Joe LeMonnier 



Los 



PACIFIC 



OCEAN 



200 Miles 



I 



Shrubs and digger pines grow near Traverse Creek. 



Thomas Hallstein; Outsight 



Traverse Creek 



For visitor information write: 

 Forest Supervisor 

 Eldorado National Forest 

 100 Fomi Road 

 Placerville, California 95667 

 (916)622-5062 



Since chaparral plants are adapted to 

 arid terrain, all these shrubs have water- 

 saving adaptations, such as small leaves, 

 leathery leaves, or leaves with a whitish, 

 waxy coating or hairy surface. Sometimes 

 the microscopic openings, or stomata, in 

 the leaves are sunk deep in the leaf tissue 

 to further reduce evaporation. The leaves 

 of the white manzanita, which are rela- 

 tively broad, stand upright so that the rays 

 of the midday sun fall obUquely on their 

 surface. 



Between April and June, many wild- 

 flowers bloom in scattered openings in the 

 Traverse Creek chaparral. These colorful 

 "serpentine flower fields" consist of low- 

 growing species that are tolerant of ser- 

 pentine soil, although many grow else- 

 where as well. Most of these wildflowers 

 are also drought-tolerant; among them are 

 a dwarf sedum with succulent leaves, a 

 wiry buckwheat with a three-pronged 

 flowering cluster, Sanborn's wild onion, 

 Congdon's lomatium, and the brilliant, 

 rose-pink bitterroot. One species found 

 only at Traverse Creek is the rare Layne's 

 groundsel. 



Some moisture-loving plants inhabit 

 shallow depressions that accumulate water 

 when it rains. Among them are yellow 

 monkey flower, which has five bright-yel- 

 low petals; bicolored monkey flower, with 

 two white petals and three yellow petals; 

 pink-flowered whisker brush, with five 

 pink petals and a rosy center above a tuft 

 of short, slender, green leaves; a yellow vi- 

 olet; a two-inch-tall wild white clover; and 

 an equally small native plantain. 



Seeming anomalies at Traverse Creek, 

 not far from the visitors' parking area, are 

 a few large ponderosa pines and an in- 

 cense cedar. According to the forest 

 botanists, enough nonserpentine soil has 

 washed down from higher terrain to create 

 a foothold for these conifers. 



Robert H. Mohlenbrock, professor emeri- 

 tus of plant biology at Southern Illinois 

 University, Carbondale, explores the bio- 

 logical and geological highlights of the 

 156 U.S. national forests. 



70 Natural History 2/94 



