Flora of Northeast Vallecito Mountains and Adjacent Lower Borrego Valley

Panorama of the entrance to the Elephant Tree Area, which is the alluvial fan beyond the gap between the low hills on the left and right. Above the alluvial fan is the main mass of the Vallecito Mountains in the distance. The photograph was taken from Split Mountain Road at the San Diego / Imperial County Line about six miles south of Ocotillo Wells, looking west, on 1 December 2009. The dirt road to the Elephant Tree Discovery Trail is in the foreground.

See also a panorama of six photographs looking north and east from the lower end of Starfish Cove taken on 27 December 2009. The largest green blotches on the hillside in that panorama are Elephant Trees.

---

Introduction
Checklist

---

Introduction

This checklist is a start at a true flora of the northeast Vallecito Mountains and the adjacent Lower Borrego Valley.

There are several botanical highlights of the flora here, which we will detail in the future. Perhaps the most interesting is that so far our surveys have not found a single non-native species in Alma Canyon and Alma Wash, nor are there any vouchers of non-native species there. The closest non-native species found so far are along Split Mountain Road near Ocotillo Wells. However, since we haven't botanized this area in prime time, we may yet find a few non-native species.

The Vallecito Mountains are somewhat curiously defined. The Vallecito Mountains, the Pinyon Mountains, and the North Pinyon Mountains form a fairly clear mountainous block, and hence logically should have a single name. But somehow the northwestern part of this block has been given the separate names of the Pinyon Mountains and the North Pinyon Mountains.

As a result, the Vallecito Mountains consist of a northeastern portion and a southern portion. The southern portion of the Vallecito Mountains trends mostly east-west, from Whale Peak on the west to Split Mountain on the east, with Hapaha Flat in the middle.

The northeastern portion is sandwiched between the Pinyon Mountains and Yaqui Ridge to the west, and the Fish Creek Mountains to the east. This northeastern portion trends northwest to southeast, following the fault along the southern edge of Lower Borrego Valley. It includes Sunset Mountain, Harper Canyon, Harper Flat, Starfish Cove, and the Elephant Tree Area.

In this flora, we include the adjacent portion of Lower Borrego Valley south of Old Kane Spring Road and west of Split Mountain Road. The Cactus Garden area at the mouth of Harper Canyon is in this area.

Although we haven't settled on exact boundaries of this area, our current concept is described in words as follows, and shown on the first map below. The northern boundary of this area is Old Kane Spring Road, and the eastern boundary is Split Mountain Road to Split Mountain. The southeastern boundary is roughly along a line from Split Mountain to the southeastern edge of the Mescal Bajada. Southeast of Harper Flat, this southeastern boundary is the same as the boundary used by Gander in his Floristic Regions of San Diego County to separate the Borrego Desert area from the Vallecito Area.

The northeastern boundary will probably be something like the southeastern edge of the Mescal Bajada to the junction of SR78 and Old Kane Spring Road. The area northwest of this northeastern boundary probably is better associated with The Narrows and Mescal Bajada, since that area drains into those regions.

The elevation of this area ranges from the benchmark elevation of 67 feet at Split Mountain Road just north of Halfhill Lake (see second map below) to 3657 feet at Sunset Mountain. Almost the entire area drains to the Lower Borrego Valley and then the Salton Sea via northeast or east-flowing drainages. In this respect, this area is similar to the Extreme Northeast San Diego County area.

The species on this checklist come from three sources:

• A search for vouchers in the area close to the Starfish Cove / Elephant Tree Area, done as advance preparation for our first trip to Starfish Cove / Elephant Tree Area on 1 December 2009.

• A Checklist for Starfish Cove by Jon Rebman, which includes the Elephant Tree Area and contains six additional species not found in the voucher list, mostly Opuntia.

• Four checklists compiled in the field for the following areas:
  • the Elephant Tree / Alma Wash area on 1 December 2009 by Tom Chester, Mike Crouse, and RT Hawke;

  • the lower Alma Canyon Area on 9 December 2009 by Tom Chester and Mike Crouse; and

  • the middle Alma Canyon Area on 15 December 2009 by Tom Chester, Mike Crouse, and RT Hawke.

  • the upper Alma Canyon Area below the east end of Starfish Cove on 27 December 2009 by Tom Chester, RT Hawke, Shaun Hawke and Pam Pallette.

