Flora of Henderson Canyon

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Introduction
Checklist

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Introduction

This checklist is a start at a flora of Henderson Canyon, compiled from a single day's survey on 2 February 2008 and vouchers collected from two different locations.

Henderson Canyon is immediately north of Borrego Palm Canyon, just northwest of Borrego Springs:

Henderson Canyon should not be confused with Henderson Canyon Road, which begins one mile east of the mouth of Henderson Canyon at Borrego Springs Road and extends seven miles east to its junction with S22 at the Pegleg Smith Monument at the southeast tip of Coyote Mountain. Nearly every wildflower picture on the web labeled Henderson Canyon was actually taken along Henderson Canyon Road four miles to the east of the mouth of Henderson Canyon in Coyote Creek Wash.

The map below shows the area targeted for this Flora along with areas so far surveyed. The only surveyed areas of my survey of 2 February 2008 and two separate locations where vouchers have been collected.

Clearly, very little of this area has been surveyed, so the checklist presented here is quite incomplete.

Note that the dirt access road, shown in green on the above map, is on private property and is gated. It is subject to closure by the property owner, but is apparently open most of the time. Please respect both the private property and the state park property if you visit here.

I found a total of 85 species from my 2 February 2008 fieldwork, of which I could fairly confidently identify 71 of them. See Botanical Trip Report from 2 February 2008. Many of these identifications were made from baby annuals and other non-blooming plants, so it is possible that a few are in error. I also include in this checklist five species found from a previous survey in 2003 at the west end of Henderson Canyon Road that were not among the 71 species found on 2 February 2008. Four of those species have vouchers; only Nama demissum var. demissum is unvouchered.

Jon P. Rebman and Norman Roberts collected 76 vouchers on 22 April 2005, all given as being from the single location plotted above. Robin Halford collected 61 vouchers from 23 March 2004 to 14 May 2005, all given as being from the other single location plotted above.

The final checklist contains a total of 136 taxa from the combination of the above surveys.

For more on Henderson Canyon, see:

• Google Satellite Map showing the terrain of Henderson Canyon.

• View from the northernmost point surveyed looking west up canyon and looking southeast down canyon on 2 February 2008.

Checklist for Henderson Canyon

The Checklist is sorted first by category - ferns, dicots, and 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.

It is very important to pay attention to the ID Status column for species found only in my survey. Plants with a non-blank entry at that column have not been unambiguously identified yet, usually because the observed plants were young plants or did not have the characters needed for confident determination, such as flowers or fruit. See meaning of the column entires.

A rough estimate of the number of plants, and the number of locations for each species, are given. Maximum values are 99 plants, and 9 locations. The main intent of this column is to indicate the species for which I found very few plants or locations.

The final column gives the number of vouchers found in a search of the Consortium of California Herbaria and the San Diego County Plant Atlas.

