The climate of the Sierra Nevada varies from hot desert (similar to the Sahara) at its eastern base to an artic-alpine climate only a few miles away on the highest peaks. However, most of the Sierra Nevada is enjoys a Mediterranean (low temperature) climate that dominates the Sierra below about 6000-7000 ft. (where I am currently visiting). These climates are characterized by warm to hot dry summers and cool to cold wet winters.
As was true of my visit to Florida, I am unfamiliar with the standard flora of this region. Hailing from New England, the alpine/desert mix is fascinating, inspiring and confounding. I've included a few photos from my morning walks, gloriously illumined by morning haze, sunlight and dew. I have not, as yet, pinpointed the proper names of these simple yet generous prairie grasses.
Common grasses and shrubs that thrive here include:
- Yellow Monkeyflowers, Orange Alpine Lilies, Yellow Arrow-leaved Butterweed
- Purple Tower Delphinium and Yellow Buttercups
- A strange red plant called a Snowplant
- Low growing Evergreen Squaw Carpet
- Mountain shrubs: Deer Brush and Tobacco Brush
- Mountain Mules’ Ears: large fuzzy leaves that look like donkey ears
- Sagebrush and Bitterbrush
- Willows: common water loving shrubs that grow in meadows and along creeks
- Cow Parsnips: flat-topped clusters of blossoms that form one point like an umbrella
Other prairie grasses include:
- Prairie Dropseed [Sporobolus heterolepis]
- Little Bluestem [Schizachyrium scoparium]
- Switchgrass [Panicum virgatum]
- Indiangrass [Sorghastrum nutans]