The floristic area denoted here is plotted in the following large-scale map:

Voucher locations from this area and nearby are plotted as blue diamonds. The northwest group of vouchers come from the Cactus Garden area; the northeast group from the Old Kane Spring / Split Mountain Road area; the extreme southeast group is at Fish Creek near Split Mountain Road; and the southwest group is from the Dave McCain Spring Area northeast of Hapaha Flat. Future revisions of this checklist will probably remove the southwest group, if they are outside our final choice of the floral area boundary.

The vouchers within the rectangle outlined in black are from the Alma Canyon / Alma Wash area from Starfish Cove on the west and the Elephant Tree Area on the east. The rectangle gives the approximate location of the detail map shown below.

Voucher Records

The vouchers come from a search on 29 November 2009 of the Consortium of California Herbaria.

The Consortium records were searched for vouchers with coordinates between 33.027 and 33.126° N. Latitude, and -116.259 and -116.083 E. Longitude. Localities of those vouchers were examined, and additional searches were made to find ones in San Diego County from those localities, including Starfish Cove; Elephant Tree; Kane Springs Road. The detailed localities of those vouchers were examined and ones not definitely in the target area were eliminated. In particular, I eliminated all vouchers whose localities placed them as being along SR78. (A few vouchers plot on SR78 east of Ocotillo Wells, but their localities are Old Kane Springs Road which is probably different.)

339 vouchers were found of 148 taxa. Four collectors were responsible for 243 (72%) of those vouchers:

# Vouchers	Collector
96	Jon Rebman, Larry Hendrickson
69	Frank F. Gander
49	Joe Barth
29	Margaret R. Mulligan, Thomas Rottler

December 2009 Field Surveys

We compiled separate detailed plant checklists for all species encountered along the four routes shown in the following map:

The approximate location of this detail map is given by the rectangle outlined by black in the large-scale map near the top of this page.

The survey on 1 December 2009 was confined to the alluvial fan / Alma Wash area, and included a small loop near the mouth of Alma Canyon and a larger loop in the middle portion. The total unique mileage surveyed was 4.0 miles. A total of 55 species was found in our 1 December 2009 field survey, of which an amazing 36 (65%) had at least one specimen in bloom. The large number of blooming species was due entirely to a monsoonal thunderstorm on 5 September 2009.

We hiked through roughly, but not exactly, the same route on 9 and 15 December 2009 and found four additional species in this area, for a total of 59 species observed in this area.

The survey on 9 December 2009 covered 0.6 miles above the mouth of Alma Canyon. That survey found a total of 56 species in the Canyon, of which 41 were also found in the 1 December 2009 survey. We hiked through the same route on 15 December 2009 and found two additional species for this area, for a total of 58 species for this section.

The survey on 15 December 2009 covered 0.43 miles above the end point of the 9 December 2009 survey. It found a total of 55 species, including eight species not found in either of the previous two surveys.

The survey on 27 December 2009 covered 1.31 miles above the end point of the 15 December 2009 survey. This was not as thorough a survey as the other surveys, since we spent most of our time just hiking to get to Starfish Cove. Nonetheless, this survey found a total of 57 species.

Eight additional species were found in brief surveys made in two stops also shown on the above map, surveyed briefly on 1 and 9 December 2009.

All surveys together found a total of 94 taxa.

Note that many of the normal winter / spring annuals and perennials are missing from our surveys due to the time of year.

Some of the species we found could not be reliably determined, either because the observed plants were dead (annuals) or were not in bloom and showing their key characteristics. Two of them are identified only to the genera level in the table below: Cuscuta sp. and Ephedra sp. (2 lv'd). Other taxa that need confirmation from plants in bloom are: Descurainia pinnata ssp. glabra; Eriogonum thomasii; Lupinus arizonicus; and Sphaeralcea ambigua var. ambigua. All of these have vouchers from this area, making these the likely determinations, but one never knows for sure without doing a proper determination.

Perhaps the most amazing thing revealed by our surveys is that we did not find a single non-native species in Alma Canyon and Alma Wash. The only non-native species we found were in our stops along Split Mountain Road.

Number of Species in the Combined Checklist

The combined checklist contains 182 taxa, although two of the vouchered species may not be correctly determined and perhaps three or four additional entries may not represent distinct taxa (see below). Of the 182 taxa, 149 are vouchered, 94 were found in our three December surveys, and 62 are present in Rebman's Checklist. Our surveys found 26 species not vouchered from this area or recorded in Rebman's Checklist, an increase of 17% in the total checklist.

Checklist for Northeast Vallecito Mountains

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.

