philipvanbergen's Favorites

Distinctive tan and blue-green linear leaves create a unique profile for this gorgeous desert tree.

Smoke Tree (Psorothamnus spinosus) A.k.a. Smokethorn, Smokethorn Dalea, and Corona de Cristo in Spanish. Native, perennial, thorny, glandular, desert legume tree that grows in Colorado Desert washes. Water and sand scouring is required for the seeds to germinate. Stems are gray-canescent and generally leafless, making the very-much-alive tree, appear dead. Flowers are indigo-blue. Peak bloom time: May-July.

Coachella Valley Preserve: For thousands of years, particles of sand from the San Bernardino Mountains and Indio Hills washed into the Coachella Valley forming a system of sand dunes. Today, these dunes are part of the Coachella Valley Preserve System, a 20,000-acre sanctuary.
The Coachella Valley Preserve also contains several palm oases that sit on top of San Andreas Fault lines. Underground water rises to the surface through these cracks. California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) grow along the cracks where the water seeps up creating a desert oases.
Coachella Valley sits at the convergence of four vast ecological systems - the Colorado (or Sonoran) Desert, the Mojave Desert, and the coastal and peninsular mountain ranges.
https://www.blm.gov/visit/coachella-valley-preserve

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Psorothamnus%20spinosus

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=40166

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp. 262.

California Desert Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz, 1975, p. 83.

Shrubs and Trees of the Southern California Deserts. Jim W. Dole and Betty B. Rose, Foot-loose Press, 1996, p. 75.

Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, Lowell John Bean and K. Saubel, Malki Museum Press, 1972 (species not listed)

CalFlora's Southern California Plant Communities http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

Link to beautiful Smoke Tree flower a month ago: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192550593
Distinctive tan and blue-green linear leaves create a unique profile for this gorgeous desert tree. Link to my favorite Smoke Tree observation nearby: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144610963
Link to comparison observation of Schott's Indigobush (Psorothamnus schottii) that has similiar flowers and fruits: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/192552403

Smoke Tree (Psorothamnus spinosus) A.k.a. Smokethorn, Smokethorn Dalea, and Corona de Cristo in Spanish. Native, perennial, thorny, glandular, desert legume tree that grows in Colorado Desert washes. Water and sand scouring is required for the seeds to germinate. Stems are gray-canescent and generally leafless, making the very-much-alive tree, appear dead. Flowers are indigo-blue. Peak bloom time: May-July.

Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers (and more) https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Psorothamnus%20spinosus

Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=40166

Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, pp. 262.

California Desert Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz, 1975, p. 83.

Shrubs and Trees of the Southern California Deserts. Jim W. Dole and Betty B. Rose, Foot-loose Press, 1996, p. 75.

Desert Straw House Plant Nursery. Specialize in Native Plants to attract pollinators in the Coachella Valley https://www.desertstrawhouse.com/plant-nursery

Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, Lowell John Bean and K. Saubel, Malki Museum Press, 1972 (species not listed)

CalFlora's Southern California Plant Communities http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html

Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (a comprehensive website)

Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html

This is the witness tree in Witness Tree Vineyard, which was used as a witness or bearing tree for the survey of the Claiborne O. Walker Donation Lane Claim #51. The survey was done on July 12th, 1854, and at that time this tree was 14" in diameter at the base. This is the first tree referenced on the attached page from the original survey notes. The tree is now about 4 ft. in diameter, though I did not measure it at the time of my visit.

This flooded roadside ditch had:
Incilius nebulifer
Anaxyrus debilis
Lithobates berlandieri
Gastrophryne olivacea
Hypopachus variolosus
Pseudacris clarkii

I also photographed a Thamnophis marcianus and saw a Black-crowned Night Heron feeding here.

Recordings to be added later.