Explanation of Column Headings

#	Family	ID status	Scientific Name	(*)Common Name	# Plants	# Locations	# Vouchers
1	Pteridaceae		Cheilanthes parryi	woolly lipfern	30	5	1
2	Selaginellaceae		Selaginella eremophila	desert spike-moss	10	1
3	Acanthaceae		Justicia californica	chuparosa	50	9	1
4	Amaranthaceae		Amaranthus blitoides	mat amaranth			1
5	Asteraceae		Adenophyllum porophylloides	San Felipe dogweed	10	2	1
6	Asteraceae		Ambrosia dumosa	burroweed	99	9	2
7	Asteraceae		Baileya pauciradiata	Colorado Desert marigold			2
8	Asteraceae		Bebbia juncea var. aspera	sweetbush	50	9	2
9	Asteraceae		Brickellia desertorum	desert brickellia	10	2
10	Asteraceae		Carthamus tinctorius	*safflower			2
11	Asteraceae		Chaenactis carphoclinia var. carphoclinia	pebble pincushion			1
12	Asteraceae		Chaenactis fremontii	Fremont pincushion	99	9	3
13	Asteraceae		Conyza bonariensis	*little horseweed			2
14	Asteraceae		Dicoria canescens	desert dicoria			1
15	Asteraceae		Encelia farinosa	brittlebush	99	9	1
16	Asteraceae		Ericameria brachylepis	boundary goldenbush	10	3
17	Asteraceae	~	Filago californica	California filago	99	9	1
18	Asteraceae		Geraea canescens	hairy desert-sunflower			1
19	Asteraceae		Gnaphalium luteo-album	*common cudweed			1
20	Asteraceae		Gutierrezia sarothrae	matchweed	10	1
21	Asteraceae		Heterotheca grandiflora	telegraph weed			2
22	Asteraceae		Hymenoclea salsola var. salsola	cheesebush	99	9	1
23	Asteraceae		Lactuca serriola	*prickly lettuce			2
24	Asteraceae		Malacothrix glabrata	desert dandelion			3
25	Asteraceae		Monoptilon bellioides	desert star			1
26	Asteraceae		Palafoxia arida var. arida	desert needle			2
27	Asteraceae		Pectis papposa var. papposa	chinch-weed			1
28	Asteraceae		Perityle emoryi	Emory's rock-daisy	20	3	2
29	Asteraceae		Pleurocoronis pluriseta	arrow-leaf	10	2	1
30	Asteraceae		Pluchea sericea	arrow-weed			1
31	Asteraceae	~	Rafinesquia neomexicana	desert chicory	30	9	3
32	Asteraceae		Senecio mohavensis	Mojave ragwort			2
33	Asteraceae		Sonchus oleraceus	*sow thistle			2
34	Asteraceae		Stephanomeria exigua ssp. exigua	slender wreathplant			2
35	Asteraceae		Stephanomeria pauciflora var. pauciflora	wire-lettuce	50	9	1
36	Asteraceae	~	Stylocline micropoides	desert nest straw	50	3
37	Asteraceae		Trichoptilium incisum	yellow-head			2
38	Asteraceae		Trixis californica var. californica	California trixis	20	7	1
39	Asteraceae		Viguiera parishii	Parish's viguiera	20	3	1
40	Boraginaceae	~	Amsinckia menziesii var. intermedia	common fiddleneck	30	9	1
41	Boraginaceae		Cryptantha angustifolia	narrow-leaved cryptantha			3
42	Boraginaceae		Cryptantha barbigera	bearded cryptantha			2
43	Boraginaceae		Tiquilia plicata	plicate coldenia			1
44	Brassicaceae		Brassica napus	*rapeseed			1
45	Brassicaceae		Brassica tournefortii	*Asian mustard	99	9	2
46	Brassicaceae		Guillenia lasiophylla	California mustard	10	1
47	Brassicaceae		Lepidium dictyotum var. dictyotum	net pepper-grass			1
48	Brassicaceae		Lepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpum	hairy-podded pepper-grass			1
49	Brassicaceae		Sinapis arvensis	*charlock			1
50	Brassicaceae		Sisymbrium irio	*London rocket			3
51	Cactaceae		Ferocactus cylindraceus	California barrel cactus	20	9
52	Cactaceae		Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris	beavertail cactus	10	9
53	Cactaceae		Opuntia ganderi	Gander's cholla	99	9
54	Caryophyllaceae		Achyronychia cooperi	frost mat			2
55	Chenopodiaceae		Chenopodium murale	*nettle-leaved goosefoot			1
56	Chenopodiaceae		Salsola paulsenii	*Paulsen's Russian thistle			1
57	Chenopodiaceae		Salsola tragus	*Russian thistle			1
58	Crassulaceae		Crassula connata	pygmy-weed	50	2	1
59	Crassulaceae	ssp	Dudleya pulverulenta ssp. pulverulenta	California chalk lettuce	1	1
60	Crossosomataceae		Crossosoma bigelovii	rock crossosoma	2	1
61	Cucurbitaceae		Cucurbita palmata	coyote melon			1
62	Euphorbiaceae		Chamaesyce polycarpa	small-seeded spurge	99	9	1
63	Euphorbiaceae		Chamaesyce setiloba	Yuma spurge			1
64	Euphorbiaceae		Croton californicus	California croton			1
65	Euphorbiaceae		Ditaxis lanceolata	narrowleaf ditaxis	20	9	2
66	Euphorbiaceae		Euphorbia eriantha	beetle spurge			1
67	Fabaceae		Acacia greggii	catclaw	20	5
68	Fabaceae		Astragalus nuttallianus var. cedrosensis	Cedros milk-vetch			1
69	Fabaceae		Dalea mollis	silky dalea			1
