Native Mountain Species (5)

FAMILY: Asteracae
SPECIES: Encelia farinosa

Associated species: Creosote, ocotillo, jojoba, blue palo verde, chuparosa, desert lavender, barrel cactus

Range: Colorado and Mojave Deserts, up to 3,000 ft in elevation

Soil: found in very arid slopes, canyons, washes and alluvial fans in fast draining sandy, gravelly soil, often among boulders but also in pure sand

Other Notes: Sap sometimes used as incense in Mexico

Observations: found in a pinyon-juniper woodland-- the higher end of its elevation range.

FAMILY: Anacardiaceae
SPECIES: Rhus ovata

Associated species: chaparral plants including manzanita, toyon, buckwheat, milkweed, sagebrush and ceanothuses.

Range: Southern California, Arizona, Baja California and Baja California Sur. Chaparral slopes, often south facing, often very hot and dry, from just inland of the coast to the mountains and desert transition

Soil: Tolerates a variety of soils. Soil PH: 6.0 - 8.0

Other Notes: Can live up to 100 years.

Observations: Found in a pinyon-juniper woodland area.

FAMILY: Cactaceae
SPECIES: Cylindropuntia ganderi

Associated species: Coastal sage scrub and chapparal.

Range: Native to the Sonoran Desert and mostly found in Southern California and Baja California. Grows from 350 to 3,500 feet.

Other Notes: Lives in sandy flats, rocky hillsides, boulder fields, bajadas, desert chaparral, pinyon-juniper communities.

Hybridizes with Cylindropuntia californica

Observations: Found in a pinyon-juniper woodland area.

FAMILY: Asparagaceae
SPECIES: Yucca schidigera

Associated species: Creosote Bush Scrub, Chaparral

Range: 980–3,940 ft. Southwestern and northern Baja California deserts.
Dry mountain slopes, canyons, and flats from the immediate coast to the desert edge of southern California.

Soil: Sandy and rocky. Soil PH: 5.0 - 8.

Other Notes: The flower is pollinated by only a single species of Yucca Moth.

Observations: Found in a pinyon-juniper woodland area.