My main goal in joining an Orange County CNPS group led by Ron Vanderhoff in the San Joaquin Hills was to see and photograph the rare big-leaved crownbeard, Verbesina dissita, which I had never encountered before. Although we found many of the plants, none of them were in bloom. The bloom period is May-August so I will go back later in the summer. The San Joaquin Hills are a low coastal range that begins in Newport Beach and extends in a southeasterly direction to San Juan Capistrano. We were not in Hobo Canyon itself but along the ridge shown in the above photograph, which curves around the head of the canyon. Hobo Canyon itself is a short coastal canyon immediately to the north of Aliso Canyon, and the primary habitats that are found in this area are Diegan coastal sage scrub and southern maritime chaparral, both of which are influenced by the proximity of the ocean and the addition to the overall moisture load of frequent fog drip, even in the summer. The symbol ^ next to the common name indicates a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip, and an asterisk indicates a non-native species. Thanks to Hartmut Wisch for the bee ID.

Slender tarplant
Deinandra fasciculata
Asteraceae

Three-spot
Osmadenia tenella
Asteraceae

Sapphire woolstar
Eriastrum sapphirinum
Polemoniaceae

Coast paintbrush
Castilleja affinis ssp. affinis
Orobanchaceae
[Named for Domingo Castillejo Muñoz, 1744?-1793]

Many-stemmed dudleya
Dudleya multicaulis
Crassulaceae
[Named for William Russel Dudley, 1849-1911]

Small-seeded spurge
Chamaesyce polycarpa
Euphorbiaceae