Endangered milk vetch star of this year's desert wildflower show

Nicole C. Brambila

A combination of heavy winter rains and good old-fashioned luck means a rare wildflower is in full bloom this season: the Coachella Valley milk vetch.

“The plant is naturally rare because it's only found in the Coachella Valley, of all the places on the planet,” said Ileene Anderson, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity.

The milk vetch, which blooms from February to May, is relatively easy to identify by its purple and blue flowers and grayish-green leaves.

“Usually, it's one of the rarest plants, but this year it'll be the one we see in most abundance,” said Jim Cornett, author of “Coachella Valley Wildflowers.”

“I couldn't believe it. It's very impressive.”

Also called the “loco weed,” the plant is toxic and can be fatal if eaten. Animals that have digested it behave strangely — acting disoriented, stumbling, running in circles — giving it its moniker, Cornett said.

Urban development and off-highway vehicles threaten the dune system in which the milk vetch thrives.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife designated the Coachella Valley milk vetch an endangered species in 1998.

“We still have to be mindful about not developing the habitat,” Anderson said.

As for other wildflowers, a spectacular wildflower season comes once a decade in the Coachella Valley, and this won't be one of them, Cornett predicts.

While December's record rain — 3 inches more than usual — is good for milk vetch, it won't necessarily translate into a stunning season for all wildflowers.

For that, heavy rain needs to come in the fall, Cornett said.

Temperatures also have to be just right for a good wildflower show. Too cool, as the desert saw the first of the year, and the valley could have a stunted season.

“Whenever we get a freeze, that retards the bloom,” Cornett said. “We always do best with a warm winter.”

Still, it will be enough to wow visiting relatives.

“This is a year where you'll want to stay in the upper end of the valley,” Cornett said. “It will be impressive, even to my mother-in-law.”

From yellow to purple, some of the valley's species started to bloom in February, but March will be the peak.

To celebrate the season, Friends of the Desert Mountains will host its annual Wildflower Festival on Saturday.

Formed in 1987, the Palm Desert nonprofit organization works to acquire preserve land in the Coachella Valley for education, conservation and research.

Festival admission is free, and there will be food booths, artists and exhibitors, kids activities and wine-tasting.

Don't want to wait until then?

Other hot spots to gaze at wildflowers are just a quick drive away:

Edom Hill, near the transfer station at Date Palm Drive and Varner Road.

Indian Canyons, at the end of South Palm Canyon Drive.

Vacant lots in Palm Springs and Cathedral City.

Evil's Garden, off Mission Creek Road in Desert Hot Springs.

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Source: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20110301/LIFESTYLES0106/103010305/Endangered-milk-vetch-star-year-s-desert-wildflower-show

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