Eastern Mojave Vegetation
Tom Schweich
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Eastern Mojave Vegetation
| Field Notes (Continued) |
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Tom Schweich |
Topics in this Article: 1800s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990 1991 1992 1993 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2008 Tour de Swertia albomarginata Mono Lake, August 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Contents Literature Cited |
When I first read the field notes of Annie Alexander and Louise Kellogg, I was fascinated by the descriptions they wrote about the places they went and the plants and animals they found there. By publishing my field notes on the Internet I hope to follow a little bit in their tradition. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2010
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| Thursday, April 21, 2010
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Tehachapi.
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Turn off from National Trails Highway "Old US Highway 66" to an unknown road.
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The route through these little hills, as described in Reynolds & Miller (2010) is from north to south. I did it from south to north, so I went down this little canyon, If you're following the field trip guide, you'll come up the little canyon.
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Mojave River.
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Road along UP tracks gives access to Stop P-3.
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If you're following the route in reverse order, i.e., from south to north, it can be hard to find the route down off the bluff. There are three routes north. The westernmost dead ends at a fine viewpoint. The easternmost goes into the housing development. Take the middle route shown here.
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Mojave River.
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| Friday, April 22, 2010
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Zzyzx.
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 Presentation by Steve Rowland of UNLV
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| Saturday, April 23, 2010
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Buwalda Ridge.
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Mentzelia obscura H. J. Thomps. & J. E. Roberts. Pacific Blazingstar.
| Dunn, San Bernardino County, California. On the edge of a quarry, off powerline road, at the end of Arrowhead Trail, 1.7 miles by road from Afton Road exit (Exit 221) of US Interstate 15, 1.2 miles by air northeast of Dunn, California. 35.0628°N, 116.4336°W. WGS 1984. Elev. 526 m. Flowers seem small. Very similar to M. albicaulis except for seeds, which are rounded and rounded-papillate. Characters observed: Flower bract entire, light-colored, texture puberulent with long hairs; Petals 5 (not 8), < 8 mm (measured 5-6 mm); Fruit 15 mm long by 2 mm dia.; Seeds in multiple rows above the ovary; Seed angles rounded, surface rounded-papillate.
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New Dunn.
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Harvard Hill.
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| Sunday, April 24, 2010
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The Emerald bed of the Barstow Formation. The mineral making the green color is Celadonite, a greenish mineral of hydrated iron, magnesium, potassium silicate containing small amounts of aluminum, calcium, sodium, and numerous trace elements.
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Owl Canyon Campground.
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| Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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Looking west on the road to Winkler's Cabin.
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Looking east on the road to Winkler's Cabin.
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Lunch stop at Lobo Point, where the Merritt College Desert Studies class used to camp. Note the new No Camping sign.
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View of Lobo Point in 2010.
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 Caterpiller munches on Mirabilis multiflora
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Caterpiller munches on Mirabilis multiflora
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Locations:
Lee Vining.
Sagehen Meadow.
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| 10 June 2010We drove to Sagehen Meadow Thursday, June 10th. My truck was packed to the roof, but Cheryl’s car still had some room for more stuff.Stopped in Lee Vining to claim our Post Office Box, it’s PO Box 428, as there is no mail delivery out here. Then on to the Whoa Nelli Deli (Mobil Gas Station) for an early dinner. And then … out the 23 miles from Lee Vining to Sagehen Meadow. Thursday night, we pretty much just emptied the cars, and then collapsed. Both of feel the altitude a little, getting short of breath while carrying stuff up the stairs. The only unpacking we did was the refrigerator food, and then went to bed. I set one of the Havahart traps in the downstairs bedroom, baiting it with peanut butter. These traps don’t kill the animal. Before I went to sleep I heard the trap close. I caught a little mouse. I tried to go back to sleep, but the little mouse started making a racket in the trap, so I staggered out of bed, opened the front door, and shooed the mouse out of the trap.
