the trail.

A plant trail guide gives the location of the first occurrence of every taxon (species and subspecies) found on the trail, as well as an estimate of the abundance of each taxon. It enables a botanist to know exactly where to find a given species, and gives the identification for species seen as one hikes along a trail. It is much more useful in the field than a traditional plant list by family, since the plants are seen in the trail in the order of the plant trail guide, and one doesn't have to figure out the determination from a large plant list by family.

In this plant trail guide, the common name of many species is linked to a separate webpage that shows photographs taken on 23-24 August 2008. For most taxa, these photographs serve as vouchers for my determinations, allowing botanists to confirm or question my determinations. ☺

The photographs also enable armchair botanists to take a virtual tour through all the species seen those days on the trail.

Since most species were not in bloom then, the photographs in general don't look anything like the pretty pictures of flowers shown in most field guides. However, this more nearly reflects what the plants look like most of the year, and hence may actually be more beneficial for most botanists trying to identify the species on the trail.

Since I am a botanist, the photographs were taken with identification of the species in mind. Almost every species has at least one picture with an object in it that can be used as a scale to make good measurements of the lengths of the parts needed for identification. Objects used for scale are: my fingers (widths ~ 18 mm = 0.7 inches) or my thumb (width ~23 mm = 0.9 inches; thumbnail width ~16 mm = 0.6 inches); my GPS receiver (11.0 cm long x 5.2 cm wide = 4.3 x 2.0 inches); or my backpack (15 inches tall x 16.5 inches wide x ~10 inches deep = 38 x 42 x 25 cm).

As far as possible, I used my knowledge of what characteristics are usually used to distinguish each species, and targeted those with my photographs. The discriminating characteristics vary tremendously between genera and families, and can range from the branching habit at the base of the plant, the characteristics of the underneath or shape or hairs of the leaf, to properties of the twigs. Sometimes, botanists even use the characteristics of the flowers, even though it often doesn't seem like it when photographers send pictures to botanists to be identified! ☺

Of course, some species do not have their identifying characteristics on display in September, so not all species will have those characteristics photographed.

Important Caveats:

• I make no guarantees at all that all the determinations (=identifications) here are correct. Although the vast majority of the determinations are probably correct, I would be surprised if there are not at least one or two misdeterminations here. It takes a number of days of fieldwork spread throughout the year, and review of the determinations by an expert, to catch some errors.

• You must pay attention to the id? column in the guide below. That column tells you how confident I am in each determination. If I indicate that a given determination has 95% confidence, as many as 5% of those determinations could be wrong.

• I am not an expert in the plants of Arizona. My expertise is in the plants of southern California; over half of the species here are not found in southern California.

Many of the determinations were based on a reasonable guess as to the correct species, or by my keying of the plants among species unfamiliar to me, or by my assuming that, if the Grand Canyon flora only lists one possible determination, then that determination is the correct one. I note that the latter approach would have resulted in an erroneous determination for Polygonum arenastrum if I had not been able to explicitly key out that species, and interested in doing so.

A key is a horrible way to identify species outside the hands of someone very familiar with a given flora. For example, only through the use of a key could an elephant be keyed as a "mouse", since keys often depend on subtle features in order to reliably discriminate species. But a key is the best means we have for discriminating species, and they work well if one is familiar with most of the species in the key. An expert in the plants of Arizona would be far less likely to make a bonehead mistake in keying out plants than an Arizona novice like me.

The reader may be amused to know that most botanists do not identify plants in the field when they are working on the flora of an area except possibly for the most common or unique species. Instead, they collect specimens, which are then pressed and dried. The specimens are then taken to a herbarium that has similar samples of all the possible identifications that have been determined by experts in those taxa. The specimens are directly compared, with the aid of a key and a microscope, to the labeled herbarium specimens to get the determination. (By the way, botanical keys are almost always made from, and for, pressed and dried specimens, which is definitely a problem at times in keying live plants.)

