In my last post I mentioned I writing a series about my favorite genera. Last week I did some plant surveys that included two rare Navarretia species, Navarretia paradoxinota

and Navarretia leucocephala ssp. pleiantha

I have taken photos of 17 of the species in this genus and it’s definitely a favorite of mine. But I gotta say, they are pretty tiny, can look fairly similar to each other, and part of their interest comes from things like spiky bracts and funky sepals that just don’t photograph super well (although check them out in this shot of Navarretia peninsularis, another rare one!)

Well It’s my blog, so I can break my own rules! Rather than just sticking with one genus, I’m going to expand to a whole plant family, the “5, 5, 5, 3, Polemoniaceae!” I’ll post my favorite photo from each of 10 genera.

If you want to become a better botanist, learning the common plant families in your area is definitely the way to do it. All plant families, of which there are about 450 globally, end in -aceae, and tend to have a recognizable look and shape, or gestalt. They also often have the same number of floral parts. Those parts are represented by a floral formula–which indicate, in order, the number of sepals (5 in the case of Polemoniaceae), petals (5), anthers (male parts, 5), and carpels (female parts 3). In this family the result is a memorable (to me, anyway) rhyming chant! You can see the characteristic number of petals, anthers, and carpels in this picture of the beautiful and very rare Polemonium chartaceum, an endemic to the White and Sweetwater Mountains.

For the carpel count, look at the three curling lobes of the stigma. While the numbers of other floral parts is fairly common in other dicot families, the three-lobed stigma is probably the easiest way to know you’re looking at a plant in the Polemoniaceae.

Families are then divided into genera (there are ~25 in Polemoniaceae), each of which have 1 or more species (~350 total in Polemoniaceae). All families have a type genus, after which they’re are named. The reason a taxa is chosen to be the type genus often has more to do with history than taxonomy. Polemonium is the type genus for this family because it’s the only one found in Europe, where plants got their binomials earlier. The only other genus in the family that’s found in the old world is Phlox, which makes it into Asia. My favorite phlox photo is this shot of Phlox dolichantha, another super rare plant, this time from the San Bernardinos.

The rest of the family, with a few South American exceptions, is found in Western North America. California alone has almost 200 species, well over half of the family’s total diversity. Of those, I’ve photographed 72. The inspiration for this post, Navarretia, is a perfect example of the diversification that’s occurred in the state, with something like 90% of the ~40 species found here. I’ll go with this shot of the delicate Navarretia filicaulis from the foothills of the Northern Sierras to represent this genus (those first three pics didn’t count!)

Many of the species in this family are typical of a life history strategy wildflowers employ when dealing with California’s unique climate. They tend to be annual plants that produce seeds without a dispersal mechanism. Instead, the seeds can remain dormant in the soil for a long time, waiting for a disturbance such as a wildfire, when they can germinate and bloom in huge numbers. Many species prefer gravelly (well drained) soils, do best in full sun, and bloom in spring, when days are long but there’s still moisture from the winter rains. Gilia, perhaps the most well known genus on account of its inclusion in many wildflower mixes, typifies the family. I’ll go with Gilia achelleifolia, a common plant from the South Coast Ranges, for this genus.

Gilia also are a clear example of speciation in action. Many of the 30 or so species in the state have numerous subspecies and varieties, among which reproductive barriers are beginning to develop. In fact, these plants caught the attention of Verne Grant, who conducted some amazing and foundational work in plant evolution on them.

While much of the diversity in this genus is found in the part of California with a Mediterranean climate, there are some great Polemones from the desert. Sunbonnets, Lanloisia setosissima,

and Desert Calico, Loeseliastrum matthewsii,

are some of my favorite components of the Mohave early spring bloom. The woolystars including this Eriastrum eremicum are also common desert annuals, although some of the species make it into other parts of the state

We’re getting some funky bilateral symmetry in these last two, but the floral formula (5,5,5,3) still holds.

Rather than the desert, other species are found in gravelly places high in the mountains. That includes Polemonium as well as the genus Ipomopsis, including Ipomopsis congesta.

I’ll return the heart of the California Floristic Provence for my last three pics. Here’s Collomia diversifolia, a serpentine specialist from the North Coast Ranges,

Linanthus killipii, an extremely rare plant from the Pinyon/Juniper woodlands around Baldwin Lake,

and, finally, Leptosiphon dichotomus.

