imu California Society KERN CHAPTER MARCH 2014 CONTENTS A Botany Course - 1 Accolades - 2 Native Gardening - 3 Field Trip Listings- 4 Meeting Topics - 8 B C Garden Fest - 9 Other Events - 10 EVENTS MARCH 8 — Field Trip: CANCELLED 15 — Field Trip: CANCELLED 20 — Meeting, 7pm APRIL 5 — Field Trip: Shell Creek Rd. 12-20 — Calif. Native Plant Week 12 — Field Trip: Carrizo Plain 17 — Meeting, 7pm 19 — Field Trip: Mill Creek 26 — B C. Garden Fest 26 — Field Trip: Nature Conservancy properties MAY 3 — Field Trip: Bitter Creek NWR 4 — Field Trip: CALM 10 — Field Trip: Tejon Ranch 15 — Meeting, 7pm A Botany Course with Glenn Keator ...in the White Mountains by Nancy Nies I N JULY 2001, UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE YOSEMTTE ASSOCIA- tion, Paul and I participated in a three-day botany course in the White Mountains. There were about twenty of us in the group, and our instruc- tor was botanist Glenn Keator. On our excursions, we had breathtaking views of both the Whites them- selves and the Sierra to the west; learned about the Great Basin bristlecone pines {Finns longaeva), the oldest living trees; and identified a hundred or so species of na- tive plants, many of which were in bloom. Flowers were abun- dant that summer, and those three days provided us with an unforgettable experience. Group botanizing in the low sagebrush {Artemisia arbuscula) on an alpine fell-field, with the Sierra in the background Finns longaeva, Patriarch Grove On the afternoon of July 18, we turned east at Big Pine and drove up into the White Mountains. When we arrived at the University of California's Crooked Creek research station (el. 10,200 ft.), we moved into our room in the dorm build- ing, met the rest of the group and our instructor, and enjoyed the first of the delicious, buffet-style meals of our stay at the research station, which had its own chef on staff. Over the next two days, we hiked among the awe-inspiring bristlecone pines, which grow on permeable dolomite at between 9,800 and 11,000 feet. We learned The California Native Flant Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of California native plants and their natnral habitats, and to increasing the nnder standing, appreciation, and horticnltnral nse of native plants. All photos: Courtesy Nancy Nies 2 Mimulus Memo — March 2014 A Botany Course (Continued) that the oldest of the trees germinated roughly 5,000 years ago. We saw Finns longaeva cones at various stages: a seed cone that would take two years to ma- ture, a nearly mature seed cone, a mature seed cone, the previous year's seed cone, and a pollen cone. We also noted that the an- cient, gnarled trees have shallow, spiraling roots, and that they share their lofty domain with limber pine (Finns flexilis). My notes and pho- tos remind me of the rainbow of alpine and subalpine flowers we saw blooming at vari- ous locations between 10,000 and 12,000 feet: along Crooked Creek, on the Schulman Grove and Patriarch Grove trails, on the Barcroft plateau, and along Cottonwood Creek. Among the more abundant and eye-catching blooms were Bridge penstemon (Fenstemon rostriflorus), showy penstemon (Fenstemon speciosus), wavyleaf Indian paintbrush (Castilleja martinii var. clokeyi) coyote mint (Monardella odomtis- sima ssp. parvifolia), sulfur buckwheat (Er- iogonum umbellatum) and ruby buckwheat (Eriogonum gracilipes). Rarer sightings included pinyon beardtongue (Fen- stemon scapoides), Bruneau mariposa lily (Calochortus bruneaunis), blue flax (Linum lewisii), Arizona thistle (Cirsium arizo- nicum), Cooper goldflower Monardella odoratissima ssp. parvi- folia, coyote mint Castilleja martinii var. clokeyi, wavyleaf Indian paintbrush tropis parryi) and a rare Townsend daisy (Townsendia sp.), as well as ponds containing water starwort (Cal- litriche sp.) and fairy shrimp. On our third and last day as a group, we botanized as we wended our way back down to the Owens Val- ley through pinyon-juniper woodland and sagebrush scrub. Particularly memorable on that drive were a large clump of old man cactus in bloom (Opuntia erinacea), a healthy stand of prince's plume (Stanley a elata), a rare seep display of Mojave columbine (Aqui- legia shockleyi) at Tollhouse Springs, and last but not least, a plump green hawk-moth caterpillar munching on a leaf of jimsonweed (Datura wrightii) — presum- ably with no ill effects! ^ (Hymenoxys cooperi), desert evening primrose (Oenothera caespitosa), Idaho blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium idahoense), and purple sage (Salvia dorrii), to name a few. Stand-outs on the alpine fell-field were the rare Parry's loco weed (Oxy- “ordination of all Lucy Clark and Clyde CnM r enjoyable presen^atio^at thet' -g on the flowers of KemSiy^ tation at the FebruaE*'^ 'nteresting presen- of Vemen, Socotra and Madagascar ^®™bia on native articles contributed to pS™"®. l^as Zlimulus Memo ^<^itions of the botanical discoveries^n Y^mitZ vc»e thaishi - ^ TO ':^ S' ~s. 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