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Page Revised: 6/13/05 |
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Available Sites Circle X Ranch |
Date of Review 6/12/05 6/1/05, 5/23/05 |
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What's Blooming photo
gallery: www.nps.gov/samo/bloom/bloom.htm |
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Scenic drives: |
1. Mulholland Hwy between Malibu Canyon and Cornell
Rd. 2. Cornell Rd between Mulholland Hwy and Agoura Rd,
especially from Cornell Way to Agoura Rd. 3. Westlake Road from Potrero Rd. to Mulholland Hwy. |
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Circle X Ranch |
Sandstone Peak via the Mishe
Mokwa Trailhead |
Date: 6/12/05 |
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Our main purposes on this hike were
to visit Sandstone Peak and to check on the progress of the Rein Orchids on
the Mishe Mokwa trail. These inconspicuous slow growing plants are finally
beginning to bloom, rewarding the real die hard flower enthusiast. The variety
of flowers is down as we head into summer, although this section of trail is
never spectacular in that particular way. Many of the fifty or so species
encountered are of the "weedy" variety or on their last legs, so to
speak. However, there are still respectable displays of Bush Lupine, Yellow
Monkey Flower, Woolly Blue Curls, Black Sage, Chamise, Deerweed, Yucca,
Caterpillar Phacelia, and the Clarkias, although they are on their way out. Still going strong are California
Buckwheat, Bush Monkey Flower, Turkish Rugging, Golden Yarrow, Lance-leaf
Live-forever, Golden Stars, Yellow Mariposa Lily, Branching Phacelia,
Heart-leaved Penstemon, Flax-Flowered Linanthus, Chaparral Honeysuckle and
Pitcher Sage. Early yet in their blooming cycle are
Scarlet Larkspur, Slender Tarweed, Soap Plant, Bird's Beak, Chalk
Live-forever, Rein Orchid, and the magnificent Humboldt Lily. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Topanga State Park |
Santa Ynez Trail |
Date: 6/9/05 |
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This trail can be accessed either
from Trippet Ranch above or the end of Vereda de la Montura Street off of
Palisades Drive in Palisades Highlands.
The accounting travels from low to high. Entering the trail you are
immediately in a shady riparian habitat.
There is still a lot of water in the creek. At the start of the trail there are black
sage, bush mallow, bush lupine, white nightshade and California
buckwheat. Going deeper into the woods
was sticky monkey flower, purple nightshade, California poppy, golden yarrow,
canyon sunflower and the best treat; multitudes of Humboldt lilies dangling
from tall plants. At the marked cross trail
you can go right to the waterfall, which is a lovely hike but this day I went
left toward Trippet Ranch. Very
shortly on the left you see cream bush in full flower cascading down the rock
wall. Continuing through the woods
there are caterpillar phacelia, farewell-to-spring, Santa Monica dudleya, hedge
nettle, blackberry flower, chicory and eucrypta. Abruptly the trail turns uphill and
into chaparral. This brings an
entirely different array of beautiful flowers. There are white snapdragons by the
hundreds, chamise, Turkish rugging, yellow monkey flower, white pincushion,
deerweed and some spectacular chalk live-forever. There is a spot where low along the trail
are the beautiful canchalagua mixed with owl's clover, scarlet bugler,
slender tarweed, heart leaf penstemon and California everlasting. Suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds of
scarlet larkspur, many 10 feet tall.
There were many Plummer's mariposas. Now low along the trail are sapphire wool
stars and a bit further fleabane aster.
