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THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SANTA FE DAM RECREATION AREA
Introduction |
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Butterflies |
Other Animals |
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Observations on the Plants at Santa Fe Dam, continued
Evergreen Shrubs
California buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum, grows abundantly in the sunny disturbed areas; it is the most common plant here, magnificent in large blooming masses
Three members of the Anacardiaceae, Cashew or Sumac Family, grow together here and often reaching very large size.
- Laurel sumac Malosma laurina, whose leaves fold up like a taco shell when it gets dry,
grows continuously throughout year, blooms latest, found mainly on lower terraces
- Lemonadeberry, Rhus integrifolia, flowers early, as soon as winter rains begin, found on upper terraces
- Sugarbush, Rhus ovata, usually replaces lemonadeberry in interior valleys where it is warmer,
but here the ranges overlap, both grow right next to each other,
coastal in intermingling with interior,
one of the many interesting features of this area.
California juniper, Juniperus californica,
one of the very few (maybe,only?) places it is found in the Los Angeles
basin, although it is commonly found on alluvial fans in the desert.
Littleleaf redberry, Rhamnus crocea, is the only member of the Rhamnaceae family common here. Signs along the trail tell that coyotes like it.
Succulents
- salmon- and yellow-flowered prickly pear and chartreuse-flowered valley cholla sprawling over each other
- two-foot tall Dudleya lanceolata
flower stems growing out of the prickly pear [many other plants as well
are protected from being chomped by the animals by the prickly pears,
they make little islands of gardens with blue dicks, four o'clocks as
well as dudleyas, growing in their spiny midst]
- yucca, taller than a human, the leaves, that is, not just the flowering stalk!
Winter-deciduous trees and berried shrubs
- abundant golden currants, blooming in winter, right in amidst the cacti!
- elderberries, some very large diameter trunks and tall as trees
- sycamores, willows and a few southern California walnuts
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