Natural History Wanderings

McGee Creek is a scenic high desert landscape. The area was very dry and most flowers are past peak.  The most dominant plant was Sulphur Buckwheat. There are still some late bloomers as well as the remains of a few early blooming plants. We still managed to find a good number of species. Today’s short iPhone slideshow.

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McGee Creek Plant list 7/20/16

First seen on road to trailhead:

• Prickly Poppy/Argemone munita
• Sulphur Buckwheat/Eriogonum umbellatum
• Mountain Pennyroyal/Monardella odoratissima
• Rabbitbrush/Ericameria nauseosa
• Silver Lupine/Lupinus argenteus
• Red Paintbrush/Castilleja sp.

Seen after starting the trail:

• Heavenly Blue or Few-flowered Wooly Star/Eriastrum sparsiflorum
• Skeleton Plant/Stephanomeria spinosa
• Hoary Aster/Dieteria canescens
• Bridge’s Penstemon/Penstemon rostrifloru
• Naked Buckwheat/Eriogonum nudum
• Blue Elderberry/Sambucus mexicana (Leaves had significant insect damage)
• Beavertail Cactus/Opuntia basilaris (not in flower)
• Green Rabbitbrush/Chrysothanmus visicidflorus
• Bolander’s Milkvetch/Astragalus bolanderi
• Wooly pod Milkvetch/Astragalus purshii (Flower and in fruit)
• Balloonpod Milkvetch/Astragalus whitneyi (in fruit)
• Desert Peach/Prunus andersonii (in fruit)
• Wax Currant/Ribes cereum, in fruit
• Mules Ears/Wyethia mollis only one in flower until a mile or so up trailInterior Rose/Rosa Woodsii var. ultramontana
• Western Blue Flag/Iris missouriensis (in fruit)
• False Solomon’s Seal/Maianthemum stellata past bloom
• Stream Orchid/Epipactis gigantea
• Green Rein-orchid/Habenaria sparsiflora
• Spreading Dogbane/Apocynum androsaemifolium
• Gayophytum sp.
• Bitterbrush/Purshia tridentata
• Tall Wooly Buckwheat/Eriogonum elatum
• Nuttall’s linanthus/Linanthus nuttallii ssp. pubescens
• Trifolium sp.
• Seep Monkeyflower/Erythranthe gutatta
• Hooker’s Evening Primrose/Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima
• Cream Bush/Holodiscus microphyllus var. microphyllus
• Phlox sp.
• Phacelia sp.
• Western Columbine/Aquilegia formosa

The following resources were helpful in identifying flowers:

• McGee Creek Plant List from the Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plants Society (available at the Chapter Website)
• Eastern Sierra Wildflower Hotspots Booklet (available at visitor centers)
• Wildflower Hot Spots of the Eastern Sierra And Wildflowers of the Eastern Sierra and adjourning Mojave Desert and Great Basin by Laird Blackwell.

Butterflies:

• Orange Sulphur
• Unidentified Blues
• Swallowtails
• Lorquin’s Admiral
• After McGee Creek we drove East on highway 120 about 7.6 miles to see Skunky Monkeyflower/Diplacus mephiticus and Mono Lupine/Lupinus durango (endemic).There was als