I collected no specimens; all my determinations have been made from my photographs and field observations. (Note that taking anything from Grand Canyon National Park is prohibited unless you have a permit to do so in your possession.) Hence the likelihood of a misdetermination is much higher than determinations made from specimens.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone who spots a mistake, or even questions a determination, would contact me so mistakes can be corrected. Additions to the guide are welcome as well, especially if documented by photographs and good locations.

My determinations would not have been possible without the excellent resources available that I consulted. Many people have worked on the Grand Canyon Flora, collecting specimens, curating the specimens in herbaria, reviewing the determinations of those specimens, making the information from specimens available online, taking photographs and identifying the plants in those photographs, writing books, and synthesizing the available information in keys and floras. I am deeply grateful to all those people. I especially thank Lori Makarick, who provided the latest Grand Canyon Park Plant Checklist. That list was helpful in quickly getting the proper determination for several species.

A reference page gives the taxa found on this trail in traditional family order. For each taxon, that page links to online references and gives detailed references to printed reference material.

A list of just the species with species pages is given here: Bright Angel Trail and South Kaibab Trail: Checklist of Species With Pictures.

Highlights of This Trail

Fieldwork Dates and Summary of List Changes With Time

The following table gives the dates the trail was walked and taxa recorded. After each visit, the table gives the total number of taxa on the list and the breakdown of the taxa without positive identification. See Explanation of Plant Trail Guides to understand the symbols below.

Visit Date	Visit #	# taxa	# "?"	# "sp"	# "~"	# "ssp"

The Plant Guide

Key to Plant Guide Information

Mile: It is like a car odometer. Mile 0.00 includes all mileages from 0.000 to 0.009; 0.01 includes all mileages from 0.010 to 0.019, etc. 0.01 mile is 18 yards = 53 feet, about 18-20 normal-size paces.

Note that species separated by a difference of 0.01 mile in the guide could actually be fairly close together, with the odometer "rolling over" between them. Example: one species is at 1.599 miles, reported as 1.59 miles in the guide, and the next species is at 1.601 miles, reported as 1.60 miles in the guide. The species are actually just 0.002 miles = 10 feet apart. They could also be almost 0.02 miles apart. Example: one species is at 1.601 miles and the next is at 1.619 miles.

The mileage for this guide is nowhere near as accurate as the mileage for the Bright Angel Trail. I primarily relied on GPS points recorded in the field for every location, and for the elevations. Note that GPS readings often have considerable error in canyons, due to poor satellite visibility and errors due to satellite signals taking multiple paths to the receiver due to reflections from the many exposed rock faces here.

In fact, GPS receivers are almost useless in some parts of the trail due to these problems. Be very wary about believing the trip mileage given by a GPS receiver.

Since most people walk without a pedometer or a GPS to give them their rough mileage, enough landmarks are included in the guide that it is not necessary to pay much attention to the mileage. It is mainly useful in telling the reader when there are long intervals without new species, or when new species come fast and furious.

S: Side of trail on which the first occurrence is found: left, right, both, or center

#: On-trail species are numbered in order of first occurrence on trail (easily touchable from the trail). Off-trail species are in parentheses.

id?: Species without an entry in this column are quite confidently identified. "?" means I am just guessing the identification; "sp" means the genera is probably known, but the species name is uncertain even when a potential species name is given in the guide; "~" means I have roughly 95% confidence that this is the determination, but have not yet positively identified it; "ssp" means the subspecies or variety needs to be determined.

FAM: The family for each taxon is given as the first three letters of the full scientific family name, with all letters capitalized. See the key to the three letter abbreviations.

(*)Common Name: An asterisk before the common name indicates a species that is non-native to the Grand Canyon, and hence should not be here. The Common Name is linked to a separate page for each species giving photographs and further information about some species. The Common Name in many cases has been taken from my southern California database for expediency. If you know of a better common name used at the Grand Canyon, please let me know.

Note that common names are not standardized, and more than one taxa can have the same common name.

Scientific Name: This is the name used to uniquely identify a species by botanists, which enables one to confidently look up more information about each species. All names are as given in the latest Grand Canyon flora online. Synonyms (older, newer, or alternate Scientific Names) are given in the page linked to the common name, usually via the USDA Plants link.

