Yosemite Deer and Deer Brush along the Deer Camp Road Trail

The wildflowers along the Deer Camp Road Trail brightened my day as I jogged this morning!  The clouds did their part as well....to brighten my day.  I hope you enjoy the picture of the purple sky with the pink ray...and the top of the pine tree.

There was a brief drizzle of rain earlier in the morning....or as John Muir writes in The Yosemite,  "A slight sprinkle of rain- large drops far apart- falling with hearty pat and plash on leaves and stones and into the mouths of the flowers......."

All the beautiful scenery before me....the landscape, the purple sky and clouds....and all the pretty flowers in bloom....made me smile.  There were plenty of flowering strawberry plants;  I ate my first strawberry today...from an early bloomer.

But on this day...I thought....

How special that along the Deer Camp Road Trail, the special beauty today is the Deer Brush (Ceanothus integerrimus). The white deer brush and purple lupine growing together along trail trail made for a pretty sight.  Simple elegance.  I hope the picture I took of the scene before me.....invites you to take a hike along the trail....to be welcomed by some of its hospitable flowers.....especially, by those of the deer brush.Deer Brush belongs to the Buckthorn Family.

It is a shrub. The leaves are simple.  The flowers are small, regular and in small umbels (umbrella-like), these often in large clusters.  The fluffy panicles * of white flowers, occasionally tinged with blue, resemble the form of the domestic lilac, hence another common name, California Lilac. This shrub may grow to heights of 10 to 12 feet.

*panicles (the cluster of flowers with secondary branches)  The flowering deer brush is plentiful on this trail today...and growing along the slopes along HWY 41 between 5000-7000- feet in elevation.  In The Yosemite, John Muir writes, "The different species of ceanothus usually associated with manzanita are flowery fragrant and altogether delightful shrubs, growing in glorious abundance, not only in the Valley, but high up in the forest on sunny or half-shaded ground.

In the sugar-pine woods the most beautiful species is C. integerrimus, often called Californian lilac, or deer brush  It is five or six feet high with slender branches, glossy foliage, and abundance of blue flowers in close, showy panicles."

A Sierra Nevada Flora by Norman F. Weeden:  states:

C. integerrimus...flowers are usually white.....flowers white to dark blue or pink.   Various habitats below 7000'...blooming May-July...stems loosely branched...leaves ovate to oblong...flower clusters mostly branched, peduncles about as long.  peduncles......the stalk on  inflorescence such as an umbel inflorescence...the cluster of flowers on a plant umbel....an inflorescence in which all the pedicels arise at the same point on the peduncle pedicel.....the stalk on a single flower.

A list of some of the flowers in bloom today forget-me-not mustag clover buttercup violet few kinds of lupine lilac.....ceanothus integerrimus. In the words of John Muir, "This last, however common, is here making shows of strong, exuberant, abounding beauty to set the botanist wild with admiration."

How special that along the Deer Camp Road trail, the special beauty today is the Deer Brush (Ceanothus integerrimus)....and yes, the deer browsing on its leaves.  

Let Scenic Wonders book you and your family a beautiful vacation cabin located near the beautiful Deer Camp Road Trail.  The trail is special to the locals and visitors to Yosemite West.

ardi...please keep this closing...terrific was my dad's favorite word, and my name gives blog a personal touch....do you still want a blurb about me....would it be useful for SW ratings...with google?

Another terrific day in Yosemite