Fred Heath (2)

by Fred Heath

So I headed off to Malibu Creek State Park, one of my favorite places Searching for Moss’ toElfin: look for butterflies, armed with a local flower book so I could recognize stonecrop if and when I found it. When I inquired of some A Cliffhanger Storyrangers about the whereabouts of stonecrop, all I got was a stone blank expression. Know- For more than ten years, I ing the park fairly well and having read that have been searching in vain for Moss’ the foodplant grows on steep, mostly north- Elfins in Southern California. I first became ward facing cliffs, I headed to a place called aware of their existence through an illus- the Gorge. Unfortunately high water in March trated fold-up wall chart entitled Butterflies or April when the elfin would be flying makes of Greater Los Angeles, 1990 put together getting to the base of the cliff somewhat prob- by Rudi Mattoni. Rudi had called the local lematical. population Emmel’s Elfin and mentioned that Somehow I managed to carefully bush- it was an undescribed subspecies of Moss’ whack my way to the base of the cliff without Elfin and further that it was “Highly local, taking an unseasonable swim and could see restricted to cliffside habitats in the San it was covered in stonecrop! This was a good Gabriel Mountains.” The foodplant was listed sign. Unfortunately the base and most of the as spathulifolium (or Pacific stonecrop) cliff was in shadow (which is, of course, why a member of the Crassulaceae family. More the stonecrop grows there). However I noticed recently, the subspecies was described in a that high up on the cliff were some places paper by John Emmel, Thomas Emmel, and where the sun reached. I found a groove in the Sterling Mattoon as mossii hida- cliff which functions as an intermittent water kupa. The subspecific name, Hidakupa refers fall and looked like it might be a way up to the to the local Gabrieliño Indian name for the San coveted sunshine. Gabriel Mountains. After about 20 feet (it felt like a mile) of When I next saw Rudi, I asked him inching up the cliff face, I made the mistake of exactly where in the San Gabriel Mountains looking down. As any cat that has been stuck I might find this butterfly. He told me that the up a tree knows, it is always easier going up butterfly had been found in the eastern end than coming down. I have a touch of acropho- of the San Gabriel Mountains (Los Angeles bia and I was pretty sure I would have to go County) where its stonecrop foodplant grew. down the same way I came up and I abso- He suggested it might be a waste of time to lutely froze for about 10 minutes. During that look in the San Gabriel Mountains because he time, pictures flashed through my mind of my understood that some unscrupulous collectors rescue by a helicopter being broadcast on the 9 ) plants and a little had dug up all of the foodplants to raise the o’clock news with commentator saying some- caterpillars. However, he mentioned that there thing about, “ the dumb butterfly watcher” and was a disjunct (and southernmost) population I realized that if I was going to be embarrassed of stonecrop at Malibu Creek State Park, in in front of the whole world, I wanted to at the nearby Santa Monica Mountains, where I least find my life Moss’ Elfin first. With that might look. in mind, vowing to not even think of looking When searchingfoodplants. forstonecrop Moss’ Top: Elfins,Abright stonecropwith ait green fewhelps inlive-forever moss bloomto have on in asearch late cold( May. dayimages in Bottom: late for March.their Pacific 14 American Butterflies,Summer/Fall 2006 15