#Plants: This gives the minimum number of on-trail plants of this species on this trail, with the number of locations on this trail following the /, using maximum values of 99/9. A value of 1/1 means I only found a single plant in a single location in the entire trail; 10/9 means 10 plants occurring in at least 9 locations, etc. Very common taxa are generally given as 50/9 or 99/9, with the 99/9 species being significantly more abundant than the 50/9 species.

Introduction To The Linked Species Pages

Many species in the plant trail guide have additional information given on a separate page that is linked from the Common Name field below. The additional information includes:

Characteristics: This section begins with Identification status, which gives a discussion of how confident I am in the determination. The identification and other characteristics of each species are discussed. The explicit keying is given in some cases.

Some species have additional discussion about the species in the Grand Canyon and/or elsewhere.

Voucher information is given, including the number of vouchers in the entire Grand Canyon and the closest voucher to the Bright Angel Trail. Voucher information was obtained from the Southwest Biodiversity Consortium (formerly SEINet).

The information given in the guide below about the location and number of plants is repeated on each species page.

Unfortunately, due to the amount of time it took me to make a full species page, some species have just the pictures and reference information on the species pages, without the additional information mentioned above.

Pictures: Pictures of each species taken on the Bright Angel Trail are presented, often with the identification characteristics explicitly pointed out.

References: References are given to 13 sources, including links to online references and page numbers for printed references.

Version for printing, without lines and other text on this page: html (6 pages) or pdf Clickbook booklet (2 double-sided pages). (See printing instructions for an explanation of these options)

