Plant Guide to Long Valley Nature Trail, San Jacinto Mountains
Mile S # id? Common Name Latin Name #here #all 0.00 l Begin guide by going left at sign "Trail Information" near bottom of concrete sidewalk from Tram; elevation ~8395 feet (2559 m). Sign shows a (not very accurate) map of this Nature Loop Trail and Long View Loop (aka Desert View) Trail. 0.00 r 1 Jeffrey pine Pinus jeffreyi 50 / 9 34 0.00 b 2 San Bernardino rubber rabbitbrush Chrysothamnus nauseosus ssp. bernardinus 50 / 9 28 0.00 r 3 wild tarragon Artemisia dracunculus 99 / 9 32 0.01 r 4 Parish's snowberry Symphoricarpos rotundifolius var. parishii 10 / 3 18 0.02 l (white fir, Abies concolor) 0.02 l Jct. blocked trail (possibly older route of Nature Trail) 0.02 l Sign: "Nature Trail [ahead]" 0.03 l Sign: "Welcome to Long Valley", which now calls this trail the "Long Valley Discovery Trail"! 0.05 r 5 wax currant Ribes cereum var. cereum 10 / 3 21 0.05 r Y Jct. for loop portion of this trail; go right to do the loop in the order of this guide 0.05 l 6 goldenrod Solidago californica 20 / 3 49 0.07 l Long Valley Meadow; sign: "Fragile Area; stay on trail" 0.08 r 7 white fir Abies concolor 10 / 9 32 0.08 l 8 lodgepole pine Pinus contorta ssp. murrayana 5 / 5 15 0.08 r (yarrow, Achillea millefolium; willow-leaved dock, Rumex salicifolius var. salicifolius; Idaho bentgrass, Agrostis idahoensis) 0.08 r 9 sp sedge Carex sp. like C. fracta 30 / 9 0.08 l Sign: "How special is Long Valley?" 0.08 l 10 Nevada cinquefoil Potentilla glandulosa ssp. nevadensis 1 / 1 4 0.09 r Jct. use trail 0.09 r (western wallflower, Erysimum capitatum ssp. capitatum) 0.10 r Jct. trail to Adventure Centure (winter sport equipment rental) 0.13 l sp (Nebraska or swamp sedge, Carex nebrascensis or C. senta; Mexican rush, Juncus mexicanus) 0.15 r (Parish's bedstraw, Galium parishii; check for different small sedge) 0.15 r (San Jacinto Mts. Keckiella, Keckiella rothrockii var. jacintensis) 0.17 r ~ (mat muhly, Muhlenbergia richardsonis) 0.17 l 11 sp Nebraska or swamp sedge Carex nebrascensis or C. senta 10 / 2 4 0.17 l 12 ~ tall mannagrass Glyceria elata 5 / 2 4 0.17 l 13 ~ mat muhly Muhlenbergia richardsonis 5 / 1 5 0.18 r (little-leaf mock orange, Philadelphus microphyllus; Fendler's meadow-rue, Thalictrum fendleri var. fendleri) 0.18 l Sign: "Birds on the wing" 0.23 l Sign: " 'Cool' plants and birds" 0.25 l 14 Fendler's meadow-rue Thalictrum fendleri var. fendleri 2 / 1 11 0.28 l (ranger's buttons, Sphenosciadium capitellatum) 0.30 Cross Long Valley Creek; low point on trail, elevation 8320 feet (2536 m) 0.30 b 15 slender hairgrass Deschampsia elongata 10 / 1 9 0.30 l Sign: "Dependent on moisture" 0.30 r South jct. with Desert View Trail; go left 0.35 l Sign: "A different habitat" 0.39 r Sign: "The fight for survival" 0.44 r 16 western wallflower Erysimum capitatum ssp. capitatum 10 / 3 29 0.44 l 17 yarrow Achillea millefolium 10 / 2 21 0.45 r North jct. with Desert View Trail; continue ahead on left 0.46 r Sign: "Meet Jeff" 0.51 r Dense field of tarragon, Artemisia dracunculus, due to leach field of septic tank from Tram restrooms 0.53 l Sign: "The fragile meadow" 0.54 End Nature Trail Loop. Continue ahead to the Tram sidewalk, or go back to do the Desert View Trail. 0.59 Tram sidewalk Mile: 0.00 includes all mileages from 0.000 to 0.009; etc.
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 (touchable without leaving the trail). Off-trail species are in parentheses.
id?: Species without an entry in this column are positively identified. "?" means we are just guessing the identification; "sp" means the genera is probably known, but the species name is uncertain; "~" means we have 95% confidence that this is the determination, but have not yet positively identified it; "ssp" means the subspecies or variety needs to be determined.
#here 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. 1/1 means a single plant in a single location; 10/9 means 10 plants occurring in at least 9 locations, etc.
#all gives the number of plant trail guides, from all over southern California, that contain this taxon.
http://tchester.org/sb/plants/guides/long_valley_nature_trail.html
Updated 19 August 2007.