For years I have gone up to the area indicated on maps as South Fork Meadows, which seemed to be the place where the South Fork trail met a junction with the Dry Lake and Dollar Lake trails, and wondered why it was called a meadow. Although there were moisture-loving species in abundance there, it did not strike me as any kind of meadow. I have recently learned that the actual 'meadows' begin about 1/4 mile north of that location and are comprised of a series of open grassy areas extending about a mile downriver, loosely following and being watered by what is referred to as the flume or Jenk's Ditch, which flows all the way from the headwaters of the Santa Ana River to Jenks Lake. All of the species displayed here are still in bloom there in September, with the exception of the spreading sandwort, the pictures of which were taken on the same day along the south cabin tract road near where the Santa Ana River crosses under CA-38, and the baneberry which blooms earlier in the season. An upside-down V next to the common name indicates a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip.

Arrowleaf butterweed
Senecio triangularis
Asteraceae

Ranger's buttons
Sphenosciadium capitellatum
Apiaceae

Grass-of-parnassus ^
Parnassia californica
Saxifragaceae

Western mountain aster
Aster occidentalis var. occidentalis
Asteraceae

Blue-eyed grass
Sisyrinchium bellum
Iridaceae

Yarrow
Achillea millefolium
Asteraceae

Alpine shooting star
Dodecatheon alpinum
Primulaceae

Meadow starwort
Stellaria longipes var. longipes
Caryophyllaceae

Red baneberry
Actaea rubra
Ranunculaceae

Dwarf checkerbloom
Sidalcea malviflora ssp. dolosa
Malvaceae