This was the second of my March visits to Whitewater Canyon and covers the area around the bridge over the Whitewater River, both east and west of the river, the entire loop trail, and the canyon area at the bottom of the loop trail where it comes down into the wash. The loop trail is one of the most magnificent trails I have been on. The Visitor Center is just to the right of the center of the above photo. 10,000 Foot Ridge is coming down from the left in the background. As I make these periodic visits to Whitewater Canyon, I will often display photos of plants in some vegetative state and then later in bloom. I am also attempting to show diagnostic features for at least some of the taxa that are included here.

Miniature lupine
Lupinus bicolor
Fabaceae

California goosefoot
Chenopodium californicum
Chenopodiaceae

Canterbury bells
Phacelia minor
Boraginaceae

Desert bitterbrush
Purshia tridentata var. glandulosa
Rosaceae
[Named for Frederick Traugott Pursh, 1774-1820]

California figwort
Scrophularia californica ssp. floribunda
Scrophulariaceae

Creosote bush
Larrea tridentata
Zygophyllaceae
[Named for Juan Antonio Hernández Perez de Larrea, 1731-1803]

Jacumba milkvetch
Astragalus douglasii var. douglasii
Fabaceae
[Named for David Douglas, 1798-1834]

Cream cups
Platystemon californicus
Papaveraceae

California poppy
Eschscholzia californica
Paperveraceae
[Named for Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz, 1793-1831]

Cupleaf ceanothus
Ceanothus greggii var. perplexans
Rhamnaceae
[Named for Josiah Gregg, 1806-1850]

Spanish needles Palafoxia arida var. arida Asteraceae [Named for José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi, 1776-1847] [with blister beetle, Lytta stygica, family Meloidae, thanks to Hartmut Wisch for ID]