Jalama Beach Road - March 30, 31 2007
On a Santa Barbara Botanic Garden tour of three Lompoc areas of floristic interest, a short stop was made some 5-6 miles along the Jalama Beach Road at Jualachichi Summit. The Jualachichi Summit area is interesting because of a number of relictual endemic species growing there; species that are more suited to redwood habitat than other local habitats. (Relict - an organism that was abundant at an earlier time but currently found in a just a few places.) Redwood-type habitat consists of trees and shrubs usually found in the cool redwood forests of the Northern Coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada - and is present in only a few north-facing slopes in Santa Barbara county, one of which is Jualachichi Summit. Others are Linevan Canyon, Painted Cave and north-facing areas of Santa Ynez Mountains.
Some of this vegetation can be seen along a short area of the Jalama Beach road and includes: California Huckleberry (Taccinium ovatum), Tanbark Oak (Lithocarpus densiflorus), Bishop Pine (Pinus muricata) and Refugio Manzanita (Arctostaphylos refugioensis).
(Bishop Pine)
A follow-up trip was made on March 31 for more pictures, but more importantly to follow the road all the way to Jalama Beach to view the Giant Coreopsis that grow along the cliffs overlooking the beach. Some scattered Coreopsis plants also grow up to about a mile inland. The timing was a little late - should have been a couple weeks earlier.
(Giant Coreopsis - click image to open larger image)
(Giant Coreopsis - click image to open larger image)
About a mile inland from the beach, there is a panorama of hills covered with Purple Sage.
(Purple Sage, Oak Woodland along Jalama Creek inflows - click image to open larger picture)
The road to the beach mostly runs along Jalama Creek, surrounded by Southern Oak Woodland habitat of ecological importance. Some of the trees found in this habitat include Southern California Black Walnut (Juglans californica), of which the nearest population is about 30 miles aways - making it a disjunct, and the westernmost, population. Other trees are Black Cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa) and Pacific Willow (Salix lasiandra).
(Southern California Black Walnut)
Links of interest:
Jalama Ranch
Huckleberry
Photo Album
Click on icon to see Jalama Beach Road photos on Flickr.
Just love all of these photographs! I love the colors you were able to capture!
April 3rd, 2007 | #
Thanks for the comment - I am working on another post from the last three days - was very busy taking photographs - and probably will be for the next several weekends. Just getting all the ducks in a row for this new undertaking - blogging.
April 3rd, 2007 | #