The next six columns are in the order from highest elevation (~1800 feet = 550 m) to lowest elevation (220 feet = 70 m except for eight species found only at 80 feet = 25 m) in the Starfish Canyon / Alma Canyon / Elephant Tree Discovery Trailhead, which is also in order from west to east in this area. This allows one to see at a glance the geographic distribution of each species in this area.

For example:

• chuparosa, Justicia californica, was found in every survey except the highest Alma Canyon survey, and hence was found only below 1300 feet (400 m) elevation here.

• California juniper, Juniperus californica, was found only in the Starfish Cove area, and hence was found only above 1800 feet (550 m).

• A number of species are found only in the alluvial fan area below the mouth of Alma Canyon, and others are found only in Alma Canyon itself.

The first column, labeled R.S.V., indicates whether there is a Rebman / Hendrickson voucher from the Starfish Cove area (RSV = Rebman / Hendrickson Starfish Voucher).

The next four columns indicate whether a given taxon was found in our surveys, along with the abundance of each taxon in each survey:

• Alma C. 3 is the highest elevation survey in Alma Canyon done on 27 December 2009, covering elevations of 1320 - 1800 feet (400-550 m). The highest elevation reached was at the easternmost end of the Starfish Cove area, at the confluence of the last drainage from the north that forms the starfish pattern on the topographic map.

• Alma C. 2 is the middle elevation survey in Alma Canyon done on 15 December 2009, covering elevations of 1120 - 1320 feet (340-400 m).

• Alma C. 1 is the survey of lowermost Alma Canyon done first on 9 December 2009, with one species added on 15 December 2009 and another added on 27 December 2009, covering elevations of 950-1120 feet (290-340 m).

• Eleph. is the survey of Alma Wash from the Elephant Tree Parking Area to the mouth of Alma Canyon. This survey was first done on 1 December 2009, with a few species added on 9 December 2009, covering elevations of 220-950 feet (70-290 m). This column also includes eight species found only in our two stops along Split Mountain Road shown in the map below, at elevations of 80-100 feet (25-30 m). These eight species are distinguished in the table by having only the number of plants given, with a missing location number (see below).

The column #Plants / #Locations gives a rough estimate of the minimum number of plants, and the number of locations for each species, separately for each survey. Maximum values are 99 plants, and 9 locations. The main intent of this column is to indicate the species for which we found very few plants or locations. Some species have only the number of plants given; those were the species found only in our two stops along Split Mountain Road, and hence had no locations found in the formal survey.

The abundance estimates for Alma C. 3 are probably lower for many species than they would have been if there had been more time available for us to botanize on that survey.

The abundance estimates for many annuals and perennials were made from dead plants, and hence the actual numbers are almost surely much larger than the numbers given here. Many annuals do not leave any identifying remnants when they are dead, and hence surveys in prime time will result in species such as small-flowered poppy, Eschscholzia minutiflora, and Parish's poppy, E. parishii, being added to surveys of these areas. Both of these species were present in online pictures taken by other people from the route of our surveys.

Note that a small number of the species with abundance estimates were not fully determined, as listed above.

The sixth column, labeled R.E.V., indicates whether there is a Rebman / Hendrickson voucher from the Elephant Tree Trailhead area (REV = Rebman / Hendrickson Elephant Voucher).

The column labeled Rb Ck Lst gives the taxa present in Rebman's Floristic List for Starfish Cove. Starfish Cove is at an elevation of ~1800 feet (550 m), but it looks like Rebman's checklist contains species for the entire area down to the trailhead at 220 feet (80 m). An X in that column indicates a taxon present in the list with the same species name (the subspecies or variety might be given differently). If that column contains sp, it indicates that Rebman only gave that species to the genus level, and hence it may or may not be the same as the species name given. One species, Lotus sp., is not given below since it was ambiguous as to which other taxa to assign it to.

The column V is the number of vouchers for each taxon from the Consortium, with a maximum value of 9.

The column BD is the number of our surveys in the Borrego Desert that contain each taxon, and gives a good idea as to how widespread each species is here. There are two exceptions:

• All Gutierrezia plants in our surveys have been assigned to G. sarothrae. Some of these plants might be determined as G. californica by others, and so the zero entry in the BD column is misleading.

• In nearly all of our surveys, we have assigned all Aristida purpurea plants just to the species name. Hence the entry below of var. parishii has a zero in the BD column, even though 13 surveys contain the parent species.

A following table contains those species which have a zero in the BD column, and gives their identifying characteristics for our use in the field.

Notes for some of the taxa:

• The vouchered Camissonia brevipes may not be correctly determined. Jon Rebman informed us that other vouchers previously determined to be this species in San Diego County turned out to be misdetermined.

