This is another of the photo galleries prepared in 2018 for a Jepson workshop that took place back in 2005 before I ever started doing the galleries. This workshop concentrated on the flora of the Otay Mesa vernal pools and Otay Mountain areas of San Diego County. In normal rainfall years the vernal pools form on generally flat terrain of less than 10% slope in depressions above impervious soil layers typically of alluvial materials with clay or clay loam subsoils, fill up to a depth usually of no more than six inches, and last generally for two to four months normally November through March, then revert to dry conditions during the remainder of the year. Periods of inundation lasting six months or more which are very unusual would tend to produce marsh conditions, so the plants that inhabit vernal pool areas are not truly aquatic. Most of the historic vernal pool complexes that used to extend sporadically from Ventura County down into Mexico on the region's flat mesas have disappeared as a result of development, but there are still vernal pools preserved and recent work has been done in an attempt to conserve them. They are often home to colonies of fairy shrimp, tadpoles and insects in addition to a number of endangered plants. The community of Otay Mesa is located only a mile or so from the border and about ten miles inland from the coast, and Otay Mountain is 30-45 minutes further east within a range of ancient volcanoes called the San Ysidros, and its summit is at 3500'. The world's largest stand of Tecate cypress trees is contained within the Otay Mountain wilderness. The name Otay is derived from the Kumeyaay language and although its meaning is disputed, possible meanings include "brushy," "big mountain," or just "big." This workshop was led by botanist Scott McMillan. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species of which we saw very few.

American wild carrot
Daucus pusillus
Apiaceae

Canchalagua
Zeltnera venusta
Gentianaceae
[Named after Swiss botanists Louis and Nicole Zeltner]

Big-bract verbena
Verbena bracteata
Verbenaceae

Canyon sunflower
Venegasia carpesioides
Asteraceae
[Named after Miguel Venegas, 1680-1764]

Ashy spike-moss
Selaginella cinerascens
Selaginellaceae

Clover fern
Marsilea vestita ssp. vestita
Marsileaceae
[Named for Luigi Ferdinando, Count de Marsigli, 1658-1730]