There were lots of different varieties of lizards and of
butterflies. Views are
incredible. It was the best hike I've
taken this year. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Excellent |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Cistern trail to Crags
road |
Date: 6/5/05 |
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On 6/5/05 we hiked down the Cistern
Trail off Mulholland Hwy. to Crags road to its end at Malibu Lake. Our objective
was to see the blooms on a California false indigo reported near the western
end of Crags Dr. in Malibu Creek State Park. We found the false indigo, but
unfortunately it had completed its blooming so we saw the foliage and dried
out blooms only. The hike though was an unqualified success though with 96
species blooming including the grasses. The quantity could be described only
as bountiful, so an excellent rating is given. Eight species could not be
immediately identified in the field, but subsequent research provided firm to
tentative names of the new sightings. The new ones for me were: flax-flowered
linanthus, Indian tobacco, western blue flax, stinky gilia, rose snapdragon and what I believe was several large
stands of horseradish. Other sightings which I have seldom seen were
California milkweed, white sage and a brilliant red purple Clarkia. Flowers in bloom in the white/cream
color group were cliff aster, chamise, California buckwheat, matilija poppy,
white snapdragon, bristly popcorn flower and yucca. There were also
California chicory, soap plant, morning glory, eucrypta, English plantain and
mugwort. Poison hemlock seems to be getting more plentiful than desired, but
we also spotted elderberry, imbricate phacelia, California filago, Datura,
narrow leaf milkweed and common yarrow. In the yellow/gold/orange group we
encountered hedge mustard, yellow star thistle, deerweed, slender tarweed,
golden yarrow, bush monkey flower, yellow monkey flower, sour clover, slender
bedstraw, sticky madia, gumplant, golden star, California coffee berry bush,
western wallflower, and black mustard. The usual prickly sow thistle and
telegraph weed were seen as well as California poppy, lance leaf dudleya,
Spanish broom, creek monkey flower, slimy monkey flower and a magnificent
Humboldt lily sporting 3 fully opened blooms and an additional 7 more waiting
their turns. Present along the way was sweet fennel, collarless Calif. poppy,
Barnaby's star thistle, pineapple weed, yellow Mariposa lily, and bush
sunflower. Present in the lavender/blue/purple
color group were Italian thistle, black sage, bush mallow, greenbark
ceanothus, Chinese houses, and purple nightshade. Others in this group were
wooly blue curls, purple sage, elegant Clarkia, caterpillar phacelia, vervain
and purple Clarkia (the lavender and purple variety). Speckled Clarkia, blue
larkspur, winter vetch, red stem filaree, and several nice stands of foothill
penstemon. Turkish rugging was plentiful, and long-beaked filaree, dove lupine,
speedwell and milk thistle were also found. Pink/rose/red were
represented by coast paint brush, heart leaf penstemon, scarlet pimpernel,
Plummer's Mariposa lily and California thistle. Equal billing must be
provided as well for the Indian pink, Calif. wild rose, chaparral
honeysuckle, and snowberry. Other sightings include giant rye,
Harding grass, coffee fern, curly dock, umbrella sedge, rabbit’s foot
grass, and rye grass. (RWM). |
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Naturalist's rating: Excellent |
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Circle X Ranch |
Canyon View Trail |
Date: 6/1/05 |
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This trail is often one of the best
for flowers in the winter and spring, but now that spring is winding down it
is only good to fair. The worst of the infestation of foxtails and star thistle
have been recently removed Highlights include Woolly Blue Curls,
Chamise, California Buckwheat, Parry's Phacelia, Large-flowered Phacelia,
Caterpillar Phacelia, Purple Nightshade, Black Sage, Golden Yarrow, Yucca,
Blue Dicks, Golden Stars, Turkish Rugging, Rock Rose, Purple Clarkia, Elegant
Clarkia, Scarlet Larkspur, Lance-leaf Live-forever, Yellow Pincushion, White
Pincushion, Wild Morning Glory, Linanthus, Laurel Sumac, Bush mallow, Yellow
