Since Tom Chester wanted to continue with the Pacific Crest Trail and I was more than happy to accompany him and Walt Fidler in order to firm up or correct some of my identifications from last year and also to record new species which I didn't see in 2013, we began at Three Points where we ended up a few days ago and continued on a 4-mile section which is essentially all downhill on the north slopes of the San Gabriels to Little Rock Creek Road. Most of the day was overcast and breezy with a few sprinkles of rain which kept the temperature down, and in addition to finding one particularly unexpected and interesting species, Nemacladus sigmoideus (in bloom no less), we paid considerable attention to the manzanitas. Many of the species were on their last legs so it was difficult sometimes to find good specimens to photograph, but I have found that it is useful to have pictures of plants in all seasons in order to identify them when they are not in bloom. The symbol ^ next to the common name is for a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip. The photographs in this gallery were taken on 7/14/14 and 7/24/14.

Whorl-leaf penstemon
Keckiella ternata var. ternata
Plantaginaceae
[Named for David Daniels Keck, 1903-1995]

Western wallflower
Erysimum capitatum var. capitatum
Brassicaceae

Southern mountain woolstar Eriastrum densifolium ssp. austromontanum Asteraceae

San Bernardino rubber rabbitbrush
Ericameria nauseosa var. bernardina
Asteraceae

Chaparral whitethorn
Ceanothus leucodermis
Rhamnaceae
[Picture on right shows long inflorescences which differentiate this taxon from C. cordulatus which has sessile inflorescences]

Showy penstemon
Penstemon spectabilis var. spectabilis
Plantaginaceae