| MT. WATERMAN, SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS JUNE 2015 PAGE ONE |
| Photographs by Michael Charters |
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Having recently done the section of the PCT from Cloudburst Summit to Cooper Canyon and up to Buckhorn Campground, Tom Chester and I were curious as to how different the flora would be on the higher side of the Angeles Crest Highway. It had been seven years since I was last on this trail and I remembered it fondly for its airy and woodsy feel. Although Tom had been in the area recently, he had not been to the actual summit of Mt. Waterman, and there was one plant in particular that he was eager to see, Brewer's lupine, which in the San Gabriels is known only from this location. It was a lovely and cool day as we ascended the heights, and then instead of returning the same way dropped down via a dirt road through the Mt. Waterman ski lift property, an area that has probably seen little to no skiing in recent years. I was very pleased to find the Brewer's lupine in the same exact spot where I had seen it in 2008, and then we found some much more extensive patches of it further along the trail on the way from the peak toward the top of the ski lift. It is a very cute diminutive plant which shares a flat open sandy/gravelly habitat with its cousin Lupinus elatus. The summit of Mt. Waterman is 8,035', making it a 1,265' climb over 2.75 miles, and the trailhead is approximately 34 miles east of La Canada. |
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| Summer lupine Lupinus formosus Fabaceae |
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Western needlegrass Stipa occidentalis var. occidentalis Poaceae |
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Brewer's monkeyflower Mimulus breweri Phrymaceae [Named for William Henry Brewer, 1828-1910] |
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Coast range triteleia Triteleia lugens Themidaceae |
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| Golden yarrow Eriophyllum confertiflorum var. confertiflorum Asteraceae |
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| Wild tarragon Artemisia dracunculus Asteraceae |
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| Western wallflower Erysimum capitatum ssp. capitatum Brassicaceae |
Grinnell's penstemon Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii Plantaginaceae [Named for Fordyce Grinnell, Jr., 1882-1943] |
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| Volcanic gilia Gilia ochroleuca var. vivida Polemoniaceae |
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I have often wondered why this taxon was called volcanic gilia and assumed that it had something to do with its habitat, yet all the places where I have seen several varieties of it have not been volcanic areas. Tom Chester told me that "Marcus Jones collected the type specimen of Gilia ochroleuca (now Gilia ochroleuca ssp. ochroleuca) from the Darwin Mesa (Darwin Plateau in the Argus Mountains), and that mesa is made of basaltic volcanic rock." Thanks to Tom for this information. |
| PHOTO GALLERIES INDEX |
CALFLORA.NET | PAGE TWO OF THREE |
| CALIFORNIA PLANT NAMES: LATIN AND GREEK MEANINGS AND DERIVATIONS | ||
| VIRGINIA PLANT NAMES: LATIN AND GREEK MEANINGS AND DERIVATIONS | ||
Copyright @ 2015 by Michael L. Charters. The photographs contained in this website may not be reproduced without the express consent of the author. |
