A Flora of the Higher Ranges and the Kelso Dunes of the Eastern Mojave Desert in California

Abstract

Introduction The isolated higher mountains in the desert, like islands in an ocean, hold a peculiar fascination for biologists, partly because of their well-defined limits and partly because of their considerable endemism. Additionally, the desert itself has its own special appeal because of the many and often bizarre strategies plants and animals have undertaken to adapt to the difficult arid climate and the diverse desert land forms and varied substrates. The authors were drawn into the desert time and again by this fascination for desert biology. Their choice of the higher ranges of the eastern Mojave Desert in California was largely prompted by their knowledge that the ranges possess a relatively rich flora, containing many species from the Great Basin and southwestern deserts not otherwise reported for California. The botanists of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and Pomona College, especially Carl B. Wolf and Philip A. Munz, had already given considerable attention to some of these ranges, and Wolf had asked the senior author to resume the survey of the ranges and bring it to completion. Over the years, the authors have expanded the project to include additional ranges and the Kelso Dunes, and they have had great assistance from student groups at the University of California, Los Angeles and Santa Cruz, who have carried out their own resource surveys of the Granite Mountains and Kingston Range. Their enthusiastic cooperation has made the early termination of this project possible. The Kelso Dunes and higher ranges of the eastern Mojave Desert lie between 34°451 and 36°001N Latitude and 115°071 and 116°05 1W Longitude (Fig. I). The ranges included are, from south to north with approximate area and highest elevation, the Granite Mountains, 251 km2 and 2068 m; Providence Mountains, 349 km2 and 2148 m; Mid Hills, 359 km2 and 1954 m; New York Mountains, 556 km2 and 2296 m; Ivanpah Range (including the Mescal Range), 316 km2 and 1840 m; Clark Mountain Range, 403 km2 and 2416 m; Mesquite Mountains, 272 km2 and 1573 m; and the Kingston Range, 643 km2 and 2232 m. The Kelso dunes with 142 km2 attain an elevation of only 950 m. All of these ranges lie within the northeastern corner of San Bernardino County, California, except for the northern part of the Kingston Range, which extends into Inyo County, and the northeastern end of the New York Mountains, which barely intrudes into Clark County, Nevada. . . .