bog star, Parnassia palustris, California, White Mountains, Falls Canyon, Hammil Valley - Owens Valley watershed, elevation 2050 m (6725 ft).

The Parnassia in this part of eastern California are often considered intermediate between P. palustris and P. parviflora, and have been called by both names, so I am using the older of the two names for these plants. This is one of a very few spots in the White Mountains where the water is dependable enough long-term to support a Parnassia population. Parnassia palustris is widespread in wet places throughout western and northern North America and circumboreal across Eurasia, from sea level to alpine elevations in the mountains.

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horseweed, Erigeron canadensis, California, White Mountains, Falls Canyon, Hammil Valley - Owens Valley watershed, elevation 2047 m (6715 ft).

This native but weedy annual is found in moist and/or disturbed places throughout temperate and subtropical North and Central America, up to middle elevations in the mountains, and is introduced just about everywhere else in the world. The phase here with only sparse appressed hairs is sometimes referred to var. glabrata, and is native to western North America.

With such a mobile species, it's hard to distinguish native and introduced populations within its native range, though no doubt both kinds exist. Given the inaccessible location of this particular population, it is a good candidate for being native here, though it's seeds could always have blown up canyon from agricultural lands in the valley below.

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cliff goldenbush, Ericameria cuneata var. cuneata, California, White Mountains, Falls Canyon, Hammil Valley - Owens Valley watershed, elevation 1917 m (6290 ft).

I love this shrub for the intense golden patches it produces on otherwise bare cliff faces, usually in autumn when such vibrant color is most unexpected. The plant shown here was just getting started on September 3rd. This variety, characterized by having narrow heads and leaf margins tapered directly to the stem, is limited to the Sierra Nevada and southern California mountains, extending shortly eastward into the northwestern Mojave Desert and southwestern Great Basin of eastern California and extreme southwestern Nevada, from desert canyons up to middle elevations in the mountains. Two other varieties of the species extend farther south and east through the warm deserts of the southwestern U.S. and northwestern Mexico.

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vinegarweed, Lessingia glandulifera var. glandulifera, California, White Mountains, Hammil Valley, Owens Valley watershed, elevation 1564 m (5130 ft).

This warm season annual is locally common and somewhat weedy in loose sandy soils of valleys and foothills throughout the southwestern California and the western and northern Mojave Desert, extending shortly into the southwestern corner of the Great Basin (as here), and south into northern Baja California. The common name comes from the strong and distinctive odor of this heavily glandular species.

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green rabbitbrush, Ericameria teretifolia, California, White Mountains, Hammil Valley, Owens Valley watershed, elevation 1522 m (4995 ft).

This late-season shrub is centered in the western and northern Mojave Desert of southern California and southern Nevada, extending shortly into the adjacent desert foothills of the southwestern California mountains and the southwestern Great Basin. Warm rocky slopes comprise its favorite habitat, especially in granitic areas.

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matchweed, Gutierrezia microcephala, California, White Mountains, Wyman Canyon, Deep Springs Valley watershed, elevation 1887 m (6190 ft).

This is a common and widespread desert shrub across interior southwestern North America, reaching middle elevations in the mountains, and nearing its northwestern limit here in the White Mountains.

Similar to and often confused with the even more widespread Gutierrezia sarothrae, especially when not in flower, but sharply distinct by its smaller and narrower heads with only a single small ray flower and a couple of disk flowers in each one. Only this species appears to be present in and near the White Mountains.

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skeleton buckwheat, Eriogonum deflexum var. deflexum, California, White Mountains, Wyman Canyon, Deep Springs Valley watershed, elevation 1823 m (5980 ft).

This annual species and variety is common and widespread in the warmer deserts of southwestern North America, extending northward shortly into the Great Basin, and from the valleys up to middle elevations in the mountains. Though native, it prefers loose soils on disturbed sites. The common name refers to the tall open stick-like branching pattern, and the resulting skeletons left after the plants die each year. The scientific name comes from the sharply bent (deflexed) stalks of the flower cups. This variety is distinguished from the others in the species by the combination of tall erect habit, flower cups with very short or no stalks, and heart-shaped flower parts.

