Flora of Borrego Badlands

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Introduction
Checklist
Checklist Sorted by Abundance

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Flora of Borrego Badlands

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

The floristic area denoted as the Borrego Badlands is delineated by the red rectangle in the following map:

The western area encompasses all of what is marked as the Borrego Badlands on the topographic map. This floristic area is extended to the east to the Imperial County Line since that eastern area is similar in many respects to the Badlands. The northern boundary is arbitrarily set along Highway S22 for convenience and clarity. The southern boundary is set to exclude the Borrego Sink Wash, San Felipe Creek, and the Ocotillo Wells Off-Road Vehicle Area.

Voucher Records

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 words 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.

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.

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.

Since 16 December 2007, I have augmented the vouchers as I have come across additional records in the course of other work. In particular, in late November 2008 I added a few records from searches for species that I had observed in the Santa Rosa Mountains but which had no vouchers recorded in my database.

The total number of vouchered taxa was 97 on 7 December 2008.

Field Work near Fonts Point Wash

I recorded all species seen in the parts of Inspiration Wash and Fonts 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 Fonts 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 16 December 2007 vouchered species.

Field Work from Ella Wash, Short Wash, Vista del Malpais, Palo Verde Wash and Smoke Tree Wash

On 4 December 2008, I recorded all species seen on an 8 mile loop trip from S22 at Ella Wash to Vista del Malpais along Ella and Short Wash, returning via Palo Verde and Smoke Tree Wash. A total of 44 taxa were found that could be fairly confidently identified, and are given in the checklist below. Three other species were seen: an unknown dead annual like Chaenactis; a dead Cryptantha species probably distinct from the C. barbigera in the checklist; and a dead annual grass that may have been Schismus barbatus.

Total Checklist

The total number of taxa presented below is 115, 109 of which are native. Of the 115 taxa, 54 were observed on one of the fieldtrips, leaving 61 to be found from surveys at a more optimal time of year. Of the 54 observed taxa, 36 have vouchers and 18 do not. This may imply that the voucher list is on the order of 50% incomplete. However, since many of the unvouchered taxa are common, it may only imply that the most common taxa have not yet been vouchered.

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:

• there is little total elevation relief;

• the landscape is similar throughout the Badlands;

• much of the landscape is eroding rapidly, with very steep slopes, preventing plants from getting established; and

• much of the soil is highly alkaline, which is not tolerated by most species.

The size of the area delineated in red in the map above is roughly 51 square miles. However, the voucher search covered eight Plant Atlas Grid Cells, a total of 72 square miles. Future work will remove those vouchers not actually present in the red-outlined area. An area of this size in most of the rest of San Diego County would have roughly 500 native species, whereas this area has just 115 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, with the Family being given by the first three letters. See Plant Family Abbreviations to decode the abbreviations. An asterisk before the Common Name indicates a non-native taxon.

Rough estimates of the number of plants and number of locations are given for each species observed in each of the three survey areas. 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. The abbreviations for the three survey areas, along with the unique linear distance covered in each survey, are:

Abbreviation	Location	Miles Surveyed
FPW / IW	Lower Fonts Point Wash / Inspiration Wash	1.5
Fonts Point	The area surveyed near Fonts Point	2.0
Ella / VdM	Ella Wash, Short Wash, Vista del Malpais, Palo Verde Wash and Smoke Tree Wash	6.0

Taxa observed near Fonts 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.

See also Checklist Sorted by Abundance.

Version for printing, without lines and other text on this page: html (4 pages) or pdf Clickbook booklet (1 double-sided page). (See printing instructions for an explanation of these options)

