Botanical Explorations in the San Jacinto Mountains

Join us for our May Chapter Meeting with Don Rideout, who will share highlights from his botanical explorations in the San Jacinto Mountains.

The San Jacinto Mountains offer some of the most interesting high-elevation botanizing in Southern California. Their forests, meadows, seeps, and rocky slopes support a distinctive flora, including species not found in San Diego County and a number of local endemics.

Don will highlight species such as lemon lily (Lilium parryi), one of the most striking wildflowers of the range, along with other rare and endemic plants.

Drawing on years of hiking and botanizing in the area with Tom Chester and others, he brings both botanical insight and field experience to this exploration.

About the speaker

Don Rideout is a Southern California native from Ventura County, a CNPS San Diego member, longtime native plant gardener, and field botanist. Before retiring, he worked for the City of Carlsbad, primarily on the city’s NCCP Subarea Plan, approved in 2004. He also helped found Native Plants for Encinitas (NP4E) and has been instrumental in supporting the City of Encinitas’ move toward a native plant ordinance and the creation of its native plant demonstration garden. He describes himself as an iNaturalist addict with no intention of quitting.

Chapter Meeting Details

6:15 PM Doors open for browsing, socializing, and book/merch sales
7:00 PM Brief meeting announcements
7:10 PM Presentation followed by Q&A
8:30 PM Speaker meet-and-greet, socializing, and book sales
9:00 PM Meeting ends

Location
Casa del Prado, Room 101 (Balboa Park) — located across Village Place from the San Diego Natural History Museum (NAT), in the Casa del Prado Inner Courtyard.

Chapter meetings are free and open to the public. Everyone with a love for wild places, biodiversity, and community is welcome.

Missed last month’s program? The recording of Vincent Scheidt’s April talk, Brodiaea and Triteleia, is now available on our YouTube channel.