Rare Plant Treasure Hunt

Stories from the Field

Unique Landscapes of the California Deserts

By Duncan Bell

© photo by Duncan Bell

This year the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt made it to many places across our amazing California deserts updating many old rare plant occurrences and at the same time recording a great deal of new rare plant occurrences. Finding so many new rare plant occurrences is a constant reminder that our deserts are not fully explored and in a very large way are still greatly unexplored. Every day we spent in an unexplored/uncollected canyon or wash bottom we found at least one if not dozens of new rare plant populations, and it was also always a joy to find old rare plant occurrences still were they had been documented decades ago. In total we found hundreds of old and new rare plant populations. Read the full story

Read More Stories From the Field

• Rare Plants on the Central Coast by Danny Slakey
• Unique Landscapes of the California Deserts by Duncan Bell
• Life List by Duncan Bell
• Rivers for Change hunts for treasured plants by Will Spangler
• Looking for Lewisia by Carol Ralph
• Report on the Lily Springs Area Survey by Jane Strong
• It's Never Too Late... by Don Davis
• Retracing the Footsteps of Great California Botanists by Duncan Bell