This last one isn’t rare. And it’s certainly isn’t my best photography work, but it was necessarily taken in low light. This species closes its flowers during the day. With its low growth form and linear leaves, it is very hard to find until dusk, when it opens its large white flowers for hawkmoths to find. Like many species of the family it tends to grow in large, dense patches. Therefore when it does open, it’s easy to see the inspiration for its poetic common name, evening snow. These amazing displays make Linanthus dichotomus maybe my favorite Polemoniaceae species–and in a family this cool, that’s very high praise, indeed.

As the summer has gone on and flowers have become harder to find, I’ve slacked off on my botanizing. The past week, I took a trip way up North to the Trinity Alps in North-West California, even sneaking into Oregon. While these are great places for weird and rare plants (see post from a year ago), this time, the late season and complete lack of botanical planning did me in. To be fair, plants weren’t my top priority this time. I did, however, scrounge up 10 post-worthy plants that I hadn’t previously photographed. First, here’s a picture of the beautiful and under-visited Trinities from near the Boulder Lakes with one of my favorite plants from my last trip here–Darlingtonia california (California pitcher plant, Sarraceniaceae), in the foreground.

Okay, flowers in in no particular order: Calochortus tolmiei (Hairy Star Tulip, Liliaceae)

Nothochelone nemorosa (False Turtlehead, Plantaginaceae)

Another large, pink, bee pollinated flower Mimulus lewisii (Lewis’s Monkeyflower, Phyrmaceae)

Gentianopsis simplex (Hiker’s Fringed Gentian, Gentianaceae), a species actually more common in the Sierras than in Northwestern California

 

Rudbeckia occidentalis (Western Coneflower, Asteraceae). This species, unlike some others in the genus doesn’t have showy yellow ray flowers surrounding the brown disk flowers, but pollinators seem to find it just fine, anyway.

Pedicularis racemosa (Leafy Lousewort, Orobanchaceae), one of the few species with asymmetric flowers.

Cordylanthus tenuis (Slender Birdsbeak, Orobanchaceae)

Goodyera oblongifolia (Western Rattlesnake Plantain, Orchidaceae)

Kopsiopsis strobilacea (California Groundcone, Orobanchaceae). This completely parasitic plant really does look like a pine cone sitting on the ground when it’s in flower. This individual is fruiting.

Another plant with a great common name is Vancouveria hexandra (Northern Inside Out Flower, Berberidaceae). This is the first picture I’ve posted of this family, which also includes Oregon Grape (Berberis)

And finally, Trichostema simulatum (Siskiyou Bluecurls). Last post I talked about looking for the rare pink-flowered morph of the related Trichostema laxum. I found a whole pink-flowered population of this, more northern species.

I’ll probably squeeze in one more post this year before going dormant for the fall and winter. I’m going to completely leave California behind to do it.

I’ve just returned from a week-long road trip into the North Coast Ranges (Sonoma, Lake, and Napa Counties) where the goals were to 1) visit friends and 2) do a little field research at McLaughlin Research Station. The focus of the latter was Trichostema laxum (Turpentine Weed, Lamiaceae), which normally looks like this:

This plant usually occurs in large patches of plants (hundreds to many thousands of plants) in serpentine seeps (see previous blog posts for a description of this cool habitat). In many populations, 1 to a few individuals are pink instead of purple:

This color is the result of a recessive mutation, and plants with pink flowers seem to be otherwise just as healthy and have otherwise the same traits as purple-flowered plants. Pollinators don’t really seem to notice the color difference, and will freely visit these mutants. The goal of this research is to take advantage of the mutation by finding, marking, and measuring pink-flowered plants, and then collecting their seeds. Because this is a super rare recessive trait, if the offspring are pink, it is very likely they are the result of self-pollination. Conversely, any purple-flowered progeny must be the result of out-crossing with another plant. Therefore if we can find a bunch of pink individuals, we can ask interesting questions about how things like the number of flowers, the flower shape, and the environment (such as whether the area has recently burned) affect outcrossing rates.

While the focus of this week was not at all recreational botany, of course I found and photographed a few plants.

First some relatively broadly distributed species that have not yet made an appearance on this blog. Clarkia amoena (Farewell-to-spring, Onagraceae)–a beautiful annual that is readily available as a garden ornamental.

Lilium pardalinum (Leopard Lily, Lilaceae)–I actually have photographed and posted this one before, but it was a few years ago on Facebook, and it’s enough of a show-stopper that I’m re-posting.

and Mimulus bolanderi (Bolander’s Monkeyflower, Phrymaceae)–while this species is relatively common, especially in the central Sierras, plants in the inner North Coast Ranges such as this one are much smaller-flowered than elsewhere and may represent a distinct subspecies (or even a different species).