Mile	S	#	id?	FAM	(*)Common Name	Scientific Name	#Plants
0.00				South Kaibab Trailhead; elevation 7200 feet (2195 m). Begin guide at display boards: left: "A Hike to Cedar Ridge"; right: "South Kaibab Trail". VIS juniper mistletoe, Phoradendron juniperinum, just before trailhead; look for it on trail
0.00	b	1		PIN	two-needle pinyon pine	Pinus edulis	50 / 9
0.00	r	2		VIS	pinyon pine dwarf-mistletoe	Arceuthobium divaricatum	25 / 9
0.00	l	3		ROS	Utah service-berry	Amelanchier utahensis	30 / 9
0.00	l	4		CHE	Fremont's goosefoot	Chenopodium fremontii	50 / 9
0.00	r	5		CHE	*Russian thistle	Salsola tragus	5 / 2
0.00	r			(BRA Wright's thelypody, Thelypodium wrightii)
0.00	r	6		AST	silver wormwood	Artemisia ludoviciana	99 / 9
0.00	r	7		POA	*downy brome	Bromus tectorum	99 / 9
0.00	r	8		AST	hoary-aster	Machaeranthera canescens	50 / 9
0.00	r	9		POA	*foxtail barley	Hordeum murinum	20 / 3
0.00	r	10		POA	Indian ricegrass	Achnatherum hymenoides	40 / 9
0.00	l	11	~	BRA	perennial rock-cress	Arabis perennans	5 / 2
0.00	l	12		POA	mutton grass	Poa fendleriana	50 / 9
0.00	l			(HYD Utah fendlerbush, Fendlerella utahensis)
0.00	l		?	(CUP Utah juniper, Juniperus osteosperma; VIS juniper mistletoe, Phoradendron juniperinum; unk annual Asteraceae with pinnate leaves; snowberry, Symphoricarpos oreophilus; AST Rock Goldenrod, Petradoria pumila)
0.00	l	13		AST	big sagebrush	Artemisia tridentata	50 / 9
0.00	l			(whisky currant, Ribes cereum var. pedicellare)
0.00				Switchback right
0.01	l	14		CHE	*tumbling oracle	Atriplex rosea	2 / 2
0.01	r	15		POA	squirreltail	Elymus elymoides	20 / 9
0.02	r	16		AST	Grand Canyon Goldenweed	Ericameria arizonica	30 / 7
0.02	r	17		CAP	snowberry	Symphoricarpos oreophilus	20 / 7
0.02	r	18		EPH	green ephedra	Ephedra viridis	30 / 9
0.02	r	19		AST	Grand Canyon rock-daisy	Perityle congesta	50 / 9
0.02	l	20	~	CAC	Mojave prickly-pear	Opuntia erinacea	3 / 3
0.02	l	21	?	dead annual22
0.02	l			(beardtongue, Penstemon barbatus)
0.02	l	22		CUP	Utah juniper	Juniperus osteosperma	20 / 9
0.03	r	23	sp		baby penstemon	Penstemon sp.	/
0.03	r	24		RUB	Wright's bedstraw	Galium wrightii	40 / 9
0.03	r	25		ROS	cliffrose	Purshia stansburiana	30 / 9
0.03	l	26		SCR	beardtongue	Penstemon barbatus	10 / 4
0.03	l	27		BRA	Wright's thelypody	Thelypodium wrightii	30 / 9
0.03	r	28		GRO	whisky currant	Ribes cereum var. pedicellare	20 / 7
0.03	r	29		POL	southern mountain phlox	Phlox austromontana	20 / 5
0.04	r	30		AST	Cooper's rubberweed	Hymenoxys cooperi	10 / 9
0.04	l	31		AST	California brickellbush	Brickellia californica	30 / 7
0.04	l	32		SCR	Palmer's penstemon	Penstemon palmeri	30 / 9
0.04	l	33	~	AST	sticky snakeweed	Gutierrezia microcephala	99 / 9
0.04				Switchback left and curve right at sign "When mules pass"
0.04	r	34		LAM	*horehound	Marrubium vulgare	3 / 3
0.04	l	35		POL	Simpson's buckwheat	Eriogonum microthecum var. simpsonii	50 / 9
0.04	r			(Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca)
0.05	l	36		SCR	beaked penstemon	Penstemon rostriflorus	10 / 7
0.05	l	37		CAR	Eastwood's sandwort	Arenaria eastwoodiae	5 / 2
0.05	l	38		POA	*smooth brome	Bromus inermis	50 / 9
0.06	r	39		ROS	fern bush	Chamaebatiaria millefolium	1 / 1
0.06				Switchback left at ridge
0.06	l	40		AST	beautiful aster	Eurybia pulchra	20 / 5
0.06	l	41	sp	FAB	astragalus 1: green moderate-sized leaves	Astragalus sp.	1 / 1
0.06	r			(Gambel oak, Quercus gambelii)
0.06	l			(Fendler's meadow-rue, Thalictrum fendleri)
0.07	l	42		POA	slender wheatgrass	Elymus trachycaulus	20 / 3
