Flora and Phytogeography of the Bodie Hills of Μονο County, California and Mineral County, Nevada, Usa
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FLORA AND PHYTOGEOGRAPHY OF THE BODIE HILLS OF ΜΟΝΟ COUNTY, CALIFORNIA AND MINERAL COUNTY, NEVADA, USA by Timothy C. Messick A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Humboldt State University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts June, 1982 FLORA AND PHYTOCEOGRAPHY OF THE BODIE HILL OF MONO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA AND MINERAL COUNTY, NEVADA, USA by Timothy C. Messick We certify that we have read this study and that it conforms to acceptable standards of scholarly presentation and j fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Arts. Major Professor Approved by the Graduate Dean 111 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Figures iv List of Tables iv Abbreviations v Acknowledgements vi INTRODUCTION 1 Description of the Study Area 2 Physiography 2 Climate and Weather 10 Vegetation 13 Rare Plants 25 History of Botanical Collecting 31 Methods 33 Phytogeography of the Bodie Hills 35 Geology and Geologic History 35 Vegetational and Climatic History 45 History of Land Use 51 Origins of the Bodie Hills Floristic Assemblage 61 VASCULAR PLANTS OF THE BODIE HILlS 74 LITEPATURE CITED 284 iv LIST OF FIGURES l. Location of thesis study area. 4 2. Map of the Bodie Hills. 5 3. Bodie from Geiger Grade. 6 4. Bodie Mountain from Geiger Grade. 6 5. Potato Peak from Bodie Mountain. 7 6. Clearwater Canyon. 7 7. Mormon Meadow. 8 LIST OF TABlES 1. Climatic averages for Bodie and Bridgeport, 1965-1979. 12 2. Mean annual temperature extremes. 12 3. Numerical tabulation of Bodie Hills taxa in relation to overall distribution patterns. 63 4. Present centers of distribution of Bodie Hills taxa. 64-69 ν ABBREVIATIONS BP before present C Celcius (degrees) ca. circa (approximately) CA California Ck. Creek cm centimeter(s) Cn. Canyon dm decimeter(s) ft feet Mdw. Meadow mi mile (s) mm millimeter(s) Mt. Mount Mtn. Mountain MY million years NV Nevada Pk. Peak sect. section ssp. subspecies subg. subgenus var. variety vs. versus (as opposed to) For the abbreviations of author's names, consult Munz (1959: 1551-1576). ν1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank Dr. James P. Smith, Jr . , my thesis com- mittee chairman, for his generous help and advice throughout the writing of this flora. Dr. John Sawyer provided many useful comments, particularly on the discussions of vegeta- tion and phytogeography. Drs. Richard Hurley and Michael Mesler also helped me to improve and correct the manuscript. Additionally, thanks are due to Thomas Nelson, curator of the Humboldt State University Herbarium, for his help in using the collection and identifying specimens. Further help in identifying specimens came from Dr. James Reveal (Eriogonum), Dr. Richard Andrus (Sphagnum) and Dr. Dean Taylor (various taxa) . Some of the data on rare plants were provided by Dr. Richard Halse, Matt Lavin, Ann Pinzl (of the Northern Nevada Native Plant Society) and Rick York (of the California Natural Diversity Data Base) . Clare Hardham, Alice Howard and Jack Reveal supplied some of the information on previous collections in the Bodie Hills. Lewis Boll, Charlotte Chamberlain, Jim Morrison and Garth Portillo (all of the Bureau of Land Management, Bakersfield District) provided information on various aspects of the study area. vii Grants were provided by the California Native Plant So- ciety for fieldwork and by the HSU Biology Graduate Student Association for thesis production. INTRODUCTION This thesis presents a flora of the vascular plants of the Bodie Hills, a small mountain range adjacent to the Si- erra Nevada on the western edge of the Great Basin. Keys are provided for the identification of all taxa, and voucher specimens are cited. It also presents a discussion of the region's phytogeography, based on a review of historical events and an analysis of present distributional patterns in the flora. The Bodie hills are of floristic and biogeographic in- terest for a variety of reasons. They have been briefly vi- sited several times in the past by botanical collectors, but the area has never been subjected to intensive floristic scrutiny. They are an area in which two major floristic ele- ments (Sierran and Great Basin) have intermingled under the influence of frequent and rapid geological and climatic changes since the Pliocene. The range also lies in an area of high neοendemism among plant species (Stebbins & Major 1965). Although numerous rare plants had been reported from the area prior to the beginning of this study, the distribu- tion and status of all were poorly known. Here, as elsewhere, there are increasing threats to the 2 integrity of the natural vegetation. It is hoped that the present study will facilitate the protection and management of