As I’ve blogged about previously, McLaughlin is a hotbed for rare flowers because it has large outcrops of harsh serpentine soils. While I’ve previously found and photographed many of these, I managed to add a few new ones this trip:

Collinsia greenei (Green’s Blue-eyed Mary, Plantaginaceae), the only all-purple member of the genus

Streptanthus morrisonii (Morrison’s Jewelflower, Brassicaceae). I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you really have to meet plants in this genus in person for full appreciation. The yellow things sticking out of the flower are two sterile stamens than are fused together–function unknown.

And two plants that are in fruit, rather than in flower: Lomatium repostum (Napa Biscuitroot, Apiaceae)

and Asclepias solanoana (Serpentine Milkweed, Apocynaceae)

The former species has pretty boring flowers, so the fruiting stage is actually more photogenic. I’m a bit sad I missed the flowers on the latter, however, as it has beautiful purple and white flowers. It was still neat to see the typical milkweed pod on this weird prostrate plant. This plant may be from the southernmost population of this species.

I’m still debating, but I think my itinerary for next week will involve more rare serpentine plants from even further north. Who knows, maybe I’ll even find a flowering Serpentine Milkweed.

I saved the best for last on my spring break botany trip. I spent a day in one of the coolest places in California you’ve (probably) never heard of–The Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument in Riverside County. Although parts of it had been previously preserved, the park was created by Congress in 2000, back when Congress did that nice sort of thing. The slightly taller San Jacintos sit to the north of the Santa Rosas. From them, the Peninsular Ranges head south for 900 miles, forming entire spine of Baja California. These mountains have a split personality. Hiking on their eastern slopes you are clearly in the desert.

And the flora on this drier side reflects that. Here are some species that are also found in higher elevations in the Mojave or Sonoran Deserts

Allium fimbriatum (Fringed Onion, Alliaceae)

Phacelia curvipes (Washoe Phacelia, Boraginaceae)

A couple plants with close relatives in my last post, Loeseliastrum schottii (Schott’s Calico, Polemoniaceae)

and Porophyllum gracile (Odora, Asteraceae)

And, of course, a cactus–Echinocerus engelmanii (Calico Hedgehog Cactus)

On the western side, however, rather than desert scrub, these mountains are covered in good old California chaparral.

Here, many of the species also occur in the Peninsular Ranges to north and west of here. For instance, Phacelia minor (California Bluebell, Boraginaceae)

Mimulus brevicaulis (Wide-throated Monkeyflower, Phyrmaceae)

Linanthus californicus (California Phlox, Polemoniaceae)

and Antirrhinum coulterianum (Coulter’s Snapdragon, Plantaginaceae)

But I really came for all the plants found in the Peninsular Ranges and nowhere else. And I found several of them. I’ll start with a couple of mustards–Caulanthus hallii

And C. simulans

Why do two closely related species of rare mustards both choose to grow in the same section of trail? I have no idea. But I do know they are both way cooler in person–it’s really hard to capture their lanky shape well in a picture.

Shrubs, such as this Ceanothus perplexans (Cupped-leaf Ceanothus, Rhamnaceae) are a bit easier to photograph.

As I frequently do, I’ve saved my favorites for last. Monardella nana (Little Coyote Mint, Lamiaceae), is definitely the most interesting-looking member of its genus that I’ve met. I didn’t even recognize it at first, as this group of plants usually has tight clusters of purple flowers (see Monardella sinuata from a couple posts ago). I just love the fuzzy white bracts and pink anthers.

And finally, the ridiculously bright pink Penstemon clevelandii (San Jacinto Beardtongue) seen here in its preferred rocky perch.

Thus concludes my spring break flower report. I haven’t yet made up my mind as to where I’m headed this weekend, but rest assured that there will be flowers involved.

I just spent a good portion of last week driving around Southern California chasing flowers. My last stop in at Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument had enough beautiful and unique things to warrant its own post–I’ll add that in a couple days. But first I want to show off some of the highlights from the rest of the trip, in which I looped around the Western, Northern, and Central Mohave. My first stop was the Kelso Valley, where the western Mohave meets the Southern Sierras. I had stopped here a few weeks ago, but not much was blooming then. This time I got the timing right, and found the rare monkeyflower for which I was looking, Mimulus shevockii (Kelso Valley Monkeyflower, Phrymaceae)

The spot also had another uncommon and extremely tiny plant, Canbya candida (Pygmy Poppy, Papaveraceae). I was there early in the morning so the flowers are still closed from the night before. For a sense of scale, the “pebbles” around the plant are actually grains of sand.