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| Friday June 11thFriday morning, the low temperature was 31, with light snow showers. We got busy and were putting things away, cleaning up, etc.. We set the heating to 63, and it slowly warmed the house up to 63 from maybe 53. I started working on the picture window blinds, because they were sticking, and would not close all the way. As soon as I touched them, they fell down around my head. Inspection revealed they were installed with the wrong size brackets, and that most of the screws were loose. In the original packaging for the blinds I found the right size brackets, and then found some bigger screws in the garage. I got the trackway installed, and was just starting to install the slats when …The electricity went out. Here, no electricity means no water, in addition to no refrigerator, no lights, etc. Actually the downstairs bathroom gets a little water by gravity feed. So we at least had a toilet that would flush, and a little trickle of water from the bathroom faucet. I read the electrical system manuals. Then went out to the battery house where the inverter is, but couldn’t get the electricity back up. The inverter was on but not sending AC power to the house. We placed a couple of calls, including one to the electrician, but no one responded. For telephone access we have to drive out 2 miles to California Highway 120 at Sagehen Summit. There we can get 2 to 4 bars, and pretty good voice quality. I’m thinking the service must come from a tower near June Lake, as we can see the hills around June Lake, though not the hills around Lee Vining. We spent last night in the house, with no electricity. We built a fire in the fireplace which kept the house a toasty 56 degrees. Then I heated some chili beans over the propane tailgate barbeque we brought, and we had Frito pie (Fritos, Chili Beans, and Cheese) for dinner. As it was cold and dark, we went to bed. Set two traps this night, one downstairs and one upstairs in the kitchen. I think I fell asleep around 900, and when I woke up at 1000, there was a mouse in the trap. It, too, was making quite a racket, so I put it out in the hallway to wait for morning. Cheryl heard the trap in the kitchen shut about 1100. In the morning we said, “Good Morning,” to the mice, and I took then out into the sagebrush to let them go.
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| Saturday, June 12, 2010
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Locations:
Mammoth Lakes.
Sagehen Meadow.
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Drove out to the highway to check for messages, hearing none, I returned to the house for breakfast. For coffee, we heated water on the propane stove in the truck.
| A good hot shower is beginning to sound really good about this time. Also our gel ice packs in the refrigerator are beginning to soften, so before long the food will start to spoil. So we’re thinking maybe take the really perishable food in the cooler, get ice, try some phone calls, and maybe crash in a motel for a shower and some Internet. While arriving in Mammoth Lakes we finally heard from the electrician. He told me about a secret circuit breaker *inside* the inverter panel. He said it was a white button. So we turned around and went back to the house. While taking the panel off the inverter, I noticed a white button on *top* of the inverter. So I pushed it, and then restarted the inverter and it worked! The electricity came back on! Flowing water, flushing toilets, all the conveniences of modern living.
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I started a fire at about 500PM, when the house was 61 inside, and now, about an hour later the house temperature is up to 64, so the fireplace is pretty effective. I’m just going to have to get busy and start splitting wood, as we are burning through the available wood pretty fast.
| So we are staying at the house tonight. The Internet is working. Tomorrow the electrician may still come out, as I have a few remaining questions. One thing we’ve learned is to check everything, and not assume that anything is working. For example, we’ve been getting water from the tank, and assuming that the solar panel operated pump down in the meadow is working. But maybe not, so I got up on the tank this afternoon and checked the tank to make sure it was full. It was!
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| Sunday, June 13, 2010
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Locations:
Sagehen Meadow.
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Our focus for Sunday was to finish moving in. Cheryl has been cleaning the kitchen. Even though the family was here and cleaned a lot, there was more to do. I took it upon myself to clean out the firewood storage niche next to the fireplace and then refill it with clean split wood from the garage. In the process I cleaned the garage a little also.