this resource as well as contribute to the floristic knowledge of eastern California and the western Intermoun- tain Region. Description of the Study Area Physiography The Bodie Hills are a range of low mountains and large hills east of the central portion of California's Sierra Ne- vada Mountains, on the western edge of the Great Basin (Fig. 1). The range is a roughly triangular area between 38°04' and 38°25' north latitude; and 118°46' and 11°°14' west longitude. Approximately two-thirds of the area is in Mono County, California. Except for a very small area in Lyon County, Nevada, in the extreme north, the remaining third is in Mineral County, Nevada. The area is covered by four U. S. Geological Survey topographic quadrangles in the 15-minute (l:62,500) series: Aurora (NV/CA) , Bodie (CA) , Bridgeport (CA/NV) , and Trench Canyon (CA/NV) . It is also 3 found on the Topaz Lake (NV/CA) map in the 1:250,000 series. Immediately south of the Bodie Hills is Mono Basin, containing Mono Lake (about 6400 ft above sea level) . To the west lies Bridgeport Valley (6500 ft) and the town of Bridgeport. Between these two depressions the southwest corner of the thesis area is joined to the Sierra Nevada by Conway Summit at 8140 ft. The canyon of the East Walker River separates the Bodie Hills from the Sweetwater Moun- tains to the northwest and from the Bald Mountain - Pine Grove Hills area to the north. To the northeast Mud Spring Valley separates the Bodie Hills from the southern Wassuk Range. To the southeast the Bodie Hills are separated from the Anchorite Hills by Alkali Valley and from Cedar Hill by Trench Canyon. As a topographic unit, the Bodie Hills encompass about 390 square miles of terrain. Elevations within this area range from 6000 ft, in the far north, to 10,236 ft, with most of the country being between 7000 and 9000 ft. Six prominent peaks exceed 9000 ft. These are in descending order: Potato Peak (10,236 ft) , Bodie Mountain (10,195 ft) , the Brawley Peaks (middle summit 9545 ft, east and west sum- mits ca. 9450 ft) , Mount Hicks (9413 ft) , Masonic Mountain (east summit 9217 ft, west summit ca. 9150 ft) , and Beauty Peak (9018 ft) . A prominent north-south axis through the 4 Figure 1. Map showing location of the thesis study area. 5 Figure 2, Map of the Bodie Hills, 6 Fig. 3. Bodie from the northeast on Geiger Grade. Mono Basin and White Mountains in distance. Fig. 4. Bodie Mountain (north slope) from Geiger Grade. 7 Fig. 5. Potato Peak from north slope of Bodie Mountain. Hulsea algida in foreground. Fig. 6. Clearwater Canyon. 8 Fig. 7. Mormon Meadow. 9 center of the Bodie Hills is created by (north to south) Ma- sonic Mountain, Potato Peak and Bodie Mountain. There are two principal watersheds in the Bodie Hills. The southern periphery drains into Mono Basin, while the central and northern areas (divided into eastern and western components by the Masonic Mountain - Bodie Mountain axis) drains into the East Walker Piver and thence to Walker Lake. There are many streams in the area. Most are intermittent, however, and even the largest may become sluggish or stag- nant in the late summer. The larger streams include Rough Creek, draining northeastward from Potato Peak and Bodie Mountain; Clearwater Creek, draining southwestward from the same two peaks; and Bodie Creek, which arises above the town of Bodie and flows through the east-central Bodie Hills. Springs of various sizes occur throughout the range. In ad- dition to those shown on the topographic maps are many per- ennial seeps. Two sets of hot springs near Bridgeport are heavily mineralized. A small lake near the Chemung Mine at the northwest base of Masonic Mountain retains water throughout the year, but is much reduced in size by late summer. A pair of playas southwest of Beauty Peak dry out completely in most years. The exact boundaries of the thesis area are as follows. (cf. Fig. 2): The southern edge conforms roughly to the 7000 10 ft contour. It is defined by the northern limits of the la- custrine deposits (and their accompanying distinct vegeta- tion) of Mono Basin, Trench Canyon and Alkali Valley. The western boundary is defined by the eastern shoulders of Highways 395 and 182 and toward the north by the eastern edge of the riparian vegetation along the East Walker River. Minor deviations occur mainly near Bridgeport, where the meadow vegetation east of Highway 395 is excluded. Valley and riparian habitats occurring along the western boundaries and not representative of the Bodie Hills proper have been strictly excluded from the flora. The northern and north-- - eastern boundaries are vague, as there are no clear physical or vegetational discontinuities between the Bodie Hills and the adjacent valleys. They conform roughly to the 6000 ft contour in Lyon County and the 6400 ft contour in Mineral County, and generally exclude areas below the pinyon-juniper forest.