Foothill
and Mountain Plant Photos |
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Sierra
Nevada Plants
Foothill Plants
Northern California
Flowers
Oak Trees
Conifers
Other
Links to More Photo Albums |
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New
photos here April 10 and here
April 16, 2024 (captions in red) |
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Click photo for a larger
view (pictures open in a new window) |
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Sierra
Nevada |
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A lone
lodgepole pine |
Corn lilies |
Nature's rock garden |
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Sierra junipers |
Red Leaves |
Gnarled roots |
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Monster Tree |
Dead Manzanita on carpet of live
plants |
Chinquapin |
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Shooting Star |
Sugar Pine Cones |
Red leaves near Rock
Creek |
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Dogwood Leaves, Nelder Grove, Sierra
National Forest |
Lilly
Pond, Old Wishon Road |
Shooting
Star in meadow near Stargazer Rock |
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Mushroom,
Sierra National Forest |
Returning
to the earth |
Azalea
in Nelder Grove |
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Cattail,
Sierra Nevada |
Dead
lodgepole pines near Mammoth Lakes CA |
Life
on a rock |
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California's
green and gold |
Fiesta
flowers |
Rusty
fern |
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Lichen
on granite creates rock art |
These
succulents are common in high rocky areas |
Large
fern by Lewis Creek |
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"Just
right" tangy apples in a mountain orchard (J. Neely) |
Elderberries
in Sequoia National Park |
Snow
plants are so-called because they often emerge when snow is still on
the ground |
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Growth
of a single plant, mid-June |
Bunched
together, they create a
brilliant red spot in the landscape
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Up
close |
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Aspens
reflected in Silver Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada |
Mountain
mahogany on Panum Crater near Mono Lake |
Dogwood
near California Creek,
Sierra National Forest
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Close-up
of dogwood leaves |
Inside
a hollow redwood stump in Nelder Grove
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Big
striped leaf thistle |
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Wildflowers
gone to seed |
Ripening
manzanita berries |
Dried
seeds near June Lake |
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Bear
clover AKA Mountain Misery
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Bear
Clover in bloom |
Hillside
above Mono Lake |
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High
desert plants near Mono Lake, eastern Sierra Nevada |
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This
bush provides a spot of bright
fall color near Kaiser Pass |
New
growth rising out of the
destruction of the 2015 Rough Fire |
Gooseberries
- ripe and juicy, but covered with stickers |
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Dogwood
near California Creek
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Pine
needles carpet the Chimney
Tree Trail in Nelder Grove |
Ferns
fading away, with mossy log segments in front |
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The red trunks of a manzanita
forest
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Late
in the season, the bark peels off in curls
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Reeds
add a bright spot to Chiquito Creek
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"Tuck
and roll" moss in Nelder Grove |
Even
in fall, moss remains bright green |
The
last of the black oak leaves |
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Fascinating
fungus in Nelder Grove |
A
clump of grass and seed pods in a mountain creek |
Colorful
leaves carpet the ground in Nelder Grove |
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Unique
succulents like this are found
in many Sierra Nevada mountain
locations |
Blossoms
appear late in the summer |
A
rugged-looking fern |
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Ancient mossy log
and large ferns on the Lewis Creek Trail |
How many of these seeds
will germinate next year? |
Big
leaf maple in Feather River Canyon |
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Ripe
elderberries in Kings Canyon Park |
A
perfect combination of sun and shadow
on the Wawona Meadow Loop
Trail |
Multiple
colored leaves carpet
the Wawona Meadow Loop Trail |
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Ripe
berries, awaiting a hungry bird or bear |
Cliff
side plant along the road from Black Rock to Wishon |
Five
weeks into fall, big leaf maple
changes from green to gold |
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Dogwood
in the woods... |
...and
close-up |
Dogwood
branch on the forest floor |
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Ferns
turning yellow as fall arrives in Yosemite |
A
6-inch dogwood leaf in Nelder Grove |
Wild
strawberry plants in Buffin Meadow (Wes Thiessen_ |
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Bay
leaf on a hilltop near Highway 168 in the Sierra |
Bear
clover surrounded by fallen black oak leaves |
Fern in California Creek near
Nelder Grove |
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An
unusual mushroom near Willow Creek |
This determined reed
made
its way out from under a big log |
An unusual chlorophyll-free plant
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Corn lilies, AKA skunk cabbage
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Not
sure what it is, but it provides
a nice contrast among the green |
"Fuzzy" fungus near
Wawona Meadow
(by Susan Crandall)
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Brilliant red dogwood leaves by the
meadow
(by Wes Thiessen)
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Fungus
by the Wawona Meadow Loop Trail |
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Foothills
(Sierra & Coast Mountains) |
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Yerba
Santa, AKA wild peach |
Lace pods |
Buckeye in fall |
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Yellow & orange lichen; spring
grass |
Thistle
blossom |
Thistle
ready to re-seed |
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Jennifer
& the mullein from Star Trek (J. Neely photo) |
Mullein
seed head |
Spring
grass at Sawmill Flat Camp above
Pine Flat Reservoir, Fresno County
CA |
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Soft
& fuzzy grass in Mariposa County |
Wild
cucumber |
Beautiful
flowers, but their smell
caused us to call this stinkweed |
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Gnarled
but still-living Manzanita above Napa Valley |
