Placerita Canyon Natural Area is a lovely woodsy habitat a short way off the 14 freeway in the western portion of the San Gabriel Mountains. It is in a transition zone between the San Gabriel Mountains and the Mojave Desert. This east-west trending canyon contains a number of trails including the main Canyon Trail which extends two miles from the Nature Center to the picnic area at Walker Ranch and beyond to a small waterfall. There are also a couple of trails that lead up the ridges to the south of the main canyon. The Canyon Trail is mostly level, much of it shaded, and it follows seasonal Placerita Creek along its oak, willow and sycamore-lined course. The property was the site of the first documented discovery of gold in California and was sold by the Walker family to the State in 1950. The Nature Center is open Tue-Sun 9-5 but the park itself is open every day from sunrise to sunset. Unlike my other photo galleries, this one includes pictures taken throughout the year, and in previous years. My visits to Placerita Canyon were on 2/15/03, 6/6/05, 4/8/06, 4/12/14, 3/9/15, 3/11/15, 3/14/15, 3/21/15, 3/28/15 and 4/9/15. I have relied on my own plant list, the Flora of Placerita Canyon Natural Area compiled primarily by Ian Swift, Mickey Long and Daryl Koutnik, 10 July 2001, and the list of species vouchered from there on the website of the Consortium of California Herbaria. The list compiled by Long and Koutnik states: "This list includes all vascular plant species documented in the park." Some species are only identified to species level. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native taxon.

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