Shockley goldenheads, Acamptopappus shockleyi (30132668327)

Description:

Summary[edit] Description: Shockley goldenheads, Acamptopappus shockleyi, California, White Mountains, McAfee Creek, Fishlake Valley drainage, elevation 1660 m (5445 ft). This subshrub species is found only in the transition zone from the northern Mojave Desert to the southern Great Basin desert of southern Nevada and adjacent eastern California, on dry rocky slopes and alluvium at elevations below about 2000 meters (6600 feet). It seems to have a preference for calcareous soils, such as the decomposing carbonate gravel here, but has also been seen on granitic alluvium. Several other plant species from this region are also named after William Hillman Shockley (1855-1925), who among many talents was a mining engineer and plant collector based out of the mining town of Candelaria, Nevada, in the 1880s, where he collected the type specimen for this species. The especially vigorous response of this plant to the winter rains of 2017 brings to mind a passage from my favorite writer: "The desert floras shame us with their cheerful adaptations to the seasonal limitations. Their whole duty is to flower and fruit, and they do it hardly, or with tropical luxuriance, as the rain admits." (Mary Austin, 1903, The Land of Little Rain). Date: 30 April 2017, 13:12. Source: Shockley goldenheads, Acamptopappus shockleyi. Author: Jim Morefield from Nevada, USA. Camera location37° 38′ 03.7″ N, 118° 05′ 43.55″ W View all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap 37.634361; -118.095431.