• The vouchered Chaenactis xantiana may not be correctly determined. Jon Rebman informed us that two of the three reported vouchers of this species in San Diego County turned out to be misdetermined, and this third voucher has not yet been reexamined.

• The vouchered Ditaxis californica is probably just a glabrous form of D. neomexicana and thus is not a separate species. See the 2006 Rebman and Simpson Checklist of the Vascular Plants of San Diego County.

• The Ephedra sp. (2 lv'd) may or may not be the same as the vouchered E. aspera.

• The Menodora scoparia reported on Rebman's Starfish Cove checklist is the same as the vouchered Menodora scabra. Although these two species have been combined since Rebman did his checklist, the specimens here almost surely conform to the Menodora scoparia species concept in the 1993 Jepson Manual. Hence we have chosen to list both species here.

Version for printing, without lines and other text on this page: html (11 pages) or pdf Clickbook booklet (3 double-sided pages). (See printing instructions for an explanation of these options)

#	FAM	Scientific Name	(*)Common Name	Highest <--- Elevation ---> Lowest West <---- Location ---> East						Rb Ck Lst	V	BD
				R. S. V.	#Plants / #Locations				R. E. V.
					Alma C. 3	Alma C. 2	Alma C. 1	Eleph.
1	Pteridaceae	Cheilanthes parryi	woolly lipfern		20/2	2/2	2/1		X	sp	3	24
2	Pteridaceae	Notholaena californica	California cloak fern								1	5
3	Selaginellaceae	Selaginella eremophila	desert spike-moss								1	13
4	Cupressaceae	Juniperus californica	California juniper	X						X	3	8
5	Ephedraceae	Ephedra aspera	Mormon tea						X		3	7
6	Ephedraceae	Ephedra sp. (2 lv'd)	2 lv'd ephedra		3/3	50/5	1/1	1/1		X		4
7	Acanthaceae	Justicia californica	chuparosa			99/9	50/9	10/2	X	X	3	20
8	Amaranthaceae	Amaranthus fimbriatus	fringed amaranth		1/1	5/3	2/2	30/5				8
9	Amaranthaceae	Tidestromia oblongifolia	Arizona honeysweet								1	5
10	Asclepiadaceae	Asclepias albicans	white-stemmed milkweed								1	3
11	Asclepiadaceae	Sarcostemma hirtellum	rambling milkweed		50/5	50/9	3/3	50/4	X	X	2	17
12	Asteraceae	Adenophyllum porophylloides	San Felipe dogweed		3/3	1/1		1/1	X	X	2	23
13	Asteraceae	Ambrosia dumosa	burroweed		1/1	30/5	99/9	99/5		X	2	44
14	Asteraceae	Baccharis brachyphylla	short-leaved baccharis	X							1	4
15	Asteraceae	Baileya pauciradiata	Colorado Desert marigold								1	2
16	Asteraceae	Bebbia juncea var. aspera	sweetbush		99/9	99/9	99/9	99/9	X	X	5	40
17	Asteraceae	Brickellia arguta var. arguta	California spear-leaved brickellia	X						X	1	2
18	Asteraceae	Brickellia desertorum	desert brickellia	X						X	1	12
19	Asteraceae	Calycoseris wrightii	white tackstem								5	5
20	Asteraceae	Chaenactis carphoclinia var. carphoclinia	pebble pincushion								2	11
21	Asteraceae	Chaenactis stevioides	desert pincushion								2	4
22	Asteraceae	Chaenactis xantiana	Xantus' chaenactis								1	0
23	Asteraceae	Dicoria canescens	desert dicoria								1	7
24	Asteraceae	Encelia farinosa	brittlebush		2/2	30/9	50/9	99/5				45
25	Asteraceae	Encelia frutescens	button encelia								4	9
26	Asteraceae	Filago arizonica	Arizona herba impia								1	0
27	Asteraceae	Filago depressa	dwarf filago								1	2
28	Asteraceae	Geraea canescens	hairy desert-sunflower								3	6
29	Asteraceae	Gutierrezia californica	California matchweed						X	X	1	0
30	Asteraceae	Gutierrezia sarothrae	matchweed		1/1	2/2	1/1				1	15
31	Asteraceae	Hymenoclea salsola var. salsola	cheesebush					99/9	X	X	4	40
32	Asteraceae	Isocoma acradenia var. eremophila	solitary-leaved alkali goldenbush								1	3
33	Asteraceae	Malacothrix glabrata	desert dandelion								2	16
34	Asteraceae	Malperia tenuis	brown turbans								3	0
35	Asteraceae	Monoptilon bellioides	desert star								3	8