Monkey Flower, Creek Monkey Flower, Bush monkey Flower, Slender Tarweed,
Mustard Evening Primrose, Annual Paintbrush, Rose Snapdragon, Cliff Aster,
California Chicory, Dodder, Heart-leaved Penstemon, and Windmill Pink. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Fair |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Misc. West end Trails |
Date: 5/31/05 |
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We started at the parking lot in the
South-East corner of the intersection of Mulholland and Cornell Road and
hiked East toward Reagan Ranch. We hiked sections of most of the trails South
of Mulholland and West of Century Lake but not the Lost Cabin trail. This
includes a wild variety of habitats ranging from Oak Woodland to Valley
Grassland to Coastal Sage and Chaparral. Flower density is not as great now
that spring is winding down but we still saw several interesting flowers. Highlights include California Tea,
Spanish Clover, Speckled Clarkia, Elegant Clarkia, Purple Clarkia, Gum Plant,
Gumweed, Coffeeberry, Bush Monkey Flower, Downy Monkey Flower, Yellow Monkey
Flower, Golden Stars, Yarrow, Golden Yarrow, California Dandelion, Purple Sage,
White Sage, Crimson Pitcher Sage, Yucca, Yellow Mariposa Lily, Linanthus,
California Wild Rose, Globe Gilia, Slender Tarweed, Soap Plant, several
different Lupines, Wild Brodiaea, Woolly Blue Curls, Bush Mallow, White
Snapdragon, Indian Pink, Sticky False-gilia, California Poppy, Collarless
California Poppy, Matilija Poppy (and several unknown poppies, probably
garden escapees), Indian Paintbrush, Indian Milkweed, California Milkweed,
Narrow-leaved Milkweed, Foothill Penstemon, Wild Heliotrope, Snowberry,
Hedypnois, Parry's Phacelia, Mountain Phacelia (and other phacelias),
Chaparral Honeysuckle, Garden Toadflax, Lance-leaf Live-forever, Bird's Beak,
Blue-eyed Grass, Chinese Houses, Common Vervain, Chamise, Cliff Aster, Common
Madia, Blue Larkspur, Wild Morning Glory, Woolly Morning Glory, Purple
Nightshade, several different Sunflowers, Yellow Pincushion, White
Pincushion, False Indigo, Turkish Rugging, Wild Sweet Pea, and Scarlet
Bugler. (TV). |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Serrano Canyon Trail |
Date: 5/30/05 |
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We started at the coast and walked up
Big Sycamore Canyon trail to Serrano Canyon trail and then to the gate on
Serrano Road, about 6 miles. Flowers are on the wane now that Spring is
winding down but several interesting flowers were still seen. The trail along
the creek under the cover of the oaks and sycamores is beautiful at any time
of the year but watch for the difficult to avoid poison oak. Highlights include Wild Rose, Yellow
Monkey Flower, Creek Monkey Flower, Black Sage, Canyon Sunflower, Common
Vervain, Bush mallow, Wild Morning Glory, Purple Sage, Coast Figwort,
Hedypnois, Elderberry, Yucca, Cliff Aster, Heart-leaved Penstemon, Datura,
Indian Paintbrush, Speedwell, Hedge Nettle, Bush Lupine, Farewell-to-Spring,
Golden Yarrow, Chinese Houses, White Nightshade, Purple Nightshade, Blue
Dicks, Slender Tarweed, Purple Snapdragon, Indian Pink, Chamise, Humboldt Lily,
Crimson Pitcher Sage, Blue-eyed Grass, Woolly Blue Curls, Toyon, Turkish
Rugging, Parry's Phacelia, Bird's Beak, Golden Stars, Spanish Clover, Prickly
Phlox, Long-beaked Filaree, Wishbone Bush, Woolly Aster, Fleabane Aster, and
Bush Sunflower. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Topanga State Park |
Musch Trail |
Date: 5/28/05 |
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The hike from Topanga State Park (off
Entrada) to Eagle Rock via Musch Trail is spectacular right now. I have been
going there since I was young and right now it’s a real treat. This is a great hike when it’s socked
in at the beach and you want a little sun. If you want a really nice hike, I
would suggest going both ways on Musch trail and skip the fire road loop,
going back down the way you came gives a completely different
perspective. It’s about 1.5 hour
hike up to Eagle rock and a little less on the way back. I’d say
it’s easy to moderate on the way up.
The views from the top of Eagle Rock are also spectacular. I’m
not great at identifying flowers, but there’s the usual buckwheat,
monkey flowers, yucca, and golden yarrow.