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pygmy poreleaf, Porophyllum pygmaeum, Nevada, Clark County, Desert National Wildlife Range, Sheep Range watershed, elevation 1355 m (4445 ft).

These are some poor, rushed film photos of plants gathered for the type collection of this species. I first noticed this unnamed species tucked away on an herbarium sheet at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, soon after arriving there as a graduate student. Fellow student Aaron Liston (@aaronliston), Garden employee Sara Meury, and I made a first unsuccessful attempt to relocate the species in the general area noted on the specimen in May 1987.

Visiting taxonomist Fritz Ehrendorfer and I made a second long trip for another attempt in early June. As seems to happen too often when so focused, we spent the whole day searching fruitlessly, until just before sunset and still 5 hours from home, when we finally located this large population. Thus the poor and rushed photos, restored as best I could from high resolution scans.

The species is still only known from the west base and slopes of the Sheep Range on the Desert National Wildlife Range in Clark County, Nevada.

Collection: Morefield 4511 & Ehrendorfer

Publication: Keil, D.J. & J.D. Morefield. 1989. Porophyllum pygmaeum (Asteraceae), a distinctive new species from southern Nevada. Systematic Botany 14: 583-588.

Heller birdbeaks, Cordylanthus kingii subsp. helleri, Nevada, White Mountains, Mustang Mountain, Sagehen Flat, Pinchot Creek - Columbus Salt Marsh watershed, elevation 2905 m (9530 ft).

This species is a spring or summer annual typical of the understory of pinyon-juniper woodlands and adjacent sagebrush vegetation, and is found throughout most of the Great Basin and almost all of Utah. Heller birdbeaks is the subspecies limited to the southwest corner of this range, from central Nevada westward into the Great Basin portion of eastern California. It reaches higher elevations, and is characterized by shorter flower parts, including more numerous bracts with shorter and broader lobes. The plants also tend to be more copiously glandular hairy.

All Cordylanthus species are considered to be hemiparasitic, possessing chlorophyll but also deriving some of their nutrients from the roots of other associated species. As plants of Heller birdbeaks develop, the chlorophyll is rapidly lost or masked by brownish purple pigments, lending pinyon-juniper woodlands a characteristic understory color after especially wet spring or summer seasons.

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nodding buckwheat, Eriogonum cernuum, Nevada, White Mountains, Mustang Mountain, Pinchot Creek - Columbus Salt Marsh watershed, elevation 2830 m (9285 ft).

This annual buckwheat species is widespread in the interior of western North America, reaching its southwestern limit near this location, and ascending to subalpine elevations in the mountains. These plants appeared to be developing short secondary late-season flowering stems among the basal leaves.

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curlleaf mountain mahogany, Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intermontanus, Nevada, White Mountains, Mustang Mountain, Sagehen Flat, Pinchot Creek - Columbus Salt Marsh watershed, elevation 2803 m (9195 ft).

This is a locally dominant shrub or small tree at middle to subalpine elevations throughout the intermountain region of the western United States between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade-Sierra Nevada axes. This is the more southern and western variety of the species, with broader leaves, less curled margins, less hairy undersides. In the northeastern part of the species' range is the typical variety with narrower and more curled leaves with hairier undersides.

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pinyon buckwheat, Eriogonum microthecum var. laxiflorum, Nevada, White Mountains, Sugarloaf, Sugarloaf Canyon, Pinchot Creek - Columbus Salt Marsh watershed, elevation 2618 m (8590 ft).

This variety is common in dry upland habitats at middle elevations in the intermountain region between the Rocky Mountains and the Cascade-Sierra Nevada axis of the western United States. About the only thing separating var. laxiflorum from yellow-flowered var. ambiguum is the white flower color, but the two varieties mostly seem to maintain separate populations. The var. ambiguum has a much more restricted geographic range in the northwestern Great Basin, but is completely surrounded by the larger range of var. laxiflorum.

