After getting confirmation from the forest service that I was, indeed, permitted to do this, I drove up Hwy 39 to the site of the Morris Fire which burned in late August of last year, 2009. I made two stops at turnouts on the east side (dam side) of road near mile markers 20.65 and 21.21.
This gallery is more to document what I saw coming up after the fire, than to show closeups of the pretty flowers. The plants are in all different stages and patterns of growth from seedling to seedpod, from crown sprouts to dead wood.
Click on the thumbnails to see higher-resolution images
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Non-nnative winter annuals
Youngsters, mostly native
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Lamarckia aurea, goldentop grass
Pennisetum setaceum, purple fountain grass
Bromus diandrus, ripgut brome
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Black sgae and bedstraw
Malacothrix saxatilis, cliff aster
Hazardia squarrosa, sawtooth goldenbush
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Pellaea mucronata, bird's foot fern
Brickellia nevinii, Nevin's brickellbush
Red stuff
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Juglans californica, California walnut
Malosma laurina, laurel sumac
stinging lupine, Lupinus hirsutissimus
wild cucumber, Marah macrocarpus
castor bean, Ricinus communis
collar lupine, Lupinus truncatus
wild Canterbury bells, Phacelia minor
Most prominent among the colorful fire followers are the big three bluish purple to reddish purple flowers of stinging lupine, collar lupine and wild Canterbury bells with stinging lupine winning the coverage race by far.
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Big three on the east side
Big three on the west side
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Tall collar lupine
Wild things
Canterbury bells, oats, and mustard
If you get the idea there is a lot of stinging lupine or purple flowers on the hills, you are right ... all that light purple blur is stinging lupine even on the highest hill
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Stinging lupine
Stinging lupine
By far the most prevalent non-native is castor bean, more castor bean in one place than I've ever seen before in my whole life
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Castor bean with stinging lupine
Castor bean following drainage
Thick castor bean
Wild cucumber is climbing over everything; it's always there, but much more visible now
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Up the dead black wood
Down the steep bare slope
The snowy range in the background tells us that it's early days yet, there's more to come!
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Snowy range in background
Images and text copyright © Jane Strong.
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 © 2010-2022 CNPS San Gabriel Mountains Chapter unless otherwise indicated. All photos are Copyright by the authors.
