In the heart of the San Gabriel Mountains, along the Angeles Crest Highway, is the Chilao Visitors Center. Nearby is the campground and a network of roads through the forest. While much of the San Gabriel Mountains is covered with that relatively low plant system that we call chaparral, the Chilao area, high on the ridge around 6,000 feet, has substantial amounts of open conifer forest, mostly Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi).
During 2008, our CNPS chapter sponsored a monthly series of plant walks, led by Jane Strong, each month concentrating on the plants and flowers at a different elevation in the Chilao area, thus following the spring bloom as it gradually extended higher and higher into the mountains. The photos below are all from the mountain plant walk of June 2008, which was actually a slow drive around various roads in the immediate vicinity of the Chilao Visitors Center..
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Southerly view from near Chilao campground
Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri)
Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri)
Scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius)
Scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius)
Interior bush lupine (Lupinus excubitus var. johnstonii)
Interior bush lupine (Lupinus excubitus var. johnstonii)
Pine green-gentian (Frasera neglecta)
Pine green-gentian (Frasera neglecta)
Davidson's phacelia (Phacelia davidsonii)
Mojave phacelia (Phacelia mohavensis)
Mojave phacelia (Phacelia mohavensis)
Pitted onion (Allium lacunosum)
Mountain violet (Viola purpurea)
Mountain violet (Viola purpurea)
Spreading larkspur (Delphinium patens)
Spreading larkspur (Delphinium patens)
Yellow monkey flower (Erythranthe guttata)
Plain mariposa lily (Calochortus invenustus)
Plain mariposa lily (Calochortus invenustus)
Sulphur flowered buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum)
Mojave linanthus (Leptosiphon breviculus)
Mojave linanthus (Leptosiphon breviculus)
Mojave linanthus (Leptosiphon breviculus)
Grinnell's beardtongue (Penstemon grinnellii var. grinnellii)
Diamond clarkia (Clarkia rhomboidea)
Palmer's mariposa lily (Calochortus palmeri)
Palmer's mariposa lily (Calochortus palmeri)
Silver puffs (Uropappus lindleyi)
Spearleaf mountain dandelion (Agoseris retrorsa)
Blue dicks (Dipterostemon capitatus)
Thanks to Jane Strong for assistance in identification of flowers and plants.
A chapter of the California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite I, Sacramento, California 95816-5113
CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter, 1750 North Altadena Drive, Pasadena, California 91107-1046
All text on this page is Copyright © 2010-2020 CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter unless otherwise indicated. All photos are Copyright by the authors.
