Flora of Jct. SR138 / Highway 18 Area, east of Palmdale
Fig. 1. Typical appearance of the flowers in this area on 29 March 2014, showing the large beautiful flowers of Gilia latiflora; the ground-hugging cute clusters of Linanthus parryae; a single plant of Phacelia distans in the bottom center; the large yellow flowers of Camissonia campestris; and other species.
We became interested in this area in March 2014 after Keir Morse and RT Hawke reported on 18 and 20 March 2014 that it was experiencing an unusually-good bloom, which was especially surprising in that poor rainfall year. Rains in November 2013 must have hit this area hard, germinating many species which survived until the good rain in March 2014 allowed them to further thrive.
Fig. 2 gives a large-scale map showing where this area is relative to other places in the western Mojave Desert.
Fig. 2. Area locator map showing voucher locations (red dots) in or nearby the area we surveyed.
Major surveys of this area were done on 3/29/14; 4/3/14; and 4/7/14 by groups of four or more of the authors. Keir Morse and others surveyed the Black Butter Area on 4/6/14. Walt Fidler surveyed the area on several additional days. Four authors visited Pinon Hills briefly on 4/30/14.
Fig. 3 shows the areas where we stopped along the roads and surveyed for species.
Fig. 3. Map showing voucher locations (red dots) and the areas where we surveyed for species in the major surveys (inside the black circles).
Vouchers with coordinates were searched on 28 March 2014 for latitude 34.45 to 34.54°, and longitude -117.80 to -117.58°.
The checklist below gives the number of vouchers found in the search area, in the column with header #V, and our estimate of the minimum abundance for each species we saw, up to a maximum of 99 plants, in the column with header #Pls. An x in the latter column indicates a species found by Keir or Walt in their additional surveys, where no estimate of the plant abundance was made.
None of us are experts in this area, and there may be a few misdeterminations in the following list, both in the vouchers and in our determinations. Some of our determinations were made by assuming the vouchered species were the correct determination; others were made using nearby vouchers. Some determinations were made in the field; others with more careful work later at home.
We have many photographs of species from this area. Michael Charters is in the process of making a field gallery photo page from his photographs, which we will link to when it is ready. We were absolutely delighted to find both Phacelia distans and P. tanacetifolia here, and Tom made a special page showing the differences.
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