#	FAM	Scientific Name	(*)Common Name	FPW / IW # Plants	Fonts Point # Plants	Ella / VdM # Plants	# V
1	PTE	Cheilanthes parryi	woolly lipfern				1
2	AMA	Tidestromia oblongifolia	Arizona honeysweet	2/1
3	ASC	Asclepias albicans	white-stemmed milkweed				1
4	ASC	Asclepias subulata	rush milkweed				2
5	ASC	Sarcostemma hirtellum	rambling milkweed				1
6	AST	Ambrosia dumosa	burroweed	99/9	99/9	99/9	1
7	AST	Baileya pauciradiata	Colorado Desert marigold				4
8	AST	Bebbia juncea var. aspera	sweetbush			99/9
9	AST	Chaenactis artemisiifolia	meally white pincushion				1
10	AST	Chaenactis carphoclinia var. peirsonii	Peirson's pincushion				1
11	AST	Dicoria canescens	desert dicoria	10/1			5
12	AST	Encelia farinosa	brittlebush		1/1	2/2	4
13	AST	Encelia frutescens	button encelia		10/1	40/9	3
14	AST	Geraea canescens	hairy desert-sunflower				2
15	AST	Helianthus niveus ssp. canescens	gray desert sunflower				4
16	AST	Helianthus niveus ssp. tephrodes	Algodones Dunes sunflower				2
17	AST	Hymenoclea salsola var. salsola	cheesebush			99/9	3
18	AST	Isocoma acradenia var. acradenia	alkali goldenbush	10/3		30/9	1
19	AST	Monoptilon bellioides	desert star				2
20	AST	Palafoxia arida var. arida	desert needle	10/1			4
21	AST	Pectis papposa var. papposa	chinch-weed				1
22	AST	Perityle emoryi	Emory's rock-daisy				1
23	AST	Peucephyllum schottii	pygmy-cedar				3
24	AST	Rafinesquia neomexicana	desert chicory				1
25	AST	Stephanomeria pauciflora var. pauciflora	wire-lettuce	3/1	2/1	30/9
26	AST	Xylorhiza orcuttii	Orcutt's woody-aster				2
27	BIG	Chilopsis linearis ssp. arcuata	desert-willow	10/1			1
28	BOR	Cryptantha angustifolia	narrow-leaved cryptantha				1
29	BOR	Cryptantha barbigera	bearded cryptantha			5/1	1
30	BOR	Cryptantha costata	ribbed cryptantha				1
31	BOR	Cryptantha ganderi	Gander's cryptantha				2
32	BOR	Cryptantha maritima	Guadalupe cryptantha			5/1	1
33	BOR	Pectocarya heterocarpa	chuckwalla pectocarya				1
34	BOR	Pectocarya platycarpa	broad-fruited combseed				1
35	BOR	Tiquilia palmeri	Palmer's coldenia		50/9	5/1	2
36	BOR	Tiquilia plicata	plicate coldenia	10/1		50/9
37	BRA	Brassica tournefortii	*Asian mustard	99/9	50/9	30/9	1
38	BRA	Dithyrea californica	spectacle-pod				2
39	BRA	Guillenia lasiophylla	California mustard			20/1
40	BRA	Lepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpum	hairy-podded pepper-grass			20/2	1
41	BRA	Lyrocarpa coulteri var. palmeri	Coulter's lyrepod				3
42	BRA	Sisymbrium irio	*London rocket				1
43	CAC	Opuntia echinocarpa	silver cholla	5/1	10/9	20/9	1
44	CAC	Opuntia ramosissima	pencil cholla		2/1	30/9
45	CAM	Nemacladus glanduliferus	glandular nemacladus		2/1
46	CAM	Nemacladus glanduliferus var. glanduliferus	glandular nemacladus				1
47	CAP	Cleomella obtusifolia	Mojave cleomella				2
48	CAR	Achyronychia cooperi	frost mat				1
49	CHE	Atriplex canescens ssp. canescens	four-wing saltbush	10/2		99/9	1
50	CHE	Atriplex hymenelytra	desert holly	5/1	99/9	99/9	3
51	CHE	Atriplex polycarpa	cattle saltbush			20/5
52	CHE	Chenopodium murale	*nettle-leaved goosefoot				2
53	CHE	Monolepis nuttalliana	Nuttall's poverty weed				1
54	EUP	Chamaesyce polycarpa	small-seeded spurge	10/1	5/1	40/9	1
55	EUP	Croton californicus	California croton	10/1	40/9		8
56	EUP	Ditaxis lanceolata	narrowleaf ditaxis				1
57	EUP	Stillingia spinulosa	annual stillingia				3
58	FAB	Acacia greggii	catclaw			20/9
