Natural History Wanderings

The day was spent exploring the wildflowers along Bishop Creek (following on Rte. 168) in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. We drove from 395 in Bishop to South Lake (approx. 22 miles). Like other areas this year, the wildflower bloom is behind what I typically see. More flowers are blooming in the lower areas (starting at 7000 feet) than ‘normal’ and others have just started to bloom at the higher elevations. 

The very short hike at the  wildflower “garden”, which is a short spur to left of the main trail at South Lake, just above the parking area, which is often a highlight has only a few species in bloom.

Our favorite flower today was Heavenly Blue or Blue Mantle/ Eriastrum densifolium, which is the first flower we saw blooming in large numbers. Usually by this time of year it is mostly way past its peak. 

Heavenly Blue or Blue Mantle/ Eriastrum densifolium

As in many other areas visited this year, we saw good numbers of Bruneau’s Mariposa Lily.

click read more to see a complete plant list of what was seen today

Bishop Creek Plant List /10/19:

• Heavenly Blue or Blue Mantle/ Eriastrum densifolium
• Frosted or Sulphur Buckwheat/Eriogonum umbellatum
• Blue Elderberry/Sambucus mexicanaSoda Straw/Angelica lineariloba
• Desert Evening Primrose/Oenothera caespitosa
• Long-leaved Paintbrush/Castilleja linarifolia
• Inyo Lupine/Lupinus argenteus var. heteranthus
• Erigeron or Aster unidentified
• Apricot Mallow/Sphaeralcea ambigua
• Bird’s-foot Trefoil/Lotus corniculatus (naturalized)
• Bruneau Mariposa Lily/Calochortus bruneaunis
• Kelley’s Lily/Lillium kelleyanum ( just a few, still starting
• Douglas’s Pincushion/Chaenactis douglasii
• Sierra Rein-orchid/Platanthera leucostachys
• Arrow-leaf Groundsel/Senecio triangularis
• Slender Cinquefoil/Potentilla gracilis
• Rosy Everlasting/Antennaria corymbosa
• Wild Rose/Rosa woodsii
• Wild Iris/Iris missouriensis-  most  are past bloom
• Scarlet Gilia/ Ipomopsis aggregata
• Scarlet Penstemon/Penstemon rostriflorus
• Showy Penstemon/Penstemon speciosus
• Meadow or Whorled Penstemon/Penstemon heterodoxus
• Mountain Pride / Penstemon newberryi
• Naked Buckwheat/Eriogonum nudum
• Eriogonum umbellatum   / Sulphur Buckwheat
• Sticky Cinquefoil/Drymocallis glandulosa
• Creek Monkeyflower/Mimulus tilingii
• Labrador Tea/Rhododendron columbianum 
• Single-Stemmed Butterweed/Senecio integetrrimus
• Crimson Columbine/ Aquilegea formosa
• Coville’s Columbine/Aquilegea pubescens
• (no hybrid Columbines this year
• Coyote Mint/Monardella odoratissima
• Alpine Shooting Star/Primula alpinum