36	Asteraceae	Palafoxia arida var. arida	desert needle					50/4			4	20
37	Asteraceae	Pectis papposa var. papposa	chinch-weed					99/			1	5
38	Asteraceae	Perityle emoryi	Emory's rock-daisy			5/1	2/1	2/2	X	X	4	26
39	Asteraceae	Pleurocoronis pluriseta	arrow-leaf		30/3	99/9	99/9		X	X	2	19
40	Asteraceae	Rafinesquia neomexicana	desert chicory								1	21
41	Asteraceae	Senecio mohavensis	Mojave ragwort								4	17
42	Asteraceae	Stephanomeria pauciflora var. pauciflora	wire-lettuce		40/9	2/2	10/5	50/9			2	40
43	Asteraceae	Stylocline intertexta	tangled nest-straw								1	0
44	Asteraceae	Trichoptilium incisum	yellow-head						X	X	1	4
45	Asteraceae	Trixis californica var. californica	California trixis		3/3	4/4			X	X	1	25
46	Asteraceae	Viguiera parishii	Parish's viguiera		1/1	1/1	1/1					22
47	Asteraceae	Xylorhiza orcuttii	Orcutt's woody-aster								1	5
48	Boraginaceae	Cryptantha angustifolia	narrow-leaved cryptantha					1/			2	17
49	Boraginaceae	Cryptantha racemosa	bushy cryptantha		1/1	2/2	20/2		X	X	3	6
50	Boraginaceae	Pectocarya heterocarpa	chuckwalla pectocarya								1	9
51	Boraginaceae	Pectocarya platycarpa	broad-fruited combseed								1	3
52	Boraginaceae	Pectocarya recurvata	curvenut combseed								1	10
53	Boraginaceae	Tiquilia palmeri	Palmer's coldenia					10/			3	14
54	Boraginaceae	Tiquilia plicata	plicate coldenia								2	7
55	Brassicaceae	Arabis perennans	perennial rock-cress	X						X	1	2
56	Brassicaceae	Brassica tournefortii	*Asian mustard					30/				40
57	Brassicaceae	Descurainia pinnata ssp. glabra	smooth western tansy-mustard					5/1			1	12
58	Brassicaceae	Dithyrea californica	spectacle-pod								1	7
59	Brassicaceae	Lepidium lasiocarpum var. lasiocarpum	hairy-podded pepper-grass						X	sp	4	26
60	Brassicaceae	Lyrocarpa coulteri var. palmeri	Coulter's lyrepod		3/3	10/2	5/1	1/1	X	X	3	7
61	Burseraceae	Bursera microphylla	elephant tree		50/9	50/7	30/9	63/7	X	X	3	6
62	Cactaceae	Ferocactus cylindraceus	California barrel cactus		99/9	99/5	50/9	99/9	X	X	1	36
63	Cactaceae	Mammillaria dioica	California fish-hook cactus		3/3	2/2	8/1	30/4		X	3	21
64	Cactaceae	Mammillaria tetrancistra	fish-hook cactus								1	4
65	Cactaceae	Opuntia basilaris var. basilaris	beavertail cactus		5/1	1/1	3/1	50/9		X		36
66	Cactaceae	Opuntia bigelovii	teddy-bear cholla			5/1	50/3			X		28
67	Cactaceae	Opuntia echinocarpa	silver cholla					50/2	X	X	2	18
68	Cactaceae	Opuntia ganderi	Gander's cholla		1/1	10/5	99/9	99/9		X		34
69	Cactaceae	Opuntia ramosissima	pencil cholla					1/1				15
70	Cactaceae	Opuntia wolfii	Wolf's cholla							X		5
71	Campanulaceae	Nemacladus rubescens	desert nemacladus								2	2
72	Capparaceae	Cleomella obtusifolia	Mojave cleomella								1	2
73	Caryophyllaceae	Achyronychia cooperi	frost mat								1	7
74	Chenopodiaceae	Atriplex hymenelytra	desert holly								2	12
75	Chenopodiaceae	Chenopodium murale	*nettle-leaved goosefoot					2/				7
76	Crassulaceae	Dudleya pulverulenta ssp. pulverulenta	California chalk lettuce		1/1							9
77	Cucurbitaceae	Cucurbita palmata	coyote melon				2/1				1	5
78	Cuscutaceae	Cuscuta sp.	dodder					5/2				1
79	Euphorbiaceae	Chamaesyce melanadenia	red-gland spurge							X	1	2
80	Euphorbiaceae	Chamaesyce micromera	Sonoran spurge			20/2	1/1	5/			1	5
81	Euphorbiaceae	Chamaesyce polycarpa	small-seeded spurge		5/5	2/2	50/9	99/9	X		6	38
82	Euphorbiaceae	Chamaesyce setiloba	Yuma spurge		10/2	50/2	99/9	99/9				5
83	Euphorbiaceae	Croton californicus	California croton					1/			3	9
84	Euphorbiaceae	Ditaxis californica	California ditaxis								1	0
85	Euphorbiaceae	Ditaxis lanceolata	narrowleaf ditaxis		30/9	50/9	20/5	99/9		X	1	27
86	Euphorbiaceae	Ditaxis neomexicana	New Mexico ditaxis						X	sp	5	3
