Flora of Tahquitz Peak and Red Tahquitz Peak Area, San Jacinto Mountains
Introduction
Location
Procedure For Compiling The Checklist
Important Caveats
Checklist
Taxa Rejected From The Checklist
Introduction
This is a checklist for the area that includes Tahquitz Peak, Red Tahquitz Peak, the ridgeline between them, and a short ridgeline to the north of Tahquitz Peak. It has been compiled from online vouchers; from fieldwork where the ridge was targeted; and from the portion of our plant trail guides in this area.
The survey coverage of the four sections of this area are:
- The ridge between Saddle Junction and Chinquapin Junction was surveyed on 5 November 2010, 31 May 2011, and 4 and 14 September 2018.
- The Tahquitz Peak ridge area was surveyed on 19, 25 and 30 October 2012, and 3 November 2012.
- The Tahquitz Saddle area between the Tahquitz Peak ridge and the Red Tahquitz Ridge was surveyed on 2 August 2007, 23 July 2008, and 3 November 2012.
- The Red Tahquitz ridge area was surveyed on 23 and 28 July 2008.
Don Rideout took iNaturalist observations with pictures of every species seen in the 4 September 2018 survey. Note that this link returns one additional observation, Cordylanthus rigidus, which was photographed on our drive to Idyllwild, and was not found in the North Ridge survey.
Location
The following map shows the location of the floral area targeted here:
The dashed purple line delineates the boundary, which follows roughly the 8200 foot elevation contour (update in 2018: we extended the boundary to about 8150 feet near Saddle Junction, not yet shown on the map, since that area is clearly part of the Ridge flora). Solid blue lines are trails, each of which have been botanized extensively (see the plant trail guides for each one). Note that the PCT has been rerouted in places from the trail shown on the base map. Dashed blue lines are floristic surveys done once each so far that compiled checklists and estimated plant species abundances. The one near Tahquitz Saddle was done on 23 July 2008; the one at Red Tahquitz was done on 28 July 2008. The locations of subsequent surveys have not yet been added to this map.
The area is shown in this photograph taken by James Dillane from Wellman Divide on 7 August 2007:
The floristic area boundary is only roughly drawn in this picture. Refer to the topographic map above for its precise location. See also picture without labeling, and pictures taken by James Dillane from the south side in Garner Valley on 3 September 2007: with labels and without labels.
The 8200 foot contour was chosen for several reasons:
- It includes all ridgelines that are clearly associated with Tahquitz Peak and Red Tahquitz Peak. The 8400 foot contour includes only a very small area around Tahquitz Saddle, and is discontiguous due to the 8408 foot elevation peak in the northeast portion.
- It cleanly separates the area of the peaks from Little Tahquitz Meadow below 8100 feet, which contains a very different suite of plant species;
The floristic area boundary was modified to be a bit higher than the 8200 foot contour on the north, in order to avoid extending that ridgeline into the Saddle Junction Area (update in 2018: we extended the boundary to about 8150 feet near Saddle Junction, not yet shown on the map, since that area is clearly part of the Ridge flora). It was modified to be a bit lower along Little Tahquitz Creek, in order to make a clean boundary at the junction of the PCT and Little Tahquitz Valley Trail.
Procedure For Compiling The Checklist
Checklist for Tahquitz and Red Tahquitz Area
The following gives some basic information about this checklist.
See:
- Notes on the Scientific Names Used At This Site and
- Information about the links from the Scientific Name and Common Name.
An asterisk before the common name indicates a non-native species.
The columns labeled #Plants gives the number of plants of each species that were found in the surveys of each area. The number is a minimum estimate of the number of plants, up to a maximum of 99 plants. The main intent of this column is to indicate the species for which we found few plants or locations.
The column headers are as follows:
- N = Ridge north of Tahquitz, between Chinquapin Flat and just south of Saddle Junction
- WT = White Tahquitz Ridge west of the Saddle between white and red Tahquitz Peaks
- TS = Saddle between white and red Tahquitz ridges
- RT = Red Tahquitz Ridge
A V in the # plants column indicates a vouchered species we have not yet seen.
Version for printing, without lines and other text on this page: html (4 pages) or pdf Clickbook booklet (1 double-sided page). (See printing instructions for an explanation of these options)
Taxa Rejected From The Checklist
Taxa Rejected Due To Uncertain Locations
To be supplied.
Taxa Rejected Due To Probably-Incorrect Determinations
To be supplied.
Voucher data provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria (ucjeps.berkeley.edu/consortium/).