(MF) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very
Good |
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Point Mugu State Park / Rancho Sierra Vista |
Satwiwa to the upper
Sycamore Canyon waterfalls |
Date: 5/26/05 |
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This 3-mile round trip starts out in
rolling meadows of non-native "grasses-gone-by" with a few
wildflower patches (tarweed, CA poppies). Once you head into the upper
canyon, however, the hillside is covered in color: caterpillar phacelia,
deerweed, ashy-leaf and California buckwheat, black sage, bush mallow, yucca,
silver puffs, chamise, laurel sumac, chicory, and toyon. Particularly
brilliant were patches of heartleaf penstemon (red), speckled clarkia (pink),
bush monkey flower (peach), and soap lilies (white star-flowers that open in
late afternoon). At the bottom of the shady canyon,
some silver lupine was still in bloom along with a few giant Humboldt lilies.
Crossing the creek and heading to the waterfall, the riparian area had some
good-sized canyon sunflower bushes and scattered coast figwort, hedge nettle,
blackberry, and a lone chaparral pea (the uncommon one). At the base of the
waterfall, the rare round-leaved boykinia was flowering below a big patch of
giant chain-fern. With the creek and falls still
running well, this walk (and its extension downstream) should be nice for
another month. Upper Sycamore Canyon is also known for its abundance of
nesting birds, especially flycatchers, and many are heard singing through
summer. (JG) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Point Mugu State Park |
Big Sycamore Canyon Trail (lower) |
Date: 5/26/05 |
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From Sycamore Cove, the first two
miles of this road/trail are relatively flat, offering a
easy stroll along the flowing creek. As this abundant wildflower year tapers
off, less variety is seen but often in great profusion. Among the 20 or so
species were robust clumps of purple sage, pink bush mallow, canyon
sunflower, giant poison hemlock, golden yarrow, elderberry, blue verbena,
white morning glory and jimson weed. Especially spectacular was a
chaparral-covered hillside dotted with hundreds of huge yucca blooms and wide
swaths of orange monkey flower. In the Santa Monicas,
it's been an outstanding year for both and just keeps getting better. The
hills directly adjacent to the ocean—the coastal sage scrub, or soft
chaparral—appear to have the highest densities of yucca, our largest
member of the lily family (not a cactus). Take care at the stone-step creek
crossings and watch for whizzing mountain-bikers. (JG) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Topanga State Park |
Temescal Ridge Trail |
Date: 5/25/05 |
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We started hiking
at the trailhead off of Chastain Parkway and went North to the Trailer Canyon
Fire Road, less than a mile of the trail. We went up there mostly to look at
the Braunton's Rattle-weed, a rather rare flower currently in bloom. This
section of the trail is mostly dry sage and chaparral and while the variety
of flowers was not great it is quite densely flowered in places. Notable, in
addition to the above mentioned rattle-weed, include Bush Monkey Flower,
Golden Yarrow, Wild Morning Glory, California Buckwheat, Gumweed,
Heart-leaved Penstemon, White Nightshade, Toyon, Bush Lupine, Bush Senecio,
Cobweb Thistle, and Cliff Aster. (TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Tapia Spur Trail |
Date: 5/23/05 |
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Wildflowers are excellent along the
Tapia spur trail which connects Malibu Creek State Park to Tapia Park. If you
are in the mood for a picnic and beautiful flowers, drive into the picnic
area at Tapia Park. The slopes there are covered with flowers. We parked near
the Salvation Army gate and started hiking the one mile trail. The slopes are
covered with golden yarrow, chamise, purple and black sages. We only covered
about half the trail and saw 50 species. Highlights were the masses of
canchalagua (rose colored stars with creamy centers) at the beginning of the
trail and all of the clarkias – purple, speckled and elegant scattered
all over. Along the way were willow herb clarkia, popcorn flowers and
caterpillar phacelia. The unusual (and hard to see) buckwheat, eriogonum citheraforme with its looping stems is in bloom on the
steep rocky slope that is also covered with spent seed pods of chia, yellow
pincushion, coulter’s lupine and yucca. This trail is well worth going
to. It has great variety of very interesting flowers, intensity of color and
almost complete flower coverage. (SB) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very
Good to Excellent |
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Circle X Ranch |
Backbone Trail near
Sandstone Peak |
Date: 5/23/05 |
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This is my report of the blooms which
we encountered on the hike on the Backbone Trail between the Sandstone Peak
trailhead and the vicinity of Tri-peaks on 5/23/05. I recorded 88 species
identified excluding the grasses and would rate the hike as very good.
