Bishop Field Office

Wildflower Update – Mid-May, 2011

May 19, 2011

On Wednesday May 11, I went about 8 or 9 miles out the Fish Slough Road, there are some great carpets of yellow and white flowers out that there. The dominant things blooming include scale bud, desert dandelion, Venus blazing star and desert pincushion. Apricot globe mallow, lupine and camissonia are also blooming. Wild iris are starting to bloom in meadows and pastures around the Bishop and Round Valley area.

There are still some good things to be seen down at lower to mid elevations in the Inyo and White Mountains. I got a report of there being lots of desert five-spot blooming near the French Springs area.

Some flowers are starting to pop up further north as well. I have been seeing lots of Pursh’s milk-vetch around the Crowley area and I am starting to see Nevada lomatium in open gravelly soils at around the 7,000 to 8,000 foot level.

To see what is blooming in other areas of California visit the Theodore Payne Foundations Wildflower Hotline

 

WILDFLOWERS Now Showing in and around the Owens Valley

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia bassilaris) -

 

Beavertail Cactus in bloom.
Beavertail Cactus
Scarlet Milkvetch

Hedge-hog cactus - (Echinocereus engelmanni) -

Showy red/pink flowers.  Currently blooming in the Inyo Mountain areas.

Photo of Hedge hog cactus flower in bloom.
Hedge hog cactus

Scale bud - (Anisocoma acaulis)

Similar to Desert Dandelion, Scale bud is somewhat shorter (2-8" tall) and has wide hairy leaves.

Photo of Scale bud in bloom.
Scale bud

Desert five-spot - (Eremalche rotundifolia)

Showy prostrate annual; flower petals forming a globe, petals pinkish with purple basal blotch.  Currently blooming in the Inyo Mountain areas.

Photo of Desert five-spot in bloom.
Desert five-spot

Desert Dandelion - (Malacothrix glabrata)

Taller then Scale bud, the Desert Dandelion (4-16") has narrow smooth leaves.

Photo of Desert Dandelion
Desert dandelion

Venus blazing star - (Menzelia nitens)

Showy 5-petaled yellow/orange flower with many stamens.  Abundant in Fish Slough.

Photo of Venus blazing star in bloom.
Venus blazing star en-masse

Yellow tackstem - (Calycoseris parryi)

Showy yellow ray flowers, lookk for tack-shaped glands on the upper stem and phyllaries.

Photo of Yellow tackstem

Purshii milk-vetch- (Astragalus purshii)

Matted;; fuzzy leaves and fruit; bright pink/red flowers.  Gravelly areas higher, common around Crowley lake Area

Photo of Purshii milk-vetch
Purshii milk-vetch

Indigo Bush - (Psorothamnus arborescens)

Indigo Bush in bloom.
Indigo Bush

Gillia species

Photo of Gillia Species
Gillia Species

Princes plume - (Stanleya ssp.)

Photo of Desert Plume in bloom.
Princes plume

Bitterbrush - (Purshia tridentata)

Photo of Bitterbrush in bloom.
Bitterbrush

Tidy tips (Layia glandulosa) - White flower with notched petals and yellow center. 

Fading but occasional throughout Owens Valley.

Photo of the five petaled Tidy Tips.
Tidy Tips

Desert pincushion (Chaenactis sp.) – White composite flower with all disk flowers, stems often reddish. 

Carpets of it in Fish Slough!

Photo of Desert Pincushion in bloom.
Desert Pincusion

 Mojave aster (Xylorhiza tortifolia)

Photo of Mojave Aster in bloom.
Mojave Aster
 

Fiddleneck (Amsinckia tessellata) –

Small yellow/orange flowers on a bristly, often coiled “fiddleneck” stem.

Photo of Fiddleneck in bloom. 
Fiddleneck

Desert Paintbrush (Castilleja chromosa) –

Showy red flower generally occurring in clumps – the color is actually from the bracts that surround the flower. 

Photo of Desert Paintbrush in bloom.
Desert Paintbrush

 

Yellow Throats (Phacelia fremontii) –

Pink low-growing flowers with bright yellow throats and scalloped leaves.

 

 

Photo of Yellow Throats in bloom.
Yellow Throats

White tack-stem (Calycoseris wrightii) - Similar looking to yellow tack-stem but with white flowers; could also be confused with desert chicory - look for glands.


