Flora of Borrego Badlands


Introduction
Checklist


Flora of Borrego Badlands

This checklist is only a start at a true flora of the Borrego Badlands. It consists primarily of voucher records from many different people, augmented by two days of fieldwork in just three small areas of the Badlands in December, the worst possible time to do such surveys.

The vouchers come from a search on 16 December 2007 of the Consortium of California Herbaria, and a search of the San Diego Plant Atlas and Herbarium records.

The Consortium records were searched for San Diego County specimens that contained the word badland or font in the locality. Redundant vouchers were removed, and 73 vouchers from the Carrizo Badlands were eliminated, leaving 105 vouchers of 52 taxa. The dominant collectors in the Consortium records were Joe Barth, 26 vouchers; Jon P. Rebman, J. Gibson, A. Winner, & misc. botany vols., 47 vouchers (of 15 unique collection numbers); and Duffie Clemons, Erik Jonson, Mike Curto, 13 vouchers.

The San Diego records were retrieved for grid cells F26-F29 and G26-G29. One record of Clematis lasiantha was rejected, after an examination of the locality field revealed that the coordinates for this record were erroneous. This resulted in 150 vouchers of 80 taxa. Note that some of the San Diego vouchers also appear in the Consortium records. Only the Plant Atlas records are identified with collector. The dominant collector by far in the San Diego records was jb2 with 51 vouchers; the next largest collector had 7 vouchers.

There were 95 total unique taxa found by combining the two searches. Two of these taxa, Isocoma acradenia var. acradenia and Helianthus niveus ssp. tephrodes, did not appear in Floristic Area #16 in Duffie Clemons' 1985 Checklist of Vascular Plants of the Anza-Borrego Desert, but are present in the 2006 San Diego County Checklist.

I recorded all species seen in the parts of Inspiration Wash and Font's Point Wash near Highway S22 during targeted searches for Pilostyles thurberi and Psorothamnus emoryi on 28 December 2005, augmented by one species seen on 11 December 2007. A total of just 23 species were found in those searches.

Wayne Armstrong and I recorded all species seen on 15 December 2007 in a 2 mile loop containing Font's Point; just 24 species were found in that search.

A total of 35 taxa were found in those December searches; 11 of those 35 taxa, 31%, are not among the vouchered species.

The total number of taxa presented below is 105, 99 of which are native.

The unvouchered species do not come from any problem with my identifications, since those unvouchered species include such easy-to-recognize taxa as Opuntia ramosissima, Psorothamnus emoryi, Psorothamnus schottii, and Psorothamnus spinosus. This simply reflects the lack of botanical work for this area. I am certain that the vast majority of the area of the Borrego Badlands has not been botanically explored, and that many more taxa remain to be recorded.

That said, it is likely that this area may have the lowest native biodiversity of any part of San Diego County for the following reasons:

The size of this area is roughly eight Plant Atlas Grid Cells, a total of 72 square miles. An area of this size in most of the rest of San Diego County would have roughly 500 native species, whereas this area has roughly 100 so far recorded. Oddly, the next most depauperate area in my database is San Clemente Island, with 233 native taxa in 57 square miles.

Although the number of species may be small, any area that contains Southern California's Most Unusual Wildflower, along with rarely-seen southern California species such as Orcutt's woody-aster, Xylorhiza orcuttii and Algodones Dunes sunflower, Helianthus niveus ssp. tephrodes, is still of major botanic interest.

Checklist for Borrego Badlands

The Checklist is sorted first by category - dicots, monocots, and ferns - and then by family and scientific name. The Family and Scientific Name are from the Jepson Manual.

Taxa observed at Inspiration Wash and Font's Point Wash are given in two columns. The first column identifies whether it was observed in both washes (B) or just in one wash. The second column gives a rough estimate of the number of specimens of each taxon seen in both washes combined. The first number is the number of plants, maxing out at 99; the second number is the number of separate locations, maxing out at 9.

Taxa observed near Font's Point have the same abundance estimate for that area.

The last column is the number of vouchers for each taxon from the Consortium. If the Consortium had no vouchers, that column gives the number of vouchers from the San Diego Herbarium. I did not add the number of vouchers together since many of the San Diego Herbarium vouchers are also given at the Consortium website.

