Death Valley blooms

Geraea canescens (Desert Gold), the most common
wildflower species at low elevations in Death Valley
National Park. Photo taken at Devil's Cornfield.

Deserts present formidable challenges for plants and animals to craft an existence. Access to water is chief among these challenges. Not only must desert organisms be tolerant of lack of water for many months of the year, they must also be capable of capitalizing on the rare and unpredictable opportunities to acquire water when the rains do come.

Death Valley is the hottest and driest location in North America. Lying just east of the Sierra Nevada in eastern California and western Nevada, it is part of the Mojave Desert. The Sierras catch most of the precipitation in the storms that roll in from the Pacific bound for California. Little rain or snow makes it past the formidable granite blockade of the Sierras. One of the largest national parks in the US encompasses Death Valley, along with part of Panamint Valley and the Panamint and Amargosa mountain ranges. The vast majority of Death Valley National Park is designated wilderness area – rugged terrain without roads or human development. 

But rain does come to the desert occasionally. On 18 October 2015, a significant storm drenched the valley, setting the stage for the burst of wildflower color that we are now observing in early 2016. That heavy rainfall event, totaling about as much rain in one day as the valley averages in a year, signaled to a dormant seed bank of desert annuals that this was their chance to germinate and complete another generation. Months later, the wildflower bloom began.

Left: Atrichoseris platyphylla, or the "Gravel Ghost". The flowers (technically inflorescences since this species is
an aster) are a few centimeters in diameter and they sit atop long spindly stems. Photo from Scotty Castle Rd.
Right: Mohavea from Panamint Valley.

Phacelia sp. The bold blooms of this species
were particularly common along roadsides.

Being aware of the current El Niño in the Pacific, I had already planned a trip to Death Valley months ago with a hope that the floral display this spring would be impressive. However, when I started to hear media reports in late February of the “superbloom” sweeping Death Valley, I decided to move my visit up a few weeks on the calendar. With a dry and warm February in northern California, it seemed that spring had really come early to California this year and I didn’t want to miss my chance!

Most of the flowers during my trip in the first week of March could be seen from below sea-level to about 3000 ft elevation, including in Death Valley and Panamint Valley. Above 3000 feet, flowers could be observed in a few locations – including the flowering Joshua Trees (Yucca brevifolia) along Wildrose Road and Indian paintbrushes (Castilleja) and others near Daylight Pass along the California-Nevada border. A report from the park in late February suggested that the densest fields of flowers could be found in the Badwater Road area, a part of the park that I did not visit. However, there were relatively dense concentrations of yellow blooms of Desert Gold (Geraea canescens) near Furnace Creek and Salt Creek.

The beautiful Eremalche rotundifolia (Malvaceae).

My favorite species in bloom was a small mallow, Eremalche rotundifolia, commonly called the “desert five-spot”. The delicate pink petals of this flower form a cup, so one has to peer inside from the top to see the rest of the flower. From that perspective, one can see that each petal has a dark red splotch at its base. The desert five spot was not particularly common in the areas I visited, but it occurred in both Panamint Valley and Death Valley between Furnace Creek and Stove-pipe wells. Another mallow, also with very showy flowers hosting peach-colored petals (the Apricot Mallow), appeared to be even more rare; I only observed two plants during the two day trip. 

Sphaeralcea ambigua, Apricot Mallow.

Deserts host their own beauty – from clear night skies to fascinating geological landscapes to bright bursts of wildflower color. The paradox of life is transparent in the desert – a place where harshness and beauty plainly co-exist.

References

Baldwin GB et al. (ed). 2012. The Jepson Manual. 2^nd ed. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Milliard D. 2016. Wildflower update 2016. National Park Service website.

Munz PA. 1962. California Desert Wildflowers. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

National Park Service. 2016. Death Valley National Park Visitor's Guide, Winter/Spring 2016.

Left: Creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), the most common larger shrub in Death Valley. Many of the plants were
in bloom. Center and right: Two other unidentified species.

Mimulus bigelovii. Plants bearing these flowers were typically
very short in stature. One population of this species grows in a
small canyon at the base of hills near Big Pine Rd. 

A Joshua Tree, Yucca brevifolia, in bloom. I noted two populations of
Joshua trees in and around Death Valley National Park, both growing at
elevations in excess of about 4000 ft. This tree was in a population
along Wildrose Rd.

Chylismia brevipes was one of the most common blooming species
I saw in early March. The petals are often solid yellow, but sometimes
have red spots as in this example from along Big Pine Road at the
north end of the park.