0.07	l	43		PIN	Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir	Pseudotsuga menziesii var. glauca	5 / 5
0.07	b	44		BRA	mountain pepper-grass	Lepidium montanum	30 / 7
0.09				Switchback right at sign "No dogs"
0.11				Switchback left
0.11	r			In distance, leaning block of Coconino Sandstone
0.12	r	45		FAG	Gambel oak	Quercus gambelii	5 / 2
0.12	l	46	~	BRA	*London rocket	Sisymbrium irio	1 / 1
0.13				Switchback right at sign "No shortcutting"
0.15				Switchback left
0.15				Switchback right and curve left
0.16	r	47		GRO	trumpet gooseberry	Ribes leptanthum	2 / 2
0.16				Switchback left
0.17	l			(Arizona thistle, Cirsium arizonicum var. nidulum)
0.17				Switchback right
0.20	r	48		RAN	Fendler's meadow-rue	Thalictrum fendleri	1 / 1
0.20	r	49	sp	NYC	smooth spreading four o'clock or trailing four-o'clock	Mirabilis oxybaphoides or Mirabilis pumila	1 / 1
0.20	r	50		AST	Arizona thistle	Cirsium arizonicum var. nidulum	10 / 5
0.20	r	51		HYD	Fendler bush	Fendlera rupicola	5 / 5
0.21	r	52	sp	FAB	astragalus 2: large green leaves	Astragalus like zionis	10 / 5
0.23	l			Sign: "Warning!"; elevation ~7000 feet (2130 m)
0.23	r	53		AST	matchweed	Gutierrezia sarothrae	5 / 3
0.26	r			(banana yucca, Yucca baccata)
0.26	l	54	?		one-sided grass	?	1 / 1
0.26	b	55	~	BOR	dentnut cryptantha	Cryptantha abata	15 / 4
0.27	b	56		(Field of AST Rock Goldenrod, Petradoria pumila)
0.28	r		sp	(Astragalus 4: smaller green leaves)
0.28	r			(hairy goldenaster, Heterotheca villosa)
0.28	r	57	sp	FAB	Astragalus 4: smaller green leaves	Astragalus sp.	5 / 2
0.35	r	58		FAB	Astragalus 3: white/gray leaves	Astragalus sp.	1 / 1
0.37	r	59		AST	hairy goldenaster	Heterotheca villosa	40 / 9
0.38	l	60		AGA	Kaibab century plant	Agave utahensis var. kaibabensis	10 / 9
0.40	r	61	sp	AST	leafy aster	Erigeron sp.	5 / 2
0.40	r	62	?	Asteraceae like Arenaria with six phyllaries - need pix11
0.40	l	63		AST	threadleaf common rabbitbrush	Ericameria nauseosa var. oreophila	50 / 9
0.44				Trail curves right at small ridge; elevation ~6800 feet (2070 m)
0.48	r			(prickly pear with fat pads, Opuntia sp.)
0.50	b	64	sp	SCR	purple bird's-beak	Cordylanthus parviflorus	10 / 2
0.52	l	65	sp		prickly pear with narrow pads	Opuntia sp.	1 / 1
0.52	r	66		AST	greenstem paperflower	Psilostrophe sparsiflora	50 / 9
0.53	l	67		AGA	banana yucca	Yucca baccata	1 / 1
0.57	l	68		ROS	Apache plume	Fallugia paradoxa	5 / 1
0.68	r	69		AST	longleaf brickellbush	Brickellia longifolia	40 / 9
0.69	r			(spiny greasebush, Glossopetalon spinescens var. aridum)
	r	70		AST	fragrant snakeroot	Ageratina herbacea	/
0.70	r	71		RHA	birchleaf buckthorn	Frangula betulifolia ssp. obovata	1 / 1
	b	72	sp		prickly pear with fat pads	Opuntia sp.	2 / 1
0.79	r			(Parish needlegrass, Achnatherum parishii)
0.81				Switchback right; elevation ~6600 feet (2010 m)
	l			(Missouri goldenrod, Solidago missouriensis)
0.87	r	73		MAL	*common mallow	Malva neglecta	1 / 1
0.91				Trail turns right 90°
0.93				Switchback left
0.96				Switchback left
0.97				Switchback right; elevation ~6400 feet (1950 m)
1.02				Switchback right
1.06	l	74		RUT	pallid hoptree	Ptelea trifoliata ssp. pallida var. pallida	5 / 5
1.07				Switchback left; lowest Grand Canyon Goldenweed, Ericameria arizonica
1.14	r	75		API	rockloving wavewing	Pteryxia petraea	1 / 1
1.16				Switchback left
1.19				Switchback right; elevation ~6200 feet (1890 m)
1.24	r	76	~	EUP	small-seeded spurge	Chamaesyce polycarpa	10 / 2
1.28	l	77		LAM	blue sage	Salvia dorrii	10 / 5
1.28				Sign: "Cedar Ridge"; elevation 6067 feet (1849 m)