87	Euphorbiaceae	Euphorbia eriantha	beetle spurge		3/3	2/2	1/1	3/1	X	X	1	9
88	Euphorbiaceae	Stillingia linearifolia	linear-leaved stillingia	X						X	1	9
89	Fabaceae	Acacia greggii	catclaw		50/9	99/9	99/9	99/9		X		40
90	Fabaceae	Astragalus aridus	annual desert milk-vetch								1	0
91	Fabaceae	Astragalus crotalariae	Salton milk-vetch								6	2
92	Fabaceae	Astragalus palmeri	Palmer's milk-vetch								1	1
93	Fabaceae	Caesalpinia virgata	narrow hoffmannseggia								1	0
94	Fabaceae	Calliandra eriophylla	fairyduster	X						X	2	0
95	Fabaceae	Dalea mollissima	downy dalea								3	5
96	Fabaceae	Lotus rigidus	desert lotus	X	10/3	10/5	30/5			X	1	14
97	Fabaceae	Lotus salsuginosus var. brevivexillus	short-bannered coastal lotus				1/1					9
98	Fabaceae	Lotus salsuginosus var. salsuginosus	coastal lotus						X		2	0
99	Fabaceae	Lotus strigosus	strigose lotus						X		2	10
100	Fabaceae	Lupinus arizonicus	Arizona lupine		10/2	5/1	10/2	1/1			2	25
101	Fabaceae	Marina parryi	Parry's marina						X	X	2	1
102	Fabaceae	Psorothamnus emoryi	Emory's indigo-bush								3	20
103	Fabaceae	Psorothamnus schottii	indigo bush		20/3		3/1	99/9		X	5	42
104	Fabaceae	Psorothamnus spinosus	smoke tree					36/4				20
105	Fouquieriaceae	Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens	ocotillo		99/9	99/9	50/9	99/9		X	9	44
106	Geraniaceae	Erodium texanum	Texas filaree								1	6
107	Hydrophyllaceae	Emmenanthe penduliflora var. penduliflora	whispering bells								1	12
108	Hydrophyllaceae	Nama hispidum var. spathulatum	hispid nama								1	0
109	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia crenulata	heliotrope phacelia				1/1					6
110	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia crenulata var. crenulata	heliotrope phacelia								2	0
111	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia crenulata var. minutiflora	little-flowered heliotrope phacelia								6	8
112	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia distans	common phacelia		2/1	5/1					1	27
113	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia pedicellata	pedicellate phacelia				1/1				1	5
114	Krameriaceae	Krameria erecta	Pima rhatany				10/1	1/1				12
115	Krameriaceae	Krameria grayi	white rhatany		3/1	10/1	10/1	50/5			5	35
116	Lamiaceae	Hyptis emoryi	desert-lavender		99/9	99/9	99/9	99/9	X	X	6	40
117	Lamiaceae	Salvia vaseyi	Vasey's sage		5/2	3/1		2/2				23
118	Loasaceae	Mentzelia involucrata	bracted blazing star				1/1					19
119	Loasaceae	Petalonyx thurberi ssp. thurberi	Thurber's sandpaper-plant								1	20
120	Malvaceae	Eremalche rotundifolia	desert five-spot								4	5
121	Malvaceae	Hibiscus denudatus	rock hibiscus		1/1	50/4	15/3	5/4	X	X	2	23
122	Malvaceae	Horsfordia newberryi	Newberry's velvet mallow		2/2	50/9	15/9	15/5	X	X	2	13
123	Malvaceae	Sphaeralcea ambigua var. ambigua	apricot mallow				2/2	1/1				17
124	Malvaceae	Sphaeralcea angustifolia	copper globemallow								1	0
125	Nyctaginaceae	Abronia villosa var. villosa	hairy sand-verbena					2/				8
126	Nyctaginaceae	Allionia incarnata	trailing four o'clock				1/1	99/9	X	X	4	11
127	Nyctaginaceae	Boerhavia intermedia	fivewing spiderling		5/2	32/3	50/9	30/9				9
128	Nyctaginaceae	Boerhavia wrightii	Wright's spiderling				1/1	5/3				2
129	Nyctaginaceae	Mirabilis bigelovii var. retrorsa	Bigelow's desert four-o'clock		1/1			50/9	X	X	2	25
130	Nyctaginaceae	Mirabilis tenuiloba	slender-lobed four o'clock	X	10/3	50/6	50/9	1/1	X	X	6	4
131	Oleaceae	Menodora scabra	rough desert olive								1	0
132	Oleaceae	Menodora scoparia	broom twinberry	X						X		1
133	Onagraceae	Camissonia boothii ssp. condensata	Booth's evening primrose								3	25
134	Onagraceae	Camissonia brevipes	yellow cups								2	0
135	Onagraceae	Camissonia californica	California suncup		50/5	30/3	99/9	40/4				41