In between, I putzed with Skype. I can place calls, and I can hear the person whom I called with great clarity. They on the other hand could only make out about 1/5 of my words. Not near good enough to rely on for day-to-day communications. As a kind of compromise, someone could call our Skype number and leave a voice mail message. I will get notified that there is a message, and can retrieve the message. Then, I suppose, if it’s urgent I can drive the 2½ miles down to Sagehen Summit, and place a cellular call from there. As my sister says, life was a lot simpler in the sod house and covered wagon days. If speed is not of the essence, then E-mail or Facebook is probably the best way to communicate for now because we can check our computers frequently.
| The snow flurries have stopped and today is in the 70’s and sunny. The electricity has been reliable but, then again, we haven’t been running the heat pump. The electrician did not come today, which was OK because we don’t have any burning issues. I continue to read the manuals for the equipment. I found no manual for two pieces of equipment, so I downloaded them from the Internet. There are a few issues that need to be resolved. For example, the battery meter has not worked since the electricity went out, and I can’t get it restarted. The next step will be to go out to the battery house and check the fuses on the battery meter circuitry. And the pump controller down in the meadow shows a Fault condition, although it’s pumping water because the tank stays full. Because it’s been sunny the solar collector for hot water has been working. This afternoon we took real showers in 80 degree water. 90 would have been better. Tomorrow will be sunny also, and maybe tomorrow we’ll have hot water. We’ve been a little bit inventive, by heating water in the tea kettle to make a pail of hot water for hair washing, and then mostly rinsing in the tepid water from the hot water tank. This afternoon, we walked the perimeter of the property. Since the property is 40 acres square, it’s ¼ mile south from the house to the corner with the well and pump, ¼ mile to the east , ¼ mile north, and finally ¼ mile west back to the house. Found a little water in the swale. Saw a few things in bloom; enough to get me thinking it’s time to start collecting. I’ll only mention three. There is a little Phacelia, probably Phacelia bicolor, that is blooming in the warmer environment against the house. There is an Arabis growing in the heavy gravel of the road. It’s very distinctive because the flower stem bends way down when the fruit begins to develop. The term for that would be “reflexed.” I’m thinking it’s Arabis holboellii var. retrofracta, but I need to take my Jepson manual down there and sit in the dirt and check it again carefully. Cheryl saw me lying in the dirt, but didn’t see my camera, so thought something had happened to me. And then, there is a tiny Mimulus (Monkey flower) that is blooming on south-facing sandy slopes. It’s probably Mimulus nanus, but I need to go back and be sure. Along the roads at lower elevations the Mimulus nanus var. mephiticus (Skunky Monkey Flower) is starting to bloom, making a kind of purple carpet beside the road. Tonight I will set the traps again. Last night we caught two mice, one in each trap. This morning I took them 100 yards out into the sagebrush and let them go. I’m hoping they’ll stay out there, and not make their way back to the house. We use peanut butter to bait the traps. Also today, I chased an animal out of the garage. It was larger than a mouse, but I didn’t get a good look at it. Following it’s path, I found a small hole that gives animals access to the garage. So I need to plug that one tomorrow. Finally, we have a family of Mountain Bluebirds nesting under the eaves of the house. Tonight, while we were eating dinner, the proud father, and hard worker I might add, posed for us on the railing of the deck. I have attached a link to a recording of the song of the Mountain Bluebird: http://www.all-birds.com/Sound/mountainbluebird.wav
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| Monday, June 14thMonday was our big shopping day in Mammoth Lakes. We hit Rite-Aid, the Do-It Center, Sierra Sundance Whole Foods, and the Vons. We also went to the Great Outdoor Clothing Store in the outlet mall to buy me a couple of shirts. I had very carefully grouped the shirts to bring in my closet, and then left them there in their very neat little group. So I bought two more shirts. In the future we can dispense with Rite-Aid and Sierra Sundance Whole Foods, and get most everything we need at the Do-It Center and Vons. We had a very nice lunch at the Good Life Café, open for breakfast and lunch. I had the crispy chicken sandwich with the side salad, and Cheryl had the vegetarian quiche with the potato leek soup. All very fresh and delicious. We were, however, exhausted after shopping five stores capped by a 1 1/4-hour shopping experience at the Vons. And then … we had to follow all those 50 mph slowpoke rubberneckin’ tourists out highway 120 to our turnoff at Sagehen Summit.Well, that better be all for now. It starts getting light at 4:15 AM, sun up at 5:30 am, so if you want 8 hours of sleep, you gotta get to bed when it gets dark.
