After my visit last week to the Wiashal Trail burn area at the Santa Rosa Plateau, Tom Chester notified me about the presence of the uncommon fire-follower taxon Caulanthus heterophyllus var. pseudosimulans on the hill near the Visitor Center, and since I had never seen it before, I drove down today to take some photographs. Unfortunately for me C.h. var. heterophyllus and C.h. var. pseudosimulans are being lumped together in the 2nd edition of the Jepson Manual because the latter was never validly published. The two taxa differ in flower color (although their differences in cauline leaf shape and dimensions seem a bit arbitrary), and although their geographic range overlaps, there is a clear concentration of var. heterophyllus in San Diego Co. and of var. pseudosimulans in Riverside Co., so it's at least arguable that they should be distinct taxa, and I thought it was interesting to post these pictures. The Granite Loop Trail does not have a wide diversity of flowering species at the moment, but there were a few things that attracted my attention among the proliferation of golden yarrow and winter vetch. An upside-down V next to the common name indicates a taxon I had never seen before, and an asterisk means a non-native species. Tom Chester's plant guide for the Granite Loop Trail is here.

Slender-pod jewelflower ^
Caulanthus heterophyllus var. pseudosimulans
Brassicaceae

Common goldfields
Lasthenia gracilis
Asteraceae

Chaparral gilia
Gilia angelensis
Polemoniaceae
[Named for Filippo Luigi Gilii, 1756-1821

Purple clarkia
Clarkia purpurea ssp. quadrivulnera
Onagraceae

Chinese houses
Collinsia heterophylla
Plantaginaceae
[Named for Zaccheus Collins, 1764-1831]