136	Onagraceae	Camissonia cardiophylla ssp. cardiophylla	heartleaf sun-cup		5/1		5/2		X	X	1	10
137	Onagraceae	Camissonia claviformis ssp. peirsonii	brown-eyed primrose					40/4			6	24
138	Onagraceae	Camissonia pallida ssp. pallida	pale sun-cup								1	8
139	Papaveraceae	Argemone munita	prickly poppy								1	3
140	Papaveraceae	Eschscholzia minutiflora ssp. minutiflora	small-flowered poppy								4	14
141	Papaveraceae	Eschscholzia parishii	Parish's poppy								2	12
142	Plantaginaceae	Plantago ovata	desert plantain								4	31
143	Polemoniaceae	Eriastrum eremicum ssp. eremicum	desert woolly-star		10/1	10/2						15
144	Polemoniaceae	Gilia stellata	star gilia								3	10
145	Polemoniaceae	Langloisia setosissima ssp. setosissima	bristly langloisia								1	3
146	Polygonaceae	Chorizanthe brevicornu var. brevicornu	brittle spineflower				3/1				2	28
147	Polygonaceae	Chorizanthe corrugata	wrinkled spineflower								1	1
148	Polygonaceae	Chorizanthe rigida	devil's spineflower								2	11
149	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum deflexum var. deflexum	flat-topped buckwheat								1	4
150	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum deflexum var. rectum	flat-topped buckwheat								1	0
151	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum fasciculatum var. polifolium	California buckwheat		2/2	2/2	1/1	2/1	X	X	2	23
152	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum inflatum	desert trumpet		5/2	20/5	30/5	10/5			4	35
153	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum thomasii	Thomas' buckwheat					3/1			4	19
154	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum wrightii var. nodosum	Wright's buckwheat		2/2						1	16
155	Portulacaceae	Calandrinia ambigua	desert red maids								1	3
156	Resedaceae	Oligomeris linifolia	lineleaf whitepuff								1	6
157	Rosaceae	Prunus fremontii	desert apricot	X	1/1					X	1	9
158	Rubiaceae	Galium stellatum var. eremicum	star-flowered bedstraw		4/2							15
159	Rutaceae	Thamnosma montana	turpentine broom						X	X	2	5
160	Scrophulariaceae	Mimulus bigelovii var. bigelovii	Bigelow's monkeyflower					1/1			1	9
161	Scrophulariaceae	Mohavea confertiflora	ghost flower								1	5
162	Scrophulariaceae	Penstemon clevelandii var. clevelandii	Cleveland's beardtongue			1/1						2
163	Simmondsiaceae	Simmondsia chinensis	jojoba		5/2	10/3			X	X	2	20
164	Solanaceae	Datura discolor	desert thornapple					30/5			1	9
165	Solanaceae	Lycium andersonii	Anderson's desert-thorn						X	sp	2	8
166	Solanaceae	Nicotiana obtusifolia	desert tobacco		1/1		10/3		X	X	4	17
167	Solanaceae	Physalis crassifolia	thick-leaved ground cherry		1/1	1/1	8/4	4/1	X	X	2	17
168	Sterculiaceae	Ayenia compacta	ayenia		2/1							10
169	Tamaricaceae	Tamarix ramosissima	*saltcedar						X	sp	1	1
170	Viscaceae	Phoradendron californicum	desert mistletoe		10/1	10/3	30/2	99/9	X	X	3	32
171	Zygophyllaceae	Fagonia pachyacantha	sticky fagonia				1/1	10/2	X	X	4	5
172	Zygophyllaceae	Kallstroemia californica	California caltrop								2	0
173	Zygophyllaceae	Larrea tridentata	creosote bush		10/2	50/9	50/9	99/9	X	X	9	48
174	Liliaceae	Agave deserti	desert agave		40/3	99/5	10/4	1/1			1	26
175	Liliaceae	Hesperocallis undulata	desert lily								2	12
176	Poaceae	Aristida adscensionis	six-weeks three-awn			2/2	10/5	20/3		X	3	11
177	Poaceae	Aristida purpurea	purple three-awn		30/2	20/3						16
178	Poaceae	Aristida purpurea var. parishii	Parish three-awn						X		3	0
179	Poaceae	Bouteloua aristidoides var. aristidoides	needle grama			1/1	5/5	99/9	X	X	2	6
180	Poaceae	Bouteloua barbata var. barbata	six-weeks grama				1/1					1
181	Poaceae	Erioneuron pulchellum	fluff grass		1/1	20/3			X	X	2	5
182	Poaceae	Pleuraphis rigida	big galleta		3/1	50/2		30/3	X	X	5	39