Highlights to me include the 9 species seen or identified for the first time.
These include Calif filago, small-flowered flax, fire poppy, wild brodiaea,
phlox-leaved bedstraw, rattlesnake weed, yellow-throated phacelia and the
subsequently identified downy monkey flower. Though our main objective on the
hike was to see the rein orchids in bloom, we were still too early, but did
spot over a dozen readying themselves to bloom in the next few weeks. Other blooms seen in their color
categories, starting with white and cream were Calif buckwheat, chamise,
popcorn flower, prickly popcorn flower, yucca, white pincushion, morning glory,
Calif chicory, Calif everlasting, cliff aster, Catalina Mariposa lily, big
pod ceanothus, eucrypta, willow-herb Clarkia, star lily, white pitcher sage,
elderberry, hollyleaf cherry, bur chervil, white nightshade, red skin onion,
and large flowered popcorn flower. Other yellow/golden flowers seen were
hedge mustard, deerweed, yellow star thistle, golden yarrow, slender tarweed,
sticky madia, sow thistle, yellow monkey flower, yellow Mariposa lily, golden
star, mustard evening primrose, slender bedstraw, bush monkey flower, small
evening primrose, strigose lotus, fiddleneck, silver puff, rock rose, Chile
lotus, annual cats ear, common groundsel, yellow pincushion, coastal lotus,
coast goldfield, Southern tauschia, and slimy monkey flower. Violet/blues included redstem
filaree, black sage, purple Clarkia, blue dick, large flowered phacelia,
caterpillar phacelia, fern leaf phacelia, Bajada lupine, purple nightshade,
wooly blue curls, globe gilia, speckled Clarkia, sticky phacelia, Chinese houses,
branching phacelia, prickly phlox, peninsular onion, hairy leaf ceanothus,
blue larkspur, tomcat clover, yerba santa, and angels gilia. Red/pink colors were represented by
Turkish rugging, owl's clover, scarlet pimpernel and windmill pink. Others
seen were giant rye, curly dock, lance leaf live forever, slender cotton weed, and several tiny unidentified yellow flowers
apparently of the evening primrose and lotus families. Many Calif whiptail
lizards were encountered and one bobcat was seen when driving to the
trailhead. (RWM) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very
Good |
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Will Rogers State
Historic Park |
Betty Rogers Trail /
Backbone Trail |
Date: 5/20/05 |
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Park immediately
beyond the first kiosk. The trail heads
up from this little overflow parking area.
You soon have a choice of taking the road or the Betty Rogers Trail,
they go the same place but on the trail you have a possibility of shade. On this trail there is lupine, morning
glory, bush sunflower, wishbone flower, caterpiller
and large flower phacelia, deerweed, sticky monkey flower, popcorn flower and
purple nightshade. The hillside is
dotted with chaparral yucca. There is California and ashy leaf buckwheat,
black sage, cliff aster, golden yarrow, greenbark ceanothus and bush
mallow. At a point the trail rejoins
the fire road. On this stretch there
is a lovely non-native pink rock rose and an impressive patch of Plumbers
mariposa lily. The Betty Roger Trail
separates again where there is California everlasting, lots of Indian pinks,
canyon sunflower, blue dicks and chamise.
Where the trail rejoins the fire road is the very start of the
Backbone Trail. Heading up there is Turkish rugging, stick leaf, eucrypta,
mustard evening primrose, large flower lotus, white pincushion slender
tarweed, bush poppy, yellow monkey flower and heart leaf penstemon. About half a mile up the trail is a bridge
between two canyons where you have a great 360 degree view. The trail continues into Topanga State Park
but we returned at this point. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Topanga State Park |
Temescal Ridge Trail / |
Date: 5/15/05 |
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The Temescal Ridge trail is kind of a
hot and dry hike but the reward is seeing Braunton's milk vetch, a lovely
plant that is quite uncommon. The
other blooming plants are California buckwheat, golden yarrow, deerweed,
yucca, sticky monkey flower, caterpillar phacelia, eucrypta, canyon sunflower,
purple nightshade and elder flower.
