Natural History Wanderings

Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation are just posted a new set of wildflower reports:

 In a typical year it would still be fairly early in the flower season but things have been moving along very quickly this year. The drama of mudslides overshadow the fact that although the SMM have received some rain the effects of the drought of the last few years are far from over. Keep your fingers crossed that we get that needed rain!

 
Triunfo Canyon Park     Pentachaeta Trail  03/06/15
I re-visited the Pentachaeta Trail, part of the Los Robles trail system on March 6 and was not disappointed. There was a very large variety of species, some I haven’t seen in awhile because of the drought. The chocolate lilies were abundant as well. Flowers observed: California fuschia flowering gooseberry, ground-pink, common goldfield, Lyon’s daisy, red skinned onion, purple owl’s clover, wild hyacinth, common fiddleneck, indian warrior, filaree, California poppy, speedwell, purple nightshade, wild cucumber, miner’s lettuce, shiny lomatium, fern-leafed phacelia, small evening primrose, wide throated monkey flower, twining snapdragon, golden top, shiny peppergrass, bigelow coreopsis, woodland star, Parry’s phacelia, red maids, woolly blue curls, fiesta flower, popcorn flower,wild radish, snakeroot, and lemonade berry.

Malibu Creek State Park     Phantom Trail 03/04/15
On 3/4/15 I hiked the Phantom Trail. The trailhead is located on Mulholland, approximately 1 1/2 miles west of Las Virgenes on the north side of the street. Walking the first half mile of the trail you will see Purple Nightshade. Broad leafed Lupine, Bush Sunflower, Greenbark Ceanothus, Sticky Phacelia , Eucrypta, Indian Paintbrush, Wishbone Bush, Popcorn Flower, and Fiddlenecks . Further up there is Owls Clover, red Maids , Caterpillar Phacelia , and California Golden Poppies. Best displays of Poppies are 1 1/2 to 2 miles from the trailhead on the ridge tops.

 
Castro Crest     Backbone Trail: Corral Cyn. Rd. to Latigo Cyn. Rd. 2/27/15
This can be an amazing hike for flowers. It starts on the steep and twisting drive to the top of Corral Canyon Rd. The roadside is covered in succulent lupine, bush sunflower, tree poppies, California poppies, loco weed and even a few catalina mariposa lilies. Enjoy these sightings because I didn’t see any of these flowers on the trail.
The trail head downhill from the parking lot through the chaparral. Many chaparral plants are in bloom, notably twining snapdragon, wooly blue curls, black sage, wild cucumber, popcorn flower, blue dicks, mule fat, wooly lomatium and both white and blue ceanothus. Near the bottom of the trail there are chocolate lilies, star lilies and wild peony in full glory. The trail leads down into a canyon bottom that, during wet years, is threaded with a dozen running streams. Today only two streams held ponded water. The trail in this riparian area is bordered with milkmaids, there are also the tiny and lovely blue skullcap, chaparral current, fuchsia flowering gooseberry, miner’s lettuce and eucrypta. Climbing back into the chaparral on the far side of the canyon I expected that I would see the same chaparral flowers in bloom but there were also manzanita, virgin’s bower, Indian pinks, shiny lomatium, wild morning glory and telegraph weed. There were some amazing displays of Indian paintbrush and banks of wishbone flower interspersed with parry’s phacelia, yellow collarless poppies and yellow monkey flower. A really wonderful hike.

See photos and older reports at What’s Blooming.