Identifying Notes for Some Taxa

#	FAM	Scientific Name	Notes
1	Asteraceae	Chaenactis xantiana	longest phyllaries 10-18 mm, bases glabrous, tips densely puberulent, glands 0; corollas radial; peduncles not glandular
2	Asteraceae	Filago arizonica	heads in forks and tips of branches
3	Asteraceae	Gutierrezia californica	heads mostly pedunculate, in open arrays
4	Asteraceae	Gutierrezia sarothrae	heads mostly sessile in glomerules
5	Asteraceae	Malperia tenuis	ann; lvs linear; heads discoid, 8-14 x 5-6 mm; pappus of 3 5 mm bristles and 3 0.5 mm scales
6	Cactaceae	Opuntia wolfii	like O. ganderi, but major branches more open, strongly ascending; tubercles 1-1.5(2) cm; st segments 6-40 cm
7	Euphorbiaceae	Ditaxis californica	this species probably doesn't exist, and specimens referred to this species are just glabrous forms of D. neomexicana.
8	Fabaceae	Caesalpinia virgata	hairy shrub 0.5-2 m, branches gen lfless, rush-like, green; lf odd-2 ternate-pinnate, 1 deg lflets 3; fr sickle-shaped, 1.5-2.5 cm
9	Fabaceae	Calliandra eriophylla	shrub < 30 cm; lvs even 2-pinnate; fr 5 cm, flat
10	Fabaceae	Lotus salsuginosus var. salsuginosus	ann; infl gen 2-4 fld; lflets 3-7, obovate - round, terminal gen largest; corolla 6-10 mm; fr not narrowed between seeds
11	Hydrophyllaceae	Nama hispidum var. spathulatum	st ascending to erect; seeds fusiform, yellow to orange
12	Hydrophyllaceae	Phacelia crenulata var. crenulata	st glandular throughout, not just above middle; corolla 4.5-7 mm, not 5-10 mm; stamens and style exserted 5.5-11 mm, not 9+ mm
13	Malvaceae	Sphaeralcea angustifolia	lvs linear-lanceolate
14	Nyctaginaceae	Mirabilis tenuiloba	invol > 10 mm, lanceolate lobes > tube; perianth white; lvs ascending
15	Oleaceae	Menodora scabra	herbage rough-puberulent to scabrous; calyx lobes 8-11; upper lf length < 4 x width
16	Oleaceae	Menodora scoparia	herbage ~glabrous; calyx lobes 5-8; upper lf length > 5 x width
17	Onagraceae	Camissonia brevipes	Voucher may be C. cardiophylla. C. cardiophylla is a perennial with cauline, simple lvs, and sepals with non-free tips; C. brevipes is an annual gen with a well-developed basal rosette, with simple to 1-pinnate leaves, and sepals with free tips.
18	Polygonaceae	Eriogonum deflexum var. rectum	invols erect
19	Zygophyllaceae	Kallstroemia californica	lflets 6-18, pinnate; fr tubercled (not spiny), nutlets 10 (not 5 of tribulus)

---

Voucher data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria (ucjeps.berkeley.edu/consortium/)

Go to:

• Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras