The botanical team has documented 496 species of plants in the Sierra Cacachilas.
Of these 496 species, only 36 are non-native and naturalized, and at least 16 were previously thought to occur only in the Sierra de la Laguna.
Phacelia scariosa (Boraginaceae) or Rama Zorrillo near-endemic species to Baja California Sur.
Near-Endemic Species
Dr. Jon P. Rebman from the San Diego Natural History Museum (SDNHM), and leader of the scientists investigating the flora of the Sierra Cacachilas, took the photo presented left of a Phacelia scariosa while visiting our ranches. On August 17, 2015, within hours of being posted on the SDNHM Botany Department Facebook page, the photo went viral with over a million (1,058,500) people seeing it.
After returning from a day of surveying and collecting plants, Dr. Rebman spotted a sizeable population of this specimen near the Arroyo de Leon, a dry stream bed west of Rancho Chivato, in the area of Presa Buena Mujer. The plants were in excellent condition, fully covered with clean glandular hairs, not yet tainted by dust or dirt. This type of spiral flowering stalk is called a helicoid/scorpioid cyme and it resembles the curled tail of a scorpion.
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
Aristolochia peninsularis is perhaps one of the most interesting plants of Baja California Sur. It was first discovered in 1890 on the East Cape of Mexico's Baja peninsula and then was not recorded again for more than 120 years. In 2014, it was rediscovered by researchers in the Sierra Cacachilas region on a beach north of the community of El Sargento.
plant PHOTOS
Some of these plants were previously thought to be endemic only to the Sierra La Laguna, BCS. Click on images for larger views and use arrows to scroll left and right.
Bernardia lagunensis (Euphorbiaceae), Erythranthe lagunensis (Phrymaceae), Euphorbia lagunensis (Euphorbiaceae), Hyptis decipiens (Lamiaceae), Ipomoea tastensis (Convolvulaceae), Matelea fruticosa (Apocynaceae), Mirabilis exserta (Nyctaginaceae), Stachys tenerrima (Lamiaceae), Stenotis australis (Rubiaceae).
SCIENTISTS & VOLUNTEERS
BRIT — Sula Vanderplank
CIBNOR — Jose Luis Leon de La Luz, Alfonso Medel Narvaez, Reymundo Dominguez Cadena
Jardin Botanica de San Quintin — Jim Riley
SDNHM — John LaGrange, Jon P. Rebman
Terra Peninsular — Alan Harper
UABC — Jose Delgadillo
Recommended reading
The Flora of Baja California — website sponsored by the San Diego Natural History Museum
The Lost Blossoms of Baja — September 19, 2016 article in The San Diego Union-Tribune on the unique botany of the Sierra Cacachilas