The determinations for all San Diego Plant Atlas vouchers were all marked as verified by Jon Rebman except for the single voucher of Pectis papposa var. papposa which most likely had simply not yet been processed yet. There are many vouchers of this taxon nearby.

FamilyScientific Name(*)Common NameInspiration Wash (IW)
Font's Point Wash (FPW)
Font's Point
# Plants
# V
IW/FPW# Plants
AmaranthaceaeTidestromia oblongifoliaArizona honeysweetBoth2/1  
AsclepiadaceaeAsclepias albicanswhite-stemmed milkweed   1
AsclepiadaceaeAsclepias subulataajamete   2
AsclepiadaceaeSarcostemma hirtellumtrailing townula   1
AsteraceaeAmbrosia dumosaburroweedBoth99/999/91
AsteraceaeBaileya pauciradiataColorado Desert marigold   4
AsteraceaeChaenactis artemisiifoliameally white pincushion   1
AsteraceaeChaenactis carphoclinia var. peirsoniiPeirson's pincushion   1
AsteraceaeDicoria canescensdesert dicoriaBoth10/1 5
AsteraceaeEncelia farinosabrittlebush  1/14
AsteraceaeEncelia frutescensbutton encelia  10/13
AsteraceaeGeraea canescenshairy desert-sunflower   2
AsteraceaeHelianthus niveus ssp. canescensgray desert sunflower   4
AsteraceaeHelianthus niveus ssp. tephrodesAlgodones Dunes sunflower   2
AsteraceaeHymenoclea salsola var. salsolacheesebush   3
AsteraceaeIsocoma acradenia var. acradeniaalkali goldenbushBoth10/3 1
AsteraceaeMonoptilon bellioidesdesert star   2
AsteraceaePalafoxia arida var. aridadesert needleBoth10/1 4
AsteraceaePectis papposa var. papposachinch-weed   1
AsteraceaePerityle emoryiEmory's rock-daisy   1
AsteraceaePeucephyllum schottiidesert pine   3
AsteraceaeRafinesquia neomexicanadesert chicory   1
AsteraceaeStephanomeria pauciflora var. pauciflorawire-lettuceFPW3/12/1 
AsteraceaeXylorhiza orcuttiiOrcutt's woody-aster   2
BignoniaceaeChilopsis linearis ssp. arcuatadesert-willowFPW10/1 1
BoraginaceaeCryptantha angustifolianarrow-leaved cryptantha   1
BoraginaceaeCryptantha barbigerabearded cryptantha   1
BoraginaceaeCryptantha costataribbed cryptantha   1
BoraginaceaeCryptantha ganderiGander's cryptantha   2
BoraginaceaeCryptantha maritimaGuadalupe cryptantha   1
BoraginaceaePectocarya heterocarpachuckwalla pectocarya   1
BoraginaceaePectocarya platycarpabroad-fruited combseed   1
BoraginaceaeTiquilia palmeriPalmer's coldenia  50/92
BoraginaceaeTiquilia plicataplicate coldeniaBoth10/1  
BrassicaceaeBrassica tournefortii*Asian mustardBoth99/950/91
BrassicaceaeDithyrea californicaspectacle-pod   2
BrassicaceaeLepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpumhairy-podded pepper-grass   1
BrassicaceaeLyrocarpa coulteri var. palmeriCoulter's lyrepod   3
BrassicaceaeSisymbrium irio*London rocket   1
CactaceaeOpuntia echinocarpasilver chollaBoth5/110/9 
CactaceaeOpuntia ramosissimapencil cholla  2/1 
CampanulaceaeNemacladus glanduliferusglandular nemacladus  2/11
CapparaceaeCleomella obtusifoliaMojave cleomella   2
CaryophyllaceaeAchyronychia cooperifrost mat   1
ChenopodiaceaeAtriplex canescens ssp. canescensfour-wing saltbushBoth10/2 1
ChenopodiaceaeAtriplex hymenelytradesert hollyFPW5/199/93
ChenopodiaceaeChenopodium murale*nettle-leaved goosefoot   2
ChenopodiaceaeMonolepis nuttallianaNuttall's poverty weed   1
EuphorbiaceaeChamaesyce polycarpasmall-seeded spurgeFPW10/15/11
EuphorbiaceaeCroton californicusCalifornia crotonBoth10/140/98
EuphorbiaceaeDitaxis lanceolatanarrowleaf ditaxis   1
EuphorbiaceaeStillingia spinulosaannual stillingia   3
