This was my third visit to Algodones Dunes and it occurred on a weekend when a widespread rain event was taking place seemingly all over Southern California. My previous attempts to find the rare and endangered Peirson's milkvetch had come later in the spring and had proved fruitless, but this time I was successful. This is a beautiful and very different looking milkvetch from most other species I'd seen before, especially in the leaves and the seeds, which according to the Jepson Manual are the largest of any American species of Astragalus. Of the other species I found in bloom, only the Helianthus was represented by more than a few individuals. As with previous pages, an upside-down V symbol next to the common name indicates a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip.

Spectacle pod
Dithyrea californica
Brassicaceae

Desert sand verbena
Abronia villosa var. villosa
Nyctaginaceae

Spanish needles
Palafoxia arida var. arida
Asteraceae
[José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi, 1776-1847]

Emory indigobush
Psorothamnus emoryi
Fabaceae
[Named for Maj. William Hemsley Emory, 1811-1887]

Algodones Dunes sunflower
Helianthus niveus ssp. tephrodes
Asteraceae

Fanleaf crinklemat
Tiquilia plicata
Boraginaceae

Dune buckwheat, Colorado Desert buckwheat
Eriogonum deserticola
Polygonaceae

Creosote bush
Larrea tridentata
Zygophyllaceae
[Named for Juan Antonio Hernández Perez de Larrea, 1731-1803]

Desert panic grass
Panicum urvilleanum
Poaceae
[Named for Jules Sebastien Cesar Dumont d'Urville, 1790-1842]

cf. Narrow-leaved cryptantha
Cryptantha angustifolia
Boraginaceae