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| Tuesday, 15 June 2010Botanizing Your Front Yard.It’s pretty amazing to be able to walk your front door and do some serious botanizing in your front yard. This afternoon I walked though the meadow, and down the swale, looking for the little monkey flower we saw Sunday. I found it easily on the south-facing slopes among the sagebrush. It’s called Mimulus nanus var. nanus, or Dwarf Purple Monkey Flower. It’s about 1 1/2 inches tall. Most plants have only one flower, but some have two. One of the ways you identify this little plant is by the two gold stripes in the throat of the flower that are surrounded by deeper magenta. This is one of the few collections of this variety in the Mono Lake basin. Most of the collections are of Mimulus nanus var. mephiticus or the Skunky Monkey Flower, that can seen lining the roads and coloring the sand flats magenta. Today, I also collected the Arabis holboellii var. pinetorum that I mentioned in a previous post, and a Ribes cereum var. cereum or Wax Currant. Another name for this plant might be a Gooseberry. This morning I also buried a pipe in the ground to support one of those umbrella clotheslines, as it is getting to be time to wash clothes. Cheryl did a couple of loads of clothes, but hung them on a short line that is behind the battery house, as today’s wind was stirring up some dust around the umbrella clothesline. Since I disturbed the soil putting in the pipe, the fine dust is exposed to the wind. I imagine after a few days, the dust will be blown away, and we can use the umbrella clothesline. Last night we only caught one mouse. I took it a different way out into the sagebrush, spinning the trap to make the mouse dizzy as suggested by Steve. Maybe it will be totally confused and go the other direction away from the house. If that doesn’t work, I’m gonna try doing the Hokey-Pokey before letting the mice out of the traps. The second trap was sprung, but it had no mouse. Perhaps, I didn’t set it right and the mouse got away. Or maybe it just closed of its own volition. They have quite a hair trigger on them. There are still other mice in the house. Today we found mouse poop on the counter top where Cheryl had cleaned yesterday. We also pulled the refrigerator out and cleaned up the poop back there. I was thinking we might run into a nest somewhere, like behind the refrigerator, but so far we haven’t found one. We’re also following Hanta virus precautions, of not sweeping mouse poop, but wetting it with a mild Clorox solution, and then wiping it up with a paper towel. Is it really necessary to take such precautions? I don’t know.
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Arabis holboellii Hornem. var. pinetorium(Tidestr.) Rollins. (=Boechera pinetorum (Tidestr.) Windham & Al-Shehbaz. ) Holboell's Rockcress.
| Sagehen Meadow, Mono County, California. In the heavy gravel of the access road to the Robert Lane house, adjacent to sagebrush above the meadow. 37.8727°N, 118.8583°W. WGS 1984. Basal leaves obovate; pedicels smoothly arched in fruit, not reflexed; fruit curved, not straight. Basal leaves obovate; pedicels smoothly arched in fruit, not reflexed; fruit curved, not straight. In the heavy gravel of the access road to the Robert Lane house, adjacent to sagebrush above Sagehen Meadow.
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 Habitat of Mimulus nanus and Arabis holboellii
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This photo shows the habitat of Mimulus nanus var. nanus and Arabis hoboellii var. pinetorum.
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Mimulus nanus Hook. & Arn. var. mephiticus (Greene) D. M. Thomps. (=Diplacus mephiticus (Greene) G.L. Nesom.) Skunky Monkey Flower.
| Sagehen Meadow, Mono County, California. 37.8708°N, 118.8548°W. WGS 1984 Elev. 2535 m. Possibly puberulent, but definitely not hairy; throat floor generally with 2 gold stripes surrounded by deeper magenta. On south-facing slopes in granitic soil, among sagebrush, above the swale. Somewhat ambiguous as to var. mephiticus vs. var. nanus. Possibly puberulent, but definitely not hairy; throat floor generally with 2 gold stripes surrounded by deeper magenta.
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Arabis holboellii Hornem. var. pinetorium (Tidestr.) Rollins. (=Boechera pinetorum (Tidestr.) Windham & Al-Shehbaz.) Holboell's Rockcress.
| Sagehen Meadow, Mono County, California. Lower part of the meadow, above swale. 37.8708°N, 118.8548°W. WGS 1984. Elev. 2535 m. Among sagebrush. Lower part of the meadow, above swale.
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