Natural History Wanderings

Anza Borregohiking.com reports on  Sin Nombre area

The Sin Nombre area is one of the best of the park.
I’t amazing that the slot canyon is still there as it is so unstable.
http://borregohiking.com/hik…/2015_sin_nombre_slot_loop.html

The temperature has dropped, so it’s time for the badlands.

As we went down the drainage at the start of our hike, there they where Spearleaf, Matelea parvifolia, yes 5 plants and to make it easy, to get a positive ID, blooming.

As we expected the area is very very dry, germination isn’t that bad, but in desperate need of rain.

The good bloomers 99+
Ocotillo, Fouquieria splendens ssp. splendens
California barrel cactus, Ferocactus cylindraceus
Beavertail, Opuntia basilaris basilaris
Not to forget Creosote bush, Larrea tridentata

And as everywhere else in the low desert plenty of good blooming Desert lily, Hesperocallis undulata.
Another good bloomer: Gander’s cholla, Cylindropuntia ganderi

Carla was checking the Yellow blazing star, Mentzelia affinis and there was something unexpected one not on our list as we didn’t expect to find it in bloom ever.
Utah vine milkweed, Funastrum utahense
Hard to tell how many plants, about 20 plants where mostly hidden in grass, if they where not in bloom, we wouldn’t have found them, yes the best find of the week.

Yes another Broad leaf gilia, Aliciella latifolia latifolia, not that rare, but rare to find one with a good flower and this one was maybe the best we’ve ever seen.

Even in the dry area we found 61 species in bloom, not bad at all.