The small and beautiful, Mimulus johnstonii- Johnston's monkeyflower, rank 4.3
I finally got to see it! The Lemon lily, Lilium parryi, rank 1B.2
And also Oreonana vestita, Woolly Mountainparsley, rank 1B.3 was there, past blooming and fruit, but still interesting. It only likes high elevations.
Opuntia basilaris var. brachyclada, Short joint beavertail cactus, rank 1B.2 photo by Don Davis.
The catergories are:
Most occurrences updated
This is our Grand Prize for our Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire
2nd most occurrences updated
Second Prize - Intrepid Treasure Hunter,
3rd most occurrences updated
Third Prize - Terrific Treasure Hunter,
And for our Chapters we have the
Grand Chapter Prize-
Chapter with the most hours and occurrences updated
Runner up Chapter Prize
Chapter with the second most combined hours and occurrences updated receives:
Best Photo
Enter a photo you have taken of a rare plant, rare plant community or treasure hunt (it doesn't have to be associated with a form or from a specific treasure hunt). We will choose 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners to receive one of the prizes listed below and have their photo displayed on our blog, facebook page and website! Files sizes should be at least 900 KB large. Send them in to the address above. Individuals are limited to 6 entries.
Best Essay
Please send in an essay about your experience with the treasure hunt. This is very open-ended, so be creative! Essays should be from 1 to 2 pages. The winning essay will be featured on our blog and on our website in the section Stories from the Field. The winner will receive one of the prizes listed below.
Prizes will also go to those with the Most field trips led; Most field trips attended; and Most volunteer hours.
These recipients may choose one of the following:
CNPS offers workshops and trainings for professionals and experienced amateurs in the field of botany, biology and ecology. On September 22-24th they will be offering a workshop in the Eastern Mojave taught by preeminent desert botanists James Andre and Tasha La Doux. Participants will learn firsthand about the rare and native annuals and perennials that are primarily only seen in the fall. Participants will also have the chance to stay at the UC Granite Mountains Desert Research Center in the Mojave National Preserve. This should be an amazing workshop and did I mention I'll be there. :)
Just a quick post to thank our intern from this spring, Duncan Bell. Duncan is an intrepid explorer, enthusiastic advocate of the desert and a talented botanist. He just has a knack for finding things: rare plants, wild animals, etc.
One of Duncan's finds, Tetradymia argyraea (Striped horsebrush), rank 4.3, Photo by Duncan himself. The photo at the top is Duncan chatting with a Nolina plant (Beargrass), taken by Amanda Bell.
Swertia neglecta, the rare Pine green gentian (Photo by Don Davis)I asked one of my volunteers to write about his recent experiences with the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt. He has done a lot of great work this year and taken many beautiful photos. You can check out his photostream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/californianativeplants/
"My name is Don and I am a telephone man currently living in Southern California with my wife and son. I found out about the California Native Plant Society and their Rare Plant Treasure Hunt program a little over a year ago. I attended my first treasure hunt on April 30, 2011 and absolutely fell in love with plants!
This was my first experience with anything of this nature. I had taken a prior botany course and I have always had an interest in science but never imagined that someone such as myself could contribute to science, boy was I ever wrong. This program has given an incredible amount of incentive and inspiration to me, so much so that I have gone back to school to study horticulture/botany.
I spend a lot of my own free time studying plants and characteristics that define a particular species and take one day out of my weekend to do my own little hunts. I have started going places on my own to find rare plants. I even started climbing and hiking to search for rare plants, all the way to Mount San Antonio and Mount Baden Powell in the San Gabriel Mountains, which were both very personal accomplishments for me.
I have met some of the nicest people through this program. I always have people ask me on my hikes what I am writing down or what am I photographing and I get to explain to them a little about my interest in plants and the California Native Plant Society and their effort to document rare plant species. This weekend on Mt. Baden Powell, I actually got to point out two rare plants to a young man hiking with his brothers Boy Scout Troop, Oreonana vestita, and Eriogonum umbellatum var. minus, It was neat to see a young person so interested in plants. He was even interested in going on a treasure hunt one day.
I am so appreciative to all at the CNPS and the RPTH programs, especially the coordinator, Amber. She is always willing to take time out of her busy schedule to answer questions and even provide a little education now and then. Even if this program were to stop today, I would still have an undying interest in plants. Thank you for such a wonderful program!"
Thank you Don for sharing your story. I am interested to see what you do in the future. You really are a budding botanist!
The rugged beauty of the Desert Mountains is a wonder. These are the Marble Mtns in the Eastern Mojave.
Of course finding rare plants is always a highlight. Above is a tiny plant in the Phlox family- Linanthus maculatus, Little San Bernardino Mtns linanthus, rank 1B.2. Each plant is an inch to less than an inch tall. We found several new populations just at the tail end of their blooming and fruiting season. In another two weeks they would have been dried up and gone! We also collected seed to be preserved in a the seed bank at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. This was the first collection of seed ever made of this rare plant! (Photo by Duncan Bell)
This little Liveforever, Dudleya abramsii var. affinis is only found in the Northern San Bernardino Mountains and we found the first known population of it on BLM land.
Another highlight has been the animals we've come across. I posted a photo already of the baby bobcat Duncan found. We also found this great desert tortoise sunning himself near his burrow. And I will never forget almost running into two rattlesnakes in combat, check out the video here.
Finding a wild saguaro, Carnegiea gigantea, rank 2.2, was exciting because it hadn't been seen in over 20 years and it is at farthest western end of it's range. This is somewhat of a maverick cactus. There are no other saguaros nearby, actually not for 10 miles or more. How did this cactus make it all the way out there and survive?
The native plant flower show at the Maturango Musuem in Ridgecrest was a highlight because we got to collect flowers for the show and help identify ours and others. The flowers were displayed by family and each one was labelled with its name and where it was collected. A great refresher course on desert plants. (Photo by Kathryn Kvapil LaShure)
And to close this is my favorite desert plant, Arctomecon merriamii, the rare white bear poppy, rank 2.2. Maybe we shouldn't have favorites but this plant is so beautiful and elusive. I've gone in search of it four times, but only found it twice. This year we found a new population.
Our next excursion was with the US Forest Service surveying near Bluff Lake. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we found 7 different rare plant species.
Damsel flies (perhaps some kind of Bluet) were around the lake en masse-lovely!
Here is the rare Sidalcea pedata, Bird foot checkerbloom, rank 1B.1
And just for fun, take a look at the mycoparasitic Snow plant, Sarcodes sanguinea. So unusual.