There were lots of butterflies including brilliant sulfers. We saw one rattlesnake. Starting in the Dead Horse parking
lot off of Entrada Rd. This is a
fairly short but interesting trail that alternates between chaparral and
woodland. At the start there is a lot
of yellow: Golden stars, golden yarrow and chaparral yucca. There are a few remaining butterfly
mariposa lilies and blue dicks. There
is California buckwheat, elegant clarkia, vervain, globe gilia, and
caterpillar phacelia. Heart leaf
penstemon is making its first appearance.
There is a gorgeous stand of hummingbird sage that is still blooming. Soon you come to a bridge that is high
above a flowing creek, a nice place to stop and rest. Continuing on there is morning glory,
California chicory, a little greenbark ceanothus, purple nightshade, woolly
blue curls, popcorn flower, black sage, sticky monkey flower chamise,
deerweed, canyon sunflower and fiesta flower.
I saw my first slender tarweed of the season. As you walk along a meadow watch for deer
and bobcats. There is spring vetch,
blue eyed grass, elder flower and California everlasting. The trail ends by the pond at Trippet
Ranch, a good place to launch onto further hikes or return as you came. I always see more things on the return
trip. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Malibu Creek State Park |
Backbone Trail from
Tapia to Saddle Peak |
Date: 5/14/05 |
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This hike was the
seventh of the 2004-2005 NPS Backbone Trail Series. We will be hiking the
entire Backbone Trail, one part each month and reporting on the flowers seen.
This hike was from the top of Stunt Road to Malibu Canyon Road: a distance of 7.5 miles. The weather was
sunny and quite warm. Our route took us up and over Saddle Peak, descending
the Saddle Peak Trail through Dark Canyon and climbing the Piuma Ridge Trail
to descent to Piuma Road, and following the road to the Backbone Trailhead
parking on Malibu Canyon Road. This hike includes the Coastal Sage Scrub,
Southern Oak Woodland, Chaparral, Riparian Woodland, and Valley Grassland
plant communities. Expectations of a large variety of blooming species were
met with over 140 species being noted. As usual this year there always seems
to be a couple plants that we could not immediately identify. In addition to the
usual flowers, we were seeing Chaparral Pea and the Large-Flowered Lotus on
the early parts of the trail. Saddle Peak is overwhelmed with Spanish Broome.
Descending through spectacular rock outcrops we saw an abundance of Silver
Lotus and passed a stand of blooming Cream Bush. There was a blooming
Whitethorn among two species of Manzanita, which are sporting berries. In old
burn areas Tree Poppies remain where they had dominated, giving way to the
more typical Chaparral. The attractive California Thistle, Bull Thistle, and
Elegant Clarkia are showing up in numbers. Hillsides of Purple Sage mixed
with Golden Yarrow provided spectacular displays. We also saw both Slender
Tarweed and Sticky Madia (they sometimes have conflicting descriptions in
reference books). Climbing out of Dark Canyon always seems to provide special
displays; this time it was Wallflowers, Baby Blue Eyes, White Snapdragon and
even the rare Small-flowered Meconella and a lone Rein Orchid. The Piuma
Ridge Trail has a lot of Blue Larkspur, Purple Clarkia, and Hedge Nettle.
