This is a photo gallery displaying photos taken on two trips April 1st and 9th. There were four main reasons for these trips to Whitewater Canyon, first to assess the state of the bloom in general, second to further investigate the unidentified Astragalus seen on the February visit, third to photograph the fruits of Astragalus tricarinatus, and fourth to record species for the Preserve checklist. All four were accomplished. The general state of the bloom is very good as this photo gallery demonstrates, especially in the grassy canyons on the east side of the wash. The unidentified milkvetch is Astragalus douglasii var. douglasii, and the Astragalus tricarinatus was in full fruit, with its curious curling and three-ribbed fruits that give this species both its specific and common names. For those who didn't see the previous Whitewater Canyon gallery, Whitewater Canyon is north of Interstate 10 just where you begin to see the wind machines in San Gorgonio Pass, a couple of miles west of where the 62 goes off to Joshua Tree. 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, a tilde (~) indicates an uncertain identification, and an asterisk indicates a non-native taxon.

Woolly daisy
Eriophyllum wallacei
Asteraceae
[Named for William Allen Wallace, 1815-1893]

Purple mat
Nama demissum var. demissum
Hydrophyllaceae

Desert larkspur Delphinium parishii ssp. parishii Ranunculaceae [Named for the Parish brothers]

Sacred datura
Datura wrightii
Solanaceae
[Named for Charles Wright, 1811-1885]

Globe gilia
Gilia capitata ssp. abrotanifolia
Polemoniaceae
[Named for Filippo Luigi Gilii, 1756-1821]

Coulter's lupine
Lupinus sparsiflorus
Fabaceae