This was my first attempt in doing a plant trail list. Since this time, I have done numerous other plant trail lists. See Plant Trail Guides for Fallbrook as well as Floras for nearby areas.
This is a list of native plants (including exotics) I observed on 8/23/00 along the Rainbow Creek Trail and the unnamed fire road leading to Red Mountain from the north. The Rainbow Creek Trail is on private property, and permission must be obtained to hike it.
The purpose of gathering this list was to establish which are the most common plants that should be illustrated on the plant brochure being prepared in mid-2000 by the Fallbrook Land Conservancy. Since this traverse was from almost the lowest elevation in Fallbrook to the highest elevation in Fallbrook, it is probably fairly representative of the native plant community in Fallbrook.
In the following, I list the plants by their first appearance in the entire trip, which are not then repeated in subsequent sections. Common plants are ones that are seen in at least several places along the trip, and ones that would be hard to miss if you can recognize them. Less Common plants are ones that are only in a few locations, and could easily be missed if one's attention was diverted at the time.
Since these observations were made on only one date, in mid-summer, they are definitely incomplete, missing a lot of the beautiful annual spring wildflowers.
Willow Glen Trailhead to Rock Pool:
- Common plants: Wild grape, mulefat, coast live oak, western sycamore, castor bean, white nightshade, poison oak, (plant with red berries: alternate, serrated, elliptic leaves), scrub oak, mustard, black sage, ragweed, prickly lettuce, star thistle, arundo, California aster, raspberry, cocklebur, sugarbush, common hazardia, mountain mahogany, virgin's bower, laurel sumac, chamise, everlasting, slender tarweed, manzanita, California buckwheat, dodder, fennel, wild cucumber, (shrub with red apple fruits, curled, serrated leaves), Arroyo Willow
- Less Common plants: (Plant with buds, 6' tall, alternate, linear leaves), squaw bush, matchweed, hoaryleaf ceanothus, caterpillar phacelia.
Rock Pool to end of Rainbow Creek Trail:
- Common plants: (no new plants)
- Less Common plants: Watercress, dudleya, wild pea, plantain, yucca, poison hemlock, (purple clover?).
End of Rainbow Creek Trail to Red Mountain:
- Common plants: Telegraph weed, tree tobacco, white sage, Russian thistle, fennel
- Less Common plants: Elderberry, (lettuce relative, 6' tall), knotweed.
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Copyright © 2000-2005 by Tom Chester.
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Comments and feedback: Tom Chester
Last update: 11 January 2005.