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Sierra evening primrose, Oenothera xylocarpa, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Houghton, Galena Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 2842 m (9325 ft).

This distinctive regional endemic is limited to the east slope of the central Sierra Nevada in eastern California and far western Nevada, and shortly southward into the adjacent southern Sierra Nevada in California. This location is close to its northern limit. It is found from the higher valley floors up to lower subalpine elevations, usually in fine loose open soils, often from pumice or other volcanic materials. This perennial species may be sister to annual Oenothera primivera of the warm deserts to the southeast.

Sierra evening primrose, Oenothera xylocarpa, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Rose, Galena Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 2890 m (9480 ft).

This distinctive regional endemic is limited to the east slope of the central Sierra Nevada in eastern California and far western Nevada, and shortly southward into the adjacent southern Sierra Nevada in California. This location is close to its northern limit. It is found from the higher valley floors up to lower subalpine elevations, usually in fine loose open soils, often from pumice or other volcanic materials. This perennial species may be sister to annual Oenothera primivera of the warm deserts to the southeast.

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Sierra evening primrose, Oenothera xylocarpa, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Houghton, Galena Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 2842 m (9325 ft).

This distinctive regional endemic is limited to the east slope of the central Sierra Nevada in eastern California and far western Nevada, and shortly southward into the adjacent southern Sierra Nevada in California. This location is close to its northern limit. It is found from the higher valley floors up to lower subalpine elevations, usually in fine loose open soils, often from pumice or other volcanic materials. This perennial species may be sister to annual Oenothera primivera of the warm deserts to the southeast.

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soft arnica, Arnica mollis, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Houghton, Galena Creek, Truckee River watershed, elevation 2783 m (9130 ft).

Widespread in the mountains of western North America from middle to alpine elevations in wet or moist places.

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Nevada dustymaidens, Chaenactis nevadensis, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Rose, Galena Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 3025 m (9925 ft).

This distinctive species is endemic to the Lassen Peak area, southern Klamath Ranges, and northern Sierra Nevada of northern California and adjacent western Nevada. It prefers loose volcanic soils from middle elevations to upper treeline, and appears to be a higher-elevation sister species to C. suffrutescens, another rare species from farther west in northern California.

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Mount Rose buckwheat, Eriogonum rosense var. rosense, Nevada, Carson Range, Mount Rose, Sierra Nevada, Bronco Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 3129 m (10265 ft).

Pictured here at its type location on the summit of Mount Rose between Reno and Lake Tahoe, this perennial cushion buckwheat is endemic to the northern and central Sierra Nevada and adjacent Great Basin ranges of east-central California and western Nevada, at elevations up to about 4000 meters (13000 feet), usually on rocky or gravelly, non-clay soils. The species is easily recognized its combination of densely glandular, non-cobwebby stems and single heads of bright yellow flowers.

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whitebark pine, Pinus albicaulis, Nevada, Carson Range, Sierra Nevada, Mount Rose, Bronco Creek - Truckee River watershed, elevation 3133 m (10280 ft).

This western North American endemic is currently a candidate for Endangered Species listing, because of widespread declines and mortality from white pine blister rust and pine beetles. Most of the mortality has been in the main part of its range in the northern Rocky Mountains, with smaller amounts here near the southern end of its range.

Whitebark pine is unique among North American white pines in having cones that remain closed until torn apart by animals, or falling apart on their own. The animals (mostly Clark's Nutcracker and various small mammals) are very efficient at this, and if you aren't there while cones are still on the tree, often all you find is a litter of disarticulated cones scales on the ground. The species depends almost entirely on Clark's Nutcracker to disperse its seeds. Vegetatively the species is virtually identical to limber pine (Pinus flexilis), which causes ID problems where they grow together, unless cones are present.

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