 

Sand blossom (Linanthus parryae) - Lavender and white low-growing 5-petaled flowers

Photo of Sand blossoms in bloom.
Sand Blossoms

Evening snow - (Linanthus dichotomus)

Photo of Evening snow
Evening snow

Yellow Peppergrass(Lepidium Flavum) – This plant is low growing with many small flowers, each with yellow petals just a few millimeters long and six stamens at the center.

 Photo of Yellow pepper grass.
Yellow Peppergrass

Desert Peach - (Prunus andersonii)

Shrub; twigs become spiny; papery pinkish/reddish flowers with many sstamens.

Photo of Desert peach
Desert peach

Apricot mallow - (Sphaeralceo ambigua)

Sub-shrub with showy orange bowl to globe-shaped flowers.

Blooming at Fish Slough/Volcanic Tablelands.

Photo of Apricot globe mallow
Apricot mallow

Inyo-Mono yellow primrose - (Camisonia claviformis ssp. lancifolia)

Blooming in Fish Slough/Volcanic Tablelands.

Photo of Inyo-Mono Primrose in bloom.
Inyo-Mono yellow primrose

Nevada lomatium - (Lomatium nevadense)

Areas north of Bishop in open gravelly soils.

Photo of Nevada lomatium in bloom.
Nevada lomatium

Lace-leaf phacelia - (Phacelia distans)

Photo of Lace-leaf phacelia in bloom.
Lace-leaf phacelia

Cut-leaf thellypodium - (Thelypodium laciniatum)

Similar overall look to desert plume and princes plume but with white flowers

Photo of Cut-leaf thellypodium in bloom.
Cut-leaf thellypodium

 
 Other species blooming, not pictured 
Chocolate drops - (Caulnthus pilosus)Budsage - (Artemesia spinescens)
Brown-Eyed evening primrose - (Camissonia Claviformis ssp. claviformis)Capped cryptantha - (Cryptantha circumscissa)
Wing-nut forget-me-not - (Cryptantha pectocarya)Desert Trumpet - (Eriogonum inflatum)
Yellow turbans - (Eriogonum pusillum)Coopers Goldenbush - (Ericameria cooperi)
Spiny hopsage - (Grayia spinosa)Bush peppergrass - (Lepidium fremontii)
Fragrant lupine - (Lupinus odoratus)Narrow-leaved nama - (Nama depressum)
Coyote tobacco - (Nicotiana attenuata)Slender combseed - (Pectocarya pencillata)
Bush Sunflower - (Encelia actoni)Golden Current - (Ribes cereum)
White Chicory - (Rafinesquia neomexicana)Cotton-thorn - (Tetradymia axillaris)
Shrub with yellow composite flowers; leaves form spines.

Rock nettle - (Eucnide urens)

Cool plant that grows in rock crevices; big showy
white/cream flowers; plant covered in velcro-like hairs
 - careful may cause rash in some people.

Blooming in Inyo Mountain areas.

Desert horsebrush - (Tetradymia glabrata)

Shrub with yellow composite flowers; leaves generally don't formm spines.

General Wildflower viewing information for the Eastern Sierra

Peak blooming periods for wildflowers in the Eastern Sierra and surrounding Deserts.
(PDF 201KB)

Alabama Hills in bloom, golden llinanthus in bloomThe Volcanic tablelands (PDF 101KB) can radiate swathes of yellow and fuschia from the venus blazing star and purple mat. Learn more about the many recreation opportunities and the cultural significance of the area. The Alabama Hills (PDF 85KB) are host to fragrant fields of evening snow interspersed by scarlet locoweed and golden linanthus. Learn more about the history of the Alabama Hills.

 

Along the drainages and in recently burned areas entire hillsides can be covered in blue swathes of the Inyo bush lupine which has a distinctive grape soda smell. The spring bloom can extend on a good year, from early April through the beginning of June at the lower elevations, and then start again at the 7,000 ft. level in the sagebrush communities of Mono County, where the alkali shooting star, and rare alkali ivesia begin to bloom in early to mid June. See listing of wildflowers in the Bodie Hills area, north of Mono Lake (PDF 101KB).

For more information on where to see wildflowers and what's blooming, contact the BLM Bishop Field Office botanist at (760) 872-5035.