Roadside in one of the valleys just outside Anza-Borrego. This sp. is not listed on Calflora as documented in San Diego County, nor in the Jepson Manual bioregion maps for this area. But thanks to wanderingnome & kueda, I've got a couple more votes towards G. latiflora, & I don't see anything else it can be. Flowers look right for G. angelensis (Chapparal Gilia), but leaves are wrong.
This one still has leaves -- maybe because it's a relatively wet location on the fringes of the oasis here? Didn't get a good closeup, but more detail visible in the large size.
Only specimen found. Geotag approx -- somewhere along the riparian corridor (below the oasis and above the bajada), probably on the lower end.
Rafinesquia neomexicana. Jepson Manual notes that it often grows supported by branches of a shrub like this -- seems like a lifestyle sort of halfway between a freestanding plant & a vine. Not the best shot, but it does show that habit, and also the pale purple streaking sometimes present on the outside.
Probably ssp. peirsonii or a peirsonii - aurantiaca intergrade. Leaf looks like peirsonii, but peirsonii flowers are more often yellow.
A delicate beauty, and one of a kind (the only specimen found). Geotag approx -- somewhere along the riparian corridor (below the oasis and above the bajada).
Note how these are the same color as the Engelmann's Hedgehog cactus that grows in the same area, even though they are not closely related. They have evolved the same colors because they are trying to attract the same pollinators.
Geotag is ballpark -- lower bajada area.
Geotag approx -- upper bajada.
Not as interesting as my other shot of these, but a better closeup for the Field Guide group. They were huge (3.5"/8 cm), & present in huge numbers. The nocturnal adults pollinate Dune Evening-Primrose (which grows in the same area); the caterpillars seem happy to devour desert sand-verbena (and anything else not moving).
Only one found. Cool leaves.
Roadside on our way home (outside the park, higher elev -- only place we saw this species in bloom). Geotag is best guess.
Mis-ID'ed this originally as Arizona Lupine (L arizonicus) -- looks to be Stinging Lupine, a larger, hairier species found in the mountains. Arizona was on my list of common Anza-Borrego species, but A-B is low desert -- I think we are just over the border here into a higher, wetter bioregion. Also, I just found a shot showing the leaves (finally managed to read most of the files off the CD, which was damaged), which turn out to be very hairy.
Common at Culp Valley, which is at higher altitude. Down on the desert floor, it was replaced by brittlebush, another yellow shrub -- or at least, it was no longer in bloom (can't claim I would have noticed it if it wasn't in bloom!).
Common species, somewhat variable. Geotag approx -- somewhere along the riparian corridor (below the oasis and above the bajada).
A little later than this shot, pre-sunrise at Anza-Borrego. After I put my shoes on. :-)
Valley Lupine (big) & Minature Lupine (small). Common roadside and mixed with other species on hillsides in this banner year.
Closeup here. Found this guy on the Culp Valley Lookout trail, a short hike to a scenic overlook of the Anza-Borrego plain.
Also present: Desert Sand-Verbena, Dune Evening-Primrose, & Brown-Eyed Evening-Primrose.
Very common. Geotag approx -- somewhere along the riparian corridor (below the oasis and above the bajada).
Abundant. One of two common species of Desert Dandelion -- this one is adapted to the true desert, whereas M. cal*ifornica is typically a desert margin species.
