My wife being out of town, three dogs needing to be tended to, and renovation work being done at my house, I felt somewhat limited in terms of getting away for all-day excursions, so I put the dogs in doggie day camp and made several short trips to a place I hadn't visited in quite a few years to check out the flora there. Vasquez Rocks County Park is one of Southern California's most famous geological formations, and has been designated as a natural area. The scenic surroundings have been much utilized by Hollywood for television and the movies. A handout I obtained from the park office states that "Vasquez Rocks may be the only park in the United States named after a notorious bandit who was hanged for his crimes." The bandit was Tiburcio Vasquez and he was reputed to be somewhat of a Mexican Robin Hood. The County Park is located a few miles from the Antelope Freeway (CA-14) near Agua Dulce north of Los Angeles between the Antelope Valley and the Santa Clarita Valley. The park is not large but the relatively easy terrain allows access to almost all 900 acres of it. This gallery is intended to supplement in pictures the plant checklist for this area created by Mickey Long which is available at the park office.

This is my 100th photo gallery of Southern California plant locations. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native taxon, and a tilde (~) indicates an identification about which there is some uncertainty.

California juniper
Juniperus californica
Cupressaceae

Dense mistletoe
Phoradendron densum
Viscaceae

Common eucrypta
Eucrypta chrysanthemifolia var. chrysanthemifolia
Boraginaceae

California lotus
Lotus wrangelianus
Fabaceae
[Named for Ferdinand Friedrich Georg Ludwig von Wrangell, 1796-1870]

Common phacelia
Phacelia distans
Boraginaceae

Oriental mustard *
Sisymbrium orientale
Brassicaceae

Red-skinned onion
Allium haematochiton
Alliaceae