Natural History Wanderings

Buckwheats and Great Displays of Monkeyflowers

Today started with another Bristlecone  CNPS (California Native Plant Society)  chapter field trip looking for buckwheats.  We went to the Volcanic Tablelands area of the Owens Valley and found ten species. To see the Eriogonum list click read more below

The main buckwheat area was over 4.3 miles west of Fish Slough on Chidago Canyon Rd. The roads are unpaved but passable in a car and Chidago CanyonRd. goes through a great narrow canyon.

Afterwards we drove north to 120 and headed west to Lee Vining.  The area east of 120 from 12.4 to 16.3 miles east of 395 had good large displays of the Foul Odor Monkey Flower Mimulus nanus var. mephiticus on both sides of Sagehen Pass. Don’t let the name fool you, it is a very attractive flower and you can only smell it if you roll around in it. It is the deep pink small annual monkeyflower that I mentioned a week ago.  There are also still some Mono Lake Lupine Lupinus duranii and pink clouds of the miniscule Spurry Buckwheat Eriogonoum spergulinum var. reddingianum.  The light was sunny and harsh so it was better for close-up photos with a diffuser.  I did include one display shot in the short slideshow just to give a feel for what it was like.

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Eriogonums seen 8/7/11

Eriogonum brachyanthum

E. nummulare

E. microthecum var. ambgum

E. umbellatum var. subaridum

E. heermannii var. humilius

E. nidularium

E. spergulinum var. reddingianum (?)

E. deflexum var. baratum

E. inflatum

E. pusillum