Natural History Wanderings

Anza Borrego Desert Natural History Association posted the following wildflower report for May 6, 2011

“6 May 2011 – It’s time for the annual crop of backpackers along the Pacific Crest Trail. Those who descended from the pines in the Laguna Mountainss were greeted by cacti (Hedgehog, Beavertail, Gander’s) in flower after they passed Scissors Crossing. The Goldfields around Warner Springs may have been starting to fade, but the hikers found lots of color just the same. After they crossed the Lost Valley Road and as they circled around Bucksnort Mountain, they encountered the flowers of such plants as Golden Yarrow, Scarlet Bugler, Lilac (both the white-flowered Cup-Leaf Lilac and the blue-flowered Chaparral Whitehorn), Chaparral Candle (formerly known as Our Lord’s Candle), Cryptantha (the tiny Purple-Root Cryptantha and the comparatively tall Prickly Cryptantha), Pink-Bract Manzanita, and California Thistle.”