1.30				Trail turns right 90° off ridge
1.31				Switchback left
1.34	r	78		BET	Knowlton hop hornbeam	Ostrya knowltonii	1 / 1
1.36	l	79		CRO	spiny greasebush	Glossopetalon spinescens var. aridum	20 / 5
1.36	b	80		BRA	prince's plume	Stanleya pinnata	40 / 9
1.37	l			(BER Fremont barberry, Mahonia fremontii)
	l	81	?		unk Asteraceae shrub like Brickellia - off-trail?	?	/
1.40	l	82	?	AST	tansy aster?	Machaeranthera bigelovii?	10 / 2
1.42				Switchback right
1.43				Switchback left; elevation ~5900 feet (1800 m)
1.45	l	83		OLE	single-leaf ash	Fraxinus anomala	3 / 3
1.49	l	84		NYC	giant four o'clock	Mirabilis multiflora	20 / 7
1.49	r	85		POA	Parish needlegrass	Achnatherum parishii	40 / 9
1.50	l	86		CHE	fourwing saltbush	Atriplex canescens	30 / 7
1.57				Brief flat part of trail with great views; elevation ~5800 feet (1770 m)
1.61	r	87		AST	rush rabbitbrush	Ericameria nauseosa var. juncea	4 / 4
1.63				Saddle; trail leaves ridge to right
1.63	r	88		ANA	skunkbush	Rhus trilobata	/
1.66	b	89		POA	*red brome	Bromus rubens	/
1.70				Switchback right
1.71	r	90	?		unk dead plant like Arabis or Sisymbrium	?	20 / 7
1.73				Switchback left; elevation ~5670 feet (1730 m)
1.82	l	91		POA	side-oats grama	Bouteloua curtipendula	3 / 1
1.84	b	92		LOA	Adonis blazing star	Mentzelia multiflora	40 / 9
1.85	r	93		AST	wire-lettuce	Stephanomeria pauciflora	2 / 1
1.86	r	94		POA	black grama	Bouteloua eriopoda	5 / 2
1.88	l			(banana yucca, Yucca baccata, with a trunk)
1.92	l			A glaucous mutton grass, Poa fendleriana
1.93				Elevation ~5500 feet (1675 m)
2.03	l	95		ROS	little-leaved mountain-mahogany	Cercocarpus intricatus	3 / 2
2.23	r	96		MAL	gooseberryleaf globemallow	Sphaeralcea grossulariifolia	30 / 9
2.23				Elevation ~5300 feet (1615 m)
2.28	l			Trail is on top of breccia pipe, formed by roof collapse of a limestone cave, best exposed on saddle to left
2.32	r	97		POL	desert trumpet	Eriogonum inflatum	20 / 5
2.34	r	98		ROS	black brush	Coleogyne ramosissima	50 / 9
2.36	l	99		POA	hairy erioneuron	Erioneuron pilosum	2 / 1
2.43	l	100		AST	rose heath	Chaetopappa ericoides	/
2.45	l	101	?		unk rosette with long-petioled leaves like Eriogonum	Eriogonum sp.?	2 / 2
2.48	l		~	(winding mariposa, Calochortus flexuosus; ~larkspur, ~Delphinium sp.)
2.50	r	102		POA	fluff grass	Dasyochloa pulchella	1 / 1
2.50	r	103		BRA	hairy-podded pepper-grass	Lepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpum	5 / 1
2.50	l			(CAC California barrel cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus)
2.51	r			(AST woolly bur-sage, Ambrosia eriocentra)
2.51	r	104		AGA	soaptree yucca	Yucca elata	1 / 1
2.56	r	105		LIL	winding mariposa	Calochortus flexuosus	/
2.56	r	106		POA	James' galleta	Pleuraphis jamesii	20 / 5
2.65	l			(CAC Engelmann's hedgehog cactus, Echinocereus engelmannii)
2.72				Skeleton Point; elevation ~5100 feet (1555 m); End Plant Trail Guide
				(many-headed barrel cactus, Echinocactus polycephalus var. xeranthemoides off-trail at top of drop-off to west)

Go to:

• Bright Angel Trail and South Kaibab Trail: Checklist of Species With Pictures
• References for Taxa Found on the Bright Angel Trail in traditional family order
• Native and Introduced Plants of the Grand Canyon, Arizona
• Plants of Southern California: Trail Guides

Copyright © 2009 by Tom Chester, Anne Kelly and Brendan Crill.
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to us at this source:
http://tchester.org/gc/plants/guides/s_kaibab.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Updated 22 April 2009.