Manzanita
close-up |
Fall
berries near Hensley Reservoir, Madera County |
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Yerba
Santa is taking over this rarely used pavement |
Rural
Madera County garden |
More
gnarly manzanita |
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Buckeyes
near Oakhurst CA |
Miner's
lettuce near Hensley Lake |
Wild
grass seed near Millerton Lake |
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Buckeye near
Millerton |
Remains
of manzanita killed in
1981 fire at San Joaquin Gorge |
Close
up of the base |
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Fremontia,
also known as Flannel Bush |
Waves
of wild grain |
Miner's
lettuce after seed formation
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Nature's
artistry - South Fork, Merced River |
Don't
be tempted to pick these pretty poison oak leaves |
Buckeye
blossoms along Trimmer Road, Fresno County |
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Typical "candle"
shape of buckeye
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A
variety of buckwheat
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Jalapeños
in the Neely garden, Summer, 2014 |
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The
bones of a long dead bush |
Buckeye
adds some color to the fall palette
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Lots
of tall dead grass |
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New
shoots of an elderberry bush |
Rare
white shooting stars |
Poppies
next to Pine Flat Lake |
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This
rocky hill top is covered with flowers
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Dead
plants have beauty too |
This spectacular
4-inch flower
near
Pine Flat Lake is known as Blazing Star
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Redbud
along the Merced River Canyon
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Redbud
close-up |
Redbud
and ponderosa pine |
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Redbud
in the Merced River canyon near the confluence with the South Fork |
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Mushroom
near Hensley Lake |
Lone
lupine at Hensley Lake, February 2015
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Popcorn
flowers near Pine Flat |
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Wild
oats going to seed near Pine Flat Reservoir |
Spring
scene near Pine Flat |
As
a kid I thought of these as miniature orange trees |
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Another
mutant mullein, near Oakhurst
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An
ancient, upside-down tree stump |
Germinating buckeye
seed |
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Lupines and fiddlenecks between
Trimmer Springs
Road and the Kings River (by Wes Thiessen) |
A
perfectly designed scene at Edison
Point by Pine Flat Lake (Thiessen) |
Leafless
tree and poppies at Pine Flat Lake (Thiessen) |
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Poppies
up close |
Along
the Edison Point Trail at Pine Flat |
Blue
Dicks, one of the most common flowers in the foothills |
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Filaree blossoms and seed
pods
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Wind-blown
bush lupine on Pincushion Peak |
Lupines
and poppies on the steep side of the peak |
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A massive field of fiddlenecks
near
Dry Creek in Tulare County |
Another
patch of poppies |
Poppies
and fallen bull pine branch |
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A fine example of miner's lettuce |
New
leaf buds on buckeye bush |
An
interesting orange mushroom |
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Nature's planter box |
Massive
crop of lace pods, Spring 2016 |
Brilliant
orange field of fiddlenecks |
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Wild
cucumber seed pod |
Grass
at Pine Flat Lake, Spring 2016 |
Strikingly
beautiful mushrooms at the San Joaquin Gorge |
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Succulent
in the moss on a rocky bank
near the San Joaquin Gorge bridge |
Old
dead limbs and new green grass make a nice picture |
Dramatic
dead manzanita on the San Joaquin River Trail |
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Mushrooms
on a rotting log0 |
Dried
wild cucumber seed pods |
Dead
plant stands out against the gray of Pine Flat Reservoir |
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Last
year's tall grass, beaten down by heavy rainfall
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Dramatic
old sycamore by
Millerton Road in Fresno County |
The
brilliant red of poison oak leaves
makes you want to pick some
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View
into the San Joaquin River Gorge |
Redbud
above the San Joaquin |
Along
the Bridge Trail at the San Joaquin Gorge |
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Milkweed
seed pod and guests |
Dry mullein stalks by Old
Yosemite Road |
Mullein,
bent but unbroken |
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Giant
puffball mushrooms, above
Road 620 in Madera County |
Big
enough to use as a football |
My
favorite foothill tree, the manzanita |
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Wild
oats at Hensley
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A
lot of buckeye seeds, all lined up |
Sycamore
tree near the Bear Wallow
Trailhead by the Kings River |
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Poison
oak leafing out |
A
huge sycamore by the Kings River |
Sycamore near the Upper Kings
River
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Colorful
blue oak near the upper Kings River |
A forest of leafless buckeye
trees |
Hanging garden above Mill Flat
Creek
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An excellent mullein near
Oakhurst |
Roots of a very determined manzanita
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Muted
fall colors near Sky Harbor on Millerton Lake |
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Buckeye by Old Yosemite Road near
Oakhurst |
New leaves on sycamores
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Last
year's thistle blossom |
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Golden
leaves |
Dew on new grass at San Joaquin Gorge,
February 2023
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Filaree,
gone to seed; you can see why
this plant is sometimes called storkbill |
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Fern
above Pine Flat Lake |
Fluffy grass at Lake Millerton
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Northern
California |
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Probably
some type of maple, in McArthur-Burney State Park |
A
very thorny sticker bush in Lava Beds National Monument |
Another
unidentified plant in the Monument |
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Spider
webs in a tree in McArther-Burney |
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