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Science & Medicine

Stalking wildflowers in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Colorful brittle bush blooms reach for the sky at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Whether there is a "super bloom" or just a sprinkling of flowers, a small, dedicated group of botanists and flower enthusiasts treks through the park searching for flowers and reporting its findings.

Colorful brittle bush blooms reach for the sky at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Whether there is a “super bloom” or just a sprinkling of flowers, a small, dedicated group of botanists and flower enthusiasts treks through the park searching for flowers and reporting its findings.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is a flower lover’s paradise. The 640,000-acre park is home to more than 1,000 species of plants

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Tom Chester and Kate Harper study a tiny Cryptantha flower they found.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Botanist Kate Harper takes a closer look at a tiny flower under her loupe.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Spanish needles (Palafoxia arida) in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Spectacle pod (Dithyrea californica) in bloom at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

The tiny bloom of the Cryptantha ganderi at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park is hard to see with the naked eye.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

A blister beetle nibbles on a brittle bush flower in the Glorietta Canyon area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Barrel cactus (Ferocactus cylindraceus) isn’t a wildflower, but is a happy member of the plant community in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Desert lavender blooming in the Glorietta Canyon area of Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

The blooms of a sand verbena (Abronia villosa) are just about to open in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

The delicate flower of the wishbone bush (Mirabilis laevis var. retrorsa) opens only in the late afternoon at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Chuparosa blooms are illuminated by the setting sun in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

A desert lily (Hesperocallis undulata) emerges at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Sand verbena (Abronia villosa) add a dash of color at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Sandmat or rattlesnake weed (Euphorbia melanadenia) blooming at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

The leaf of the apricot mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Brown-eyed primrose (Chylismia claviformis) bloom at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

A white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar chews though foliage at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

A small cluster of desert sand verbena hugs the desert floor at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park

Chuparosa bush in Glorietta Canyon at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

  (Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times)

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