SOUTH FORK MEADOWS, SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS
SEPTEMBER 2008
Photographs by Michael Charters
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For years I have gone up to the area indicated on maps as South Fork Meadows, which seemed to be the place where the South Fork trail met a junction with the Dry Lake and Dollar Lake trails, and wondered why it was called a meadow. Although there were moisture-loving species in abundance there, it did not strike me as any kind of meadow. I have recently learned that the actual 'meadows' begin about 1/4 mile north of that location and are comprised of a series of open grassy areas extending about a mile downriver, loosely following and being watered by what is referred to as the flume or Jenk's Ditch, which flows all the way from the headwaters of the Santa Ana River to Jenks Lake. All of the species displayed here are still in bloom there in September, with the exception of the spreading sandwort, the pictures of which were taken on the same day along the south cabin tract road near where the Santa Ana River crosses under CA-38, and the baneberry which blooms earlier in the season. An upside-down V next to the common name indicates a taxon that was new to me when I photographed it on this field trip. |
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Grass-of-parnassus ^ Parnassia californica Saxifragaceae |
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Great red paintbrush Castilleja miniata ssp. miniata Scrophulariaceae |
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Blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium bellum Iridaceae |
Yarrow Achillea millefolium Asteraceae |
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Spreading sandwort ^ Arenaria lanuginosa ssp. saxosa Caryophyllaceae |
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Alpine shooting star Dodecatheon alpinum Primulaceae |
Meadow lupine Lupinus polyphyllus var. burkei Fabaceae |
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Tiling's monkeyflower Mimulus tilingii Scrophulariaceae |
Meadow starwort Stellaria longipes var. longipes Caryophyllaceae |
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Arrowleaf butterweed Senecio triangularis Asteraceae |
Ranger's buttons Sphenosciadium capitellatum Apiaceae |
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Dwarf checkerbloom Sidalcea malviflora ssp. dolosa Malvaceae |
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