Globe Lilies are also here along with a variety of ferns under a thick canopy
of Oaks and Bay Trees. As the trail approached Piuma Road a second time there
was Notable Penstemon mixed in with the usual weedy species and garden
escapees. As we hiked through an area of an old cabin ruins we ended with the
invasive Periwinkle. Others worth
mentioning include Violet Snapdragon, Crimson Pitcher Sage, Toadflax, several
different Lupines, several different Monkey Flowers, several different lilies
including Star, Yellow, Lilac, and Catalina Mariposa Lilies, Bush Mallow,
Purple Owls Clover, Woodland Star, Sticky Cinquefoil, Chamise, Chinese
Houses, Flowering Flax, and Western Virgin Bower. (BE & TV) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very
Good |
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Zuma Canyon |
Backbone Trail |
Date: 5/12/05 |
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On 5/12/05 we hiked along the
Backbone Trail from the Newton Trailhead to the Upper Zuma Falls and
returned. A rating of very good is given for the variety (95) and quantity of
flowering species observed. Starting at the trailhead we immediately
encountered elderberry, hedge mustard, red stem filaree, bur clover, sour
clover and sow thistle, the usual suspects. Spanish broom provided lots of
color as did greenbark ceanothus, black sage, toyon, bush monkey flower and
Italian thistle. Bur chervil, slender bedstraw, chamise and windmill pinks
were abundantly present as were speckled Clarkia, miner's lettuce, deerweed,
Calif. buckwheat and minute flowered popcorn flower. The small of tomcat
clover to the tall of Chaparral yucca were present. Sticky Madia, Calif.
everlasting, lacepod, common bedstraw and eucrypta
were next encountered along the trail. Numerous fiesta flowers and rigid
hedge nettles provided more color along the way. Canyon sunflower, Calif.
figwort, two-toned everlasting, Calif. chicory, pineapple weed, silver puff,
London rocket, scarlet pimpernel and purple night shade were next observed.
Curly dock, blue dick were accompanied by elegant Clarkia, Parry's phacelia,
chia, bigpod ceanothus and several small stands of large flowered popcorn
flower. The aptly named caterpillar phacelia as well as wishbone bush,
mountain dandelion, fern leaf phacelia, horehound and several stands of
Chinese houses, one group containing several plants with pure white flowers
were seen. The bush lupines were in bloom and several groups of large
flowered phacelia were spotted. Sugar bush, scarlet pitcher sage, checker
bloom, blue larkspur, snow berry and holly leaf red berry were also
exhibiting blossoms. It was especially exciting to find
numerous large patches of globe lily all along the trail. In the past we had
only spotted an occasional plant. We saw wild blackberry, golden yarrow,
purple Clarkia, bull thistle, blue-eyed grass, snake root, horkelia, morning glory, yellow monkey flower, small
evening primrose and Turkish rugging. A fair quantity of wooly
blue curls were in bloom as were the star lily. A few prickly phlox,
globe gilia, hillside penstemon and Catalina Mariposa lily were also in
bloom. A special treat to me was the discovery of a small bush of speedwell
in bloom, the first time I have seen it in the SM mountains. Slimy monkey
flower put in its appearance as well as golden star, Indian pink, creek
monkey flower, white pincushion, cliff aster and sticky phacelia. One nice
stand of owl's clover was passed, Spanish clover was present and vervain made
its appearance. The hike was concluded with the observation of tree tobacco
and slender sunflower. Grasses identified along the way included golden top
and soft brome. (RWM) |
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Naturalist's rating: Very
Good |
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Topanga State Park |
Nature Trail |
Date: 5/11/05 |
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The trail leaves the picnic area by
the pond. Immediately there are lots
of fiesta flowers and miners lettuce along with quite a bit of poison oak. Passing the nature center, the woods have a
bit of purple nightshade but not much else.
But when you enter the chaparral portion there are morning glories,
sticky monkey flower, bush lupine, deer weed, black sage, bush sunflower,
California buckwheat and caterpillar phacelia which is now completely
unrolled. There is vervain, California everlasting, chamise, white nightshade
and golden yarrow. Returning down the
fire road there is a veritable wall of elegant clarkia growing on the road
cut. Returning to the nature center
there are still golden stars and blue-eyed grass. I saw an entire blooming meadow and stepped
off the trail to investigate. Endless
Chinese houses, really spectacular. I also went a little way up the Musch
Trail. Not really enough to make a
report but I went to the place where the geophytes always grow. There is an amazing amount of purple owl's
clover and the farewell-to-spring has started. (DS) |
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Naturalist's rating: Good |
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Santa
Monica Mountains National Recreation Area 401 West Hillcrest
Drive Ph.
805-370-2301 web. www.nps.gov/samo |
Thank
you for your
contributions: Burt
Elliot |
If you
would like to contribute to the wildflower report: e-mail: or phone Tony
at 310-457-6408 |
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