• Cushenbury milk-vetch (Astragalus albens)
  Astragalus albens is a small plant in the pea family (Fabaceae). Spellenburg describes the species as follows. Individual plants are annual to sometimes perennial. The slender silvery-white-haired stems are prostrate (lie flat on the ground), up to 30 centimeters (cm) (1 ft) long, with compound leaves consisting of 5 to 9 small leaflets. The plant's pink-purple flowers occur in 5 to 14 flowered terminal racemes (flower clusters). The upper petal of each flower is up to 1 cm (0.4 inch (in)) long. The fruits are 10 to 18 millimeters (mm) (0.4 to 0.7 in) long and up to 3.5 mm (0.1 in) wide. The crescent shaped fruits are three sided, have two chambers, and become papery in maturity. The plants generally flower from March to May.
  Links to further information: Text, Photos
• Cushenbury oxytheca (Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana)
  Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana is a small, wiry annual plant belonging to the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae). Specimens grow 5 to 60 cm (2 to 24 in) tall. The plants have a basal rosette of leaves, with each leaf 1 to 7 cm (0.4 to 3 in) long. The six small flowers have white to pink perianth segments (undifferentiated whorl of petals and sepals), occur in clusters of 3 to 20, and are surrounded at their base by a funnel-shaped involucre (modified leaf).
• Cushenbury buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum)
  Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum is a perennial plant of the buckwheat family (Polygonaceae) that forms low, dense mats typically 3 to 40 cm (1 to 16 in) in diameter. The leaves are round to ovate, white-woolly on both surfaces, and are 0.7 to 1.5 cm (0.3 to 0.6 in) long. The flowers are whitish-cream borne on flowers stalks reaching 10 to 25 cm (4 to 10 in) tall. Plants flower from May through August. This species is primarily an outcrosser (pollen source for seed production is from another plant).
  Links to further information: Photos
• San Bernardino Mountains bladderpod (Lesquerella kingii ssp. bernardina)
  Lesquerella kingii ssp. bernardina is silvery, with dense star-shaped hairs, and is a short-lived perennial plant of the mustard family (Brassicaceae). It grows to 5 to 15 cm (2 to 6 in) tall, often purplish in color. Leaves are wavy-margined to shallow toothed, the outer basal leaves are diamond shaped to round, and the inner leaves are elliptic with petioles 2 to 5 cm (0.8 to 2 in) long. Flowers are borne in terminal racemes, and bloom from May to June. The yellow petals are 5.5 to 13 mm (0.2 to 0.5 in) long, and styles are 3 to 4 mm (0.12 to 0.16 in) long. The spherical fruits are short-haired, 2-chambered, and contain 2 to 4 seeds per chamber.
• Parish's daisy (Erigeron parishii)
  Erigeron parishii was described by Asa Gray (1884) based on specimens collected by Samuel B. Parish at Cushenbury Spring in 1882. Erigeron parishii is a perennial herb of the aster family (Asteraceae). Plants grow 10 to 35 cm (4 to 14 in) high. The simple, linear leaves are 3 to 6 cm (1 to 2 in) long and soft, silvery-hairy. Flower heads are solitary borne at the tips of leafy stems, with bluish to pink or white ray flowers and yellow disk flowers. Grayish-green, glandular bracts surround each flower head (Nesom 1993, USFWS 1994). The plants generally flower from May through June.
  Links to further information: Photos, More photos, Text

Here are some other characteristic plants of the carbonates in the San Bernadino Mountains:

• The type specimen for Yucca whipplei ssp. caespitosa was found in Cactus Flat in Cushenbury Canyon, San Bernadino Co., California, by M.E. Jones, May 12, 1926; Pomona College No.122326, California Acad. Sci. No.150109.
  Links to further information: Photos & text, Text
• Cold Desert Phlos (Phlox stansburyi)
  Links to further information: Photos
• Fremont Barberry (Berberis fremontii Torrey var. fremontii), extirpated in area
  Links to further information: Text

Final ruling, Determination of Threatened & Endangered status, September 23, 1994

• “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) determines Erigeron parishii (Parish's daisy) to be threatened and Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum (Cushenbury buckwheat), Astragalus albens (Cushenbury milk-vetch), Lesquerella kingii ssp. bernardina (San Bernardino Mountains bladderpod), and Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana (Cushenbury oxytheca) to be endangered pursuant to the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act).
  
  “These five plant species are endemic to the carbonate deposits (limestone and dolomite) of the San Bernardino Mountains, San Bernardino County, California”

Designation of Critical Habitat for Five Carbonate Plants From the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California, January 23, 2003

• “The lands designated as critical habitat have been divided into three critical habitat units: the Northeastern Slope Unit (Unit 1), Bertha Ridge Unit (Unit 2), and Sugarlump Ridge Unit (Unit 3). The Northeastern Slope Unit contains Astragalus albens, Erigeron parishii, Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum, and Oxytheca parishii var. goodmaniana. The Bertha Ridge Unit contains Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum and Lesquerella kingii ssp. bernardina. The Sugarlump Ridge Unit contains Lesquerella kingii ssp. bernardina. Lands designated as critical habitat are under Federal and private ownership. Federal lands include areas owned or managed by the SBNF and BLM.”

• Silver mining
  “In 1860, John Cushenbury founded "Cushenbury City" near its present namesakes of Cushenbury Springs and Canyon. His silver strike was found to be in "base-ore" and not economic at the time. Later in that same year, John was back in a Holcomb Valley Saloon in time to be wounded in a shoot-out!”
  — from Lucerne Valley web site
• Cattle ranching
  “Of course, we weren't at that time – we didn't raise many cattle, but it had been one of the largest cattle ranches there was, at one time. There was – the owner had five thousand head of cattle, I think. And he had all the pasture rights from the foot of the hill, mountain, over in Lucerne valley clear to Palmdale. And when we bought the ranch, there were three water holes that came with it. One up in the mountains, near Big Pines, one out in Apple Valley, and one over at the foot of the Cushenbury grade. They ran cattle all the way from Lucerne, to Palmdale, from the ranch.”
  — from interview with Litta Belle Campbell, Mohahave Historical Society
• Limestone mining
  “Limestone is the major ingredient of cement. Lucerne Valley is a major source for limestone in the Western US.”
  — from Lucerne Valley web site

• See Big Bear Discovery Center Map
• Road conditions in 1884: “When the crew at the dam found that Boyd was a road builder, they snared him into supervising a six-man crew who took dynamite, caps and fuses back to Cushenbury Grade, where huge boulders were shattered by blasting, and the road was reopened.”
• California highway 18: “California 18 begins its northerly journey at California 210 (Former California 30) in San Bernardino. It enters the San Bernardino National Forest, then it turns east to follow the Rim of the World Highway past Lake Arrowhead and Big Bear Lake. From Big Bear, it turns north toward the desert, then turns west at Lucerne Valley to connect with Interstate 15 at Victorville. The route then ends at California 138 west of Interstate 15.”