A few days after visiting the lower part of Box Canyon Road, I joined a group including Tom Chester, Kate Harper, Pam Pallette, RT and Shaun Hawke, Elize Van Zandt and Jim Adams, to botanize an area along the aqueduct which runs parallel to and north of the I-10 freeway and just south of the Park boundary. This area was inundated by a heavy rainstorm last fall and has germinated an amazing number of species, many of which were not present in great numbers but still provided us with an enjoyable outing. Following our investigation of this area, we proceeded southward to the Orocopias where we spent several productive hours on a loop trail up a winding side canyon off Box Canyon Road and then down along a rocky ridgeline. We found many more species here and were awed at the beautiful vistas that availed themselves to us as we climbed higher and higher, especially toward the end of the day when the late afternoon sun illuminated the distant mountains. It was a great day and one can only hope that other such small localities will be found this year or that the rainfall situation will suddenly improve. An asterisk next to the common name indicates a non-native species.

Parish's poppy
Eschscholzia parishii
Papaveraceae
[Named for Johann Friedrich Gustav von Eschscholtz, 1793-1831, and the Parish brothers]

Smooth-stemmed fagonia
Fagonia laevis
Zygophyllaceae
[Named for Guy-Crescent Fagon, 1638-1718]

Silky dalea
Dalea mollis or mollissima
Fabaceae
[Named for Samuel Dale, 1659-1739]

Booth's evening primrose
Eremothera boothii (likely ssp. condensata)
Onagraceae
[Named for William Booth, 1805-1887]

Notchleaf phacelia (white variant?)
Phacelia crenulata var. ambigua
Boraginaceae