I then headed over Walker Pass toward the desert floor, stopping to look for a rare species of Astragalus which was not yet in bloom. I did get a consolation prize of a more common species in the same genus, Astragalus purshii (Woolypod Milkvetch, Fabaceae).

I hit the desert floor around Red Rock State Park, and fairly quickly found large numbers of a rare species of Blazing Star, Mentzelia eremophila (Pinyon Blazing Star, Loasaceae).

Also in the area were some nice patches of Linanthus parryae (Sand Blossoms, Polemonaceae). Individuals either have white or purple flowers, sometimes in the same population, as you can see from the second photo.

Further to the southeast at lower elevations, I made a quick stop in some Saltbrush Flats and found the uncommon Goodmania luteola (Yellow Spinecape, Polygonaceae). I know it doesn’t look like much, but it’s the only species in its genus, and to a plant nerd like me, that makes it pretty interesting.

From the Western Mohave, I made the long drive to Death Valley National Park, where I had hoped to find a few beautiful and rare species that only occur on limestone cliffs in the Northern part of the park. Unfortunately, I got the timing wrong, and I was too late to catch these short-lived annuals. That’s not to say the trip wasn’t worth it though. On the way in, I found a couple common, but interesting species

Cleomella obtusifolia (Blunt-leaf Stinkweed, Cleomaceae), a small plant found around salty lakes.

Eucnide urens (Desert Rocknettle, Loasaceae), a shrub with extremely sharp hairs that I know now not to touch.

Despite striking out on the limestone specialists, I did find a couple of rare plants. Salvia funerea (Death Valley Sage, Lamiaceae) is a unique, incredibly woolly shrub with a funky smell found in the mountains around the valley.

The clear prize of the Death Valley leg of the trip was Enceliopsis covillei (Panamint Daisy, Asteraceae). This beautiful sunflower is only found in gypsum soils in a few canyons on the western side of the Panamint mountains. It’s the logo for the California Native Plant Society:

When I got to the area, I was dismayed to find the only road that goes through the range of the species was closed. I quickly formulated a back-up plan, driving as close as I could to the mountains, picking what looked like an interesting canyon with gypsum (the white rock below), and walking in.

About a mile up the canyon, I found one individual growing completely by itself on the side of the canyon. I shouted pretty loud when I saw it.

After leaving death valley, I spent an evening and morning botanizing around the Barstow area in the Central Mohave. There were a number of interesting plants in the area, including a couple more species from the extremely diverse sunflower family (Asteraceae), Nicolletia occidentalis (Hole-in-the-Sand Plant) and Adenophyllum cooperi (Cooper’s Dogweed, shown with a sleeping bee-fly, Bombylius sp.).

But another plant family, Polemoniaceae, led the highlight reel here. A pink patch of Leptosiphon breviculus (Mohave Linanthus) looked lovely in the evening light

 

Loeseliastrum matthewsii (Desert Calico, Polemoniaceae) was just beginning to bloom in the area.

And another tiny prickly annual with intricately patterned petals Langloisia setosissima (Lilac Sunbonnet) was surprisingly common.

From Barstow, I made the long drive south to the Santa Rosa Mountains. I’ll detail those highlights in my next post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m about to head out to the desert, but before I do, here’s a quick post about the overnight trip I just took up to Tuolumne County. I stopped along the South Fork of the Stanislaus River and at a nice outcrop of iron-rich serpentine soil called the Red Hills. Both spots have a bunch of uncommon or rare plants, but I was too early or too late for most of them. The couple I did manage to scrounge up definitely fall under the category of “plants only a botanist would love”.

Lomatium congdonii (Congdon’s Lomatium, Apiaceae). A rare plant only found in serpentine in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties

Leptosyne stillmanii (Stillman’s Coreopsis, Asteraceae), also a serpentine specialist.

The botanical highlights of the trip were actually three beautiful species that are common in the Sierras, but new to me (as far as I remember).

Lathyrus sulphureus (Snub Pea, Fabaceae)

Nemophila maculata (Fivespot, Boraginaceae)

and Calochortus monophyllus (Yellow Star Tulip, Liliaceae)

I’m feeling generous, so I’ll even throw in a couple plants that range widely across the Western US and Canada:

Phlox speciosa (Showy Phlox, Polemoniaceae)

Lewisia redivia (Bitter Root, Portulacaeae)

I’ll be hitting the road tomorrow with an ambitious itinerary wherein I will attempt to find many plants that are both rare AND beautiful.