Natural History Wanderings

Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association reports

February 10, 2016 Fish Creek Wash

several Orcutt’s Woody Aster are blooming in Fish Creek Wash near the Anticline.  The photo below shows a plant that reportedly has been growing in the rock face there since the 1990’s.  Isolated Salton Milkvetch (Astragalus )were also found in bloom and with seedpods in other places in Fish Creek wash.

February 9, 2016 Ocotillo Wells

“Just outside the park, Ocotillo wells, from Borrego, just before the sign Main street (right). A small patch of land got a lot of rain, we’ve been following it for a while and found a lot of interesting plants there.”

February 7, 2016 Pinyon Wash-Harper Flats   View hike details here

On this hike a couple of first bloomers for us this season. Desert apricot, Prunus fremontii Fish-hook cactus, Mammillaria dioica Coulter’s lyrepod, Lyrocarpa coulteri Desert lotus, Acmispon rigidus.   We seem to have missed the abundant bloom of the Spiny Senna, Senna Armata. We hiked clockwise…. Some germination on our way in, wow what is this wash green, so many big happy plants. But on Harper Flat almost no germination, probably been too cold. On our way back Pinyon Wash, no happy plants here (yet).

February 7, 2016 Font’s Bowl

The hike starts in the wide San Felipe wash, Carla had 2 plants on her list, so she was worried. Soon we added Brassica, not what we wanted and we got frustrated as hundreds, thousands showed up, most still tiny. As we entered the wash we wanted to hike up, more and more plants showed up and a lone Xylorhiza orcuttii, not the best, but it had some kind of bloom.

A winding wash, easy to hike, the last stretch some rocks and a good cluster of Orcutt’s woody-aster, Xylorhiza orcuttii, followed by probably Rush milkweed, Asclepias subulata (about 10). Up to the bowl, wow a place to visit again, plenty of germination and no Brassica. Going down turned out pretty easy in the soft sand, once in the wash, still narrow but easy to hike. Eventually turning in wide “road” wash, back to the car. On the way back in the soft sand again interesting germination. We decided to get adventurous and drive further into the Borrego Sink Wash back to town. Here we found a couple of not so common, Common desert thorn, Lycium brevipes var. brevipes, happy green.

See photos and older reports at  Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association