Natural History Wanderings

Anza-Borrego Desert Natural History Association reports

March 29 Mine Wash
The road into Mine Wash, before the Kumeyaay village site, is really beautiful right now with flowering cactus of several varieties, spiny senna, inddigo bush, and ocotillo.  Glorietta Canyon ( see report below) is also in bloom with the same species.

March 29 Glorieta Canyon  Loop2 – View Hike Details Here
This is an alternate route in the popular Glorieta Canyon.  We skipped this route for years, but last season I changed the route slightly to avoid one nasty steep stretch and now it’s one of the favorite.  Spiny senna, Senna armata is spectacular this year, blooming all over Yaqui meadows.  The bloom appears to be peaking in this area right now.  

March 29 Henderson Canyon – View Hike Details Here
This trip to Henderson Canyon was long overdue. We encountered the first Narrow leaf sandpaper plant, Petalonyx linearis, but it was no longer attached to the ground and parts of the plant where all over. This happened very recent as we missed the plant on our return trip. In tumble weed mode these plants could originate from a much larger area. The route we took is obvious the place for Wandsage, Salvia vaseyi. We found the prettiest one of all, Desert nemacladus, Nemacladus rubescens. We counted about 10 Desert Bluebells, Phacelia campanularia var. campanularia. 

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