FabaceaeAstragalus crotalariaeSalton milk-vetch   2
FabaceaeAstragalus lentiginosus var. borreganusBorrego milk-vetch   2
FabaceaeCercidium floridum ssp. floridumblue palo verde   2
FabaceaeDalea mollissilky dalea   3
FabaceaeLupinus arizonicusArizona lupine   2
FabaceaeProsopis glandulosa var. torreyanahoney mesquite   1
FabaceaePsorothamnus emoryiEmory's indigo-bushBoth30/35/1 
FabaceaePsorothamnus schottiiindigo bushBoth10/25/1 
FabaceaePsorothamnus spinosussmoke treeFPW2/2  
FouquieriaceaeFouquieria splendens ssp. splendensocotillo  20/92
HydrophyllaceaeEucrypta micranthadesert eucrypta   1
HydrophyllaceaePhacelia crenulata var. ambiguaheliotrope phacelia   1
HydrophyllaceaePhacelia crenulata var. minutifloralittle-flowered heliotrope phacelia   1
HydrophyllaceaePhacelia neglectaalkali phacelia   1
KrameriaceaeKrameria erectaPima rhatany   1
KrameriaceaeKrameria grayiwhite rhatany  50/9 
LamiaceaeHyptis emoryidesert lavender   1
LoasaceaeMentzelia involucratabracted blazing star   1
LoasaceaePetalonyx thurberi ssp. thurberiThurber's sandpaper-plantFPW10/1  
MalvaceaeEremalche rotundifoliadesert five-spot   1
NyctaginaceaeAbronia villosa var. villosahairy sand-verbena   9
NyctaginaceaeAllionia incarnatatrailing four o'clock   1
NyctaginaceaeBoerhavia wrightiiWright's spiderling   1
NyctaginaceaeMirabilis bigelovii var. bigeloviiBigelow's desert four-o'clock   1
OnagraceaeCamissonia boothii ssp. condensataBooth's desert primrose  20/92
OnagraceaeCamissonia californicaCalifornia suncup   2
OnagraceaeCamissonia cardiophyllaheartleaf sun-cup   1
OnagraceaeCamissonia claviformis ssp. peirsoniibrown-eyed primrose   2
OnagraceaeOenothera deltoides ssp. deltoidesdune primroseIW1/1 1
PapaveraceaeEschscholzia parishiiParish's poppy   1
PlantaginaceaePlantago ovatadesert plantainBoth5/1 1
PolemoniaceaeGilia latifoliabroad-leaf gilia   1
PolemoniaceaeGilia stellatastar gilia   1
PolemoniaceaeLangloisia setosissima ssp. setosissimabristly langloisia   1
PolygonaceaeChorizanthe brevicornu var. brevicornubrittle spineflower   1
PolygonaceaeChorizanthe corrugatawrinkled spineflower   1
PolygonaceaeChorizanthe rigidadevil's spineflower  20/91
PolygonaceaeEriogonum deflexum var. deflexumflat-topped buckwheat  20/91
PolygonaceaeEriogonum inflatumdesert trumpet  99/91
PortulacaceaeCalandrinia ambiguadesert red maids   1
RafflesiaceaePilostyles thurberiThurber's pilostylesBoth10/33/11
ResedaceaeOligomeris linifolianarrowleaf oligomeris   1
SolanaceaeNicotiana obtusifoliadesert tobacco   2
SolanaceaePhysalis crassifoliathick-leaved ground cherry   1
ZygophyllaceaeLarrea tridentatacreosote bushBoth50/999/91
ZygophyllaceaeTribulus terrestris*puncture-vine   1
LiliaceaeHesperocallis undulatadesert lily   4
PoaceaeAchnatherum hymenoidesIndian ricegrass   4
PoaceaeBromus madritensis ssp. rubens*red brome   1
PoaceaeErioneuron pulchellumfluff grass  50/9 
PoaceaePleuraphis rigidabig galletaBoth5/399/91
PoaceaeSchismus barbatus*Mediterranean schismus   1
PteridaceaeCheilanthes parryiwoolly lipfern   1


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Copyright © 2007 by Tom Chester
Permission is freely granted to reproduce any or all of this page as long as credit is given to me at this source:
http://tchester.org/sd/plants/floras/borrego_badlands.html
Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 17 December 2007