Looking for those summer bloomers

July 28: This was a hike up to East Fork from Ladd Canyon Road with the main objectives of collecting Humboldt lilies and mountain mint, a.k.a. Pycnanthemum californicum. It was a long hike made easier by the creek being dry, and in the end, it was a successful hike on both counts. I passed through one of my favorite spots, an open shelf next to the creek just before the confluence with East Fork that's full of broom sage (Lepidospartum squamatum, still not collected), which I've mentioned in an earlier post. This time through, I noticed a stand of 10 bigberry manzanitas, all tree-size with those beautiful red trunks -- a nice start to the day. There was some Opuntia cactus next to the manzanita that I'll have to collect next season. I had one successful collection of Opuntia this season from farther down-canyon, but I still haven't gotten around to identifying it to species. Several are at least superficially similar, and this one spent quite a while in the dryer, of course. I spent most of the day in the riparian area. I found a couple of new plants that I can collect later when reproductive: Holodiscus discolor (oceanspray) and Populus fremontii (Fremont's cottonwood). In the CCH2 database, I had seen a decades-old collection of oceanspray farther up East Fork, so it was something I was on the lookout for. I guess it wasn't surprising to find the cottonwood, but on this hike I found three -- so I was kind of surprised I had missed it earlier. I was hoping to find some summer-blooming Asteraceae, but no luck there. For instance, I had seen Stephanomeria cichoriacea with a single flower last time out in West Fork, but maybe I spent too much time in the creek bed to come across any. As happy as I was with my day collecting lilies and mountain mint, the highlight might have been finding beautiful new plant, Dunn's lobelia (Lobelia dunnii var. serrata, or Palmerella debilis according to iNat). It's not listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society, but it seems to have a smallish distribution and not a ton of records in Calflora. NatureServe lists it as G3, vulnerable, but says it needs review. It gets me wondering about the work and decision-making that goes into status listing.

August 2: I drove up Skyline Drive to N. Main Divide Road and hiked down the main fork of Ladd looking for Asteraceae in flower and to check on different populations of Humboldts and mountain mint. I didn't find much to collect, unfortunately, although I did get Stephanomeria cichoriacea. The mountain mint at this higher elevation was mostly still vegetative. A bunch of Humboldts didn't make it to flower in this upper part of the canyon. I don't know if this was because it was too dry or if it was some blight, or both. After making it some ways down the canyon, I took a new route out using a ravine to the east. This route was pretty good for a while, although a little brushy, but in the end it got steep. Climbing up the ridge I was rewarded with my first milkweed in the area. The flowers were spent, but I'll be back to check on that one next season.

August 9: This trip was mainly a drive along Main Divide, replacing batteries in weather data loggers. I expected some Asteraceae in flower, and I was not disappointed. I collected Malacothrix saxatilis, Stephanomeria virgata ssp. virgata, Corethrogyne filaginifolia, Pseudognaphalium beneolens (smells so nice!), and Ericameria parishii var. parishii., all along the road -- an easy day collecting for once! I also checked on a population of long-stemmed buckwheat (Eriogonum elongatum var. elongatum, and it too was in flower. I would have missed the tiny flowers among the dry grass and thin buckwheat stems if I hadn't been looking for it. I thought the red of its buds was a particularly pleasing color. I drove up from Maple Springs Road in Silverado rather than Skyline Drive in Corona, and I have to say, I don't recommend that route. Long. Bumpy.

Posted on August 11, 2021 08:38 PM by ddonovan17 ddonovan17

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