70	Fabaceae		Lotus argophyllus var. argophyllus	southern California silver-lotus			1
71	Fabaceae	~	Lotus rigidus	desert lotus	20	3	1
72	Fabaceae	~	Lupinus arizonicus	Arizona lupine	99	9
73	Fabaceae	~	Lupinus concinnus	bajada lupine	10	9
74	Fabaceae		Lupinus succulentus	arroyo lupine			1
75	Fabaceae		Psorothamnus emoryi	Emory's indigo-bush			1
76	Fabaceae		Psorothamnus schottii	indigo bush	50	9	3
77	Fouquieriaceae		Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens	ocotillo	99	9	2
78	Geraniaceae		Erodium cicutarium	*redstem filaree	10	2	1
79	Geraniaceae		Erodium texanum	Texas filaree	10	1
80	Hydrophyllaceae		Emmenanthe penduliflora var. penduliflora	whispering bells			2
81	Hydrophyllaceae		Nama demissum var. demissum	purple mat
82	Hydrophyllaceae		Phacelia cryptantha	limestone phacelia			1
83	Hydrophyllaceae		Phacelia distans	common phacelia	99	9	2
84	Hydrophyllaceae		Phacelia pedicellata	pedicellate phacelia			1
85	Hydrophyllaceae		Pholistoma membranaceum	white fiesta flower	99	9
86	Krameriaceae		Krameria erecta	Pima rhatany			1
87	Lamiaceae		Hyptis emoryi	desert lavender	99	9	1
88	Lamiaceae		Salvia columbariae	chia	99	9	1
89	Lamiaceae		Salvia vaseyi	Vasey's sage	20	5	1
90	Loasaceae		Petalonyx thurberi ssp. thurberi	Thurber's sandpaper-plant			1
91	Malvaceae		Hibiscus denudatus	rock hibiscus	20	5	1
92	Malvaceae		Horsfordia newberryi	Newberry's velvet mallow	10	1
93	Malvaceae		Malva parviflora	*cheeseweed			1
94	Malvaceae		Sphaeralcea ambigua var. ambigua	apricot mallow			1
95	Nyctaginaceae		Abronia villosa var. villosa	hairy sand-verbena			2
96	Nyctaginaceae		Allionia incarnata	trailing four o'clock			1
97	Nyctaginaceae	~	Boerhavia intermedia	fivewing spiderling	30	1
98	Nyctaginaceae		Mirabilis bigelovii var. retrorsa	wishbone plant	10	9	1
99	Onagraceae		Camissonia californica	California suncup	99	9	2
100	Onagraceae	~	Camissonia claviformis ssp. peirsonii	brown-eyed primrose	99	9	4
101	Onagraceae	~	Camissonia pallida ssp. pallida	pale sun-cup	99	9	2
102	Orobanchaceae		Orobanche cooperi	Cooper's broom-rape			2
103	Papaveraceae	~	Eschscholzia minutiflora ssp. minutiflora	small-flowered poppy	99	9	2
104	Papaveraceae		Eschscholzia parishii	Parish's poppy			1
105	Plantaginaceae		Plantago patagonica	Patagonia plantain			1
106	Polemoniaceae		Eriastrum eremicum ssp. eremicum	desert woolly-star			1
107	Polemoniaceae	~	Gilia stellata	star gilia	1	1
108	Polemoniaceae		Loeseliastrum matthewsii	desert calico			1
109	Polygonaceae		Chorizanthe brevicornu var. brevicornu	brittle spineflower			2
110	Polygonaceae		Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium	California buckwheat	30	3	1
111	Polygonaceae		Eriogonum inflatum	desert trumpet	50	9	1
112	Polygonaceae		Eriogonum wrightii var. nodosum	Wright's buckwheat	20	3
113	Polygonaceae		Pterostegia drymarioides	threadstem	10	1	1
114	Portulacaceae		Calyptridium monandrum	sand cress	99	9	1
115	Rafflesiaceae		Pilostyles thurberi	Thurber's pilostyles			1
116	Rubiaceae		Galium stellatum var. eremicum	star-flowered bedstraw	10	2	1
117	Scrophulariaceae	~	Mimulus bigelovii var. bigelovii	Bigelow's monkeyflower	50	9	1
118	Simmondsiaceae		Simmondsia chinensis	jojoba	3	2
119	Solanaceae		Datura discolor	desert thornapple	20	5	2
120	Solanaceae		Nicotiana obtusifolia	desert tobacco			1
121	Solanaceae		Physalis crassifolia	thick-leaved ground cherry			2
122	Urticaceae		Parietaria hespera var. hespera	pellitory			1
123	Viscaceae		Phoradendron californicum	desert mistletoe	1	1
124	Zygophyllaceae		Fagonia laevis	California fagonia	3	3	1
125	Zygophyllaceae		Larrea tridentata	creosote bush	99	9	2
126	Liliaceae		Agave deserti	desert agave	20	5
127	Poaceae		Achnatherum speciosum	desert needlegrass			1
128	Poaceae		Aristida adscensionis	six-weeks three-awn			1
129	Poaceae	ssp	Aristida purpurea	purple three-awn	20	5
130	Poaceae	~	Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens	*red brome	99	9	1
131	Poaceae		Melica frutescens	tall melica			2
132	Poaceae		Panicum miliaceum	*broom-corn millet			2
133	Poaceae		Pennisetum setaceum	*fountain grass	30	9	1
134	Poaceae		Pleuraphis rigida	big galleta	99	9	1
135	Poaceae	~	Schismus barbatus	*Mediterranean schismus	99	9	1
136	Poaceae		Setaria verticillata	*hooked bristlegrass			2

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• Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras