Today we explored some of the roads east of Jackson, CA using Toni Fauver’s book Wildflower Walks and Roads of the Sierra Gold Country
Electra Rd. is at a lower elevation of about 600 feet so the flowers were blooming and some were looking pretty good. We drove in about three miles where the road basically ends although some small dirt roads may have gone further.
Poppies were plentiful although there were no large displays. A very nice patch of Owl’s Clover. We also found a number of White Fairy Lantern in bloom and more in bud. Other flowers in bloom were Spider Lupine, Blue Dicks, Woodland Star, Dudleya, Filaree (alien), Caterpillar Plant, Popcorn, Fringepod, Fiddleneck, White Nemophila, Miner’s Lettuce, Yellow Monkeyflower, a purple vetch (alien), Bird’s eye Gilia, Harvest Brodiaea, Chinese Houses, Coreopsis, and Valley Tassels. Butterflies were also flying including Orangetips, Swallowtails, Blues and Whites.
Next we headed to Clinton Road and Tabeaud Rd. For the most part it was too early for wildflowers. It was a Forest with Ponderosa Pine, Incense Cedar, Valley Oaks, Buckeye, Gray Pine, Honeysuckle. Wed did find White-leaf Manzanita and Buck Brush in flower. The BIG find was that we found our destination plant of the day in bloom. There were a number of Yellow Star-tulip/Calochortus monophyllus in bloom on East Clinton Rd. south of Hwy 88. This was the fourth Calochortus species we have found and photographed in bloom this year in our quest to see how many species we can find in the Bay Area and beyond.
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Natural History Wanderings 