59	FAB	Astragalus crotalariae	Salton milk-vetch				2
60	FAB	Astragalus lentiginosus var. borreganus	Borrego milk-vetch				2
61	FAB	Cercidium floridum ssp. floridum	blue palo verde			30/9	2
62	FAB	Dalea mollis	silky dalea				3
63	FAB	Lupinus arizonicus	Arizona lupine			3/3	2
64	FAB	Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana	honey mesquite				1
65	FAB	Psorothamnus emoryi	Emory's indigo-bush	30/3	5/1
66	FAB	Psorothamnus schottii	indigo bush	10/2	5/1	99/9
67	FAB	Psorothamnus spinosus	smoke tree	2/2		99/9
68	FOU	Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens	ocotillo		20/9	30/9	2
69	GER	Erodium texanum	Texas filaree				1
70	HYD	Eucrypta micrantha	desert eucrypta				1
71	HYD	Phacelia crenulata var. ambigua	heliotrope phacelia			30/9	1
72	HYD	Phacelia crenulata var. minutiflora	little-flowered heliotrope phacelia				1
73	HYD	Phacelia neglecta	alkali phacelia				1
74	KRA	Krameria erecta	Pima rhatany				1
75	KRA	Krameria grayi	white rhatany		50/9	20/9
76	LAM	Hyptis emoryi	desert-lavender			10/5	1
77	LAM	Salvia columbariae	chia			1/1
78	LOA	Mentzelia involucrata	bracted blazing star			1/1	1
79	LOA	Petalonyx thurberi ssp. thurberi	Thurber's sandpaper-plant	10/1		30/9
80	MAL	Eremalche rotundifolia	desert five-spot				1
81	NYC	Abronia villosa var. villosa	hairy sand-verbena				9
82	NYC	Allionia incarnata	trailing four o'clock				1
83	NYC	Boerhavia wrightii	Wright's spiderling				1
84	NYC	Mirabilis bigelovii var. bigelovii	Bigelow's desert four-o'clock				1
85	ONA	Camissonia boothii ssp. condensata	Booth's desert primrose		20/9	5/1	2
86	ONA	Camissonia californica	California suncup			20/3	2
87	ONA	Camissonia cardiophylla ssp. cardiophylla	heartleaf sun-cup				1
88	ONA	Camissonia claviformis ssp. peirsonii	brown-eyed primrose			99/9	2
89	ONA	Oenothera deltoides ssp. deltoides	dune primrose	1/1			1
90	PAP	Eschscholzia parishii	Parish's poppy				1
91	PLA	Plantago ovata	desert plantain	5/1		1/1	1
92	POL	Gilia latifolia	broad-leaf gilia				1
93	POL	Gilia stellata	star gilia				1
94	POL	Langloisia setosissima ssp. setosissima	bristly langloisia				1
95	POL	Chorizanthe brevicornu var. brevicornu	brittle spineflower			10/1	1
96	POL	Chorizanthe corrugata	wrinkled spineflower				1
97	POL	Chorizanthe rigida	devil's spineflower		20/9	50/5	1
98	POL	Eriogonum deflexum var. deflexum	flat-topped buckwheat		20/9	1/1	1
99	POL	Eriogonum inflatum	desert trumpet		99/9	99/9	1
100	POL	Eriogonum thomasii	Thomas' buckwheat			10/9
101	POR	Calandrinia ambigua	desert red maids				1
102	RAF	Pilostyles thurberi	Thurber's pilostyles	10/3	3/1		1
103	RAN	Clematis lasiantha	virgin's bower				1
104	RES	Oligomeris linifolia	narrowleaf oligomeris				1
105	SOL	Nicotiana obtusifolia	desert tobacco				2
106	SOL	Physalis crassifolia	thick-leaved ground cherry				1
107	VIS	Phoradendron californicum	desert mistletoe			10/5
108	ZYG	Larrea tridentata	creosote bush	50/9	99/9	40/9	1
109	ZYG	Tribulus terrestris	*puncture-vine				1
110	LIL	Hesperocallis undulata	desert lily				4
111	POA	Achnatherum hymenoides	Indian ricegrass				4
112	POA	Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens	*red brome				1
113	POA	Erioneuron pulchellum	fluff grass		50/9
114	POA	Pleuraphis rigida	big galleta	5/3	99/9	30/9	1
115	POA	Schismus barbatus	*Mediterranean schismus				1

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