Wildflowers in Rackensack Canyon to Lower Camp Creek

Rackensack Canyon and Camp Creek is a stretch of riparian habitat located a short distance northeast of Carefree, Maricopa Co., Arizona. Rackensack Wash crosses the Seven Springs Road (FR-24) about 8 km north of the Bartlet Dam Road turnoff.

Motor vehicle access to upper Camp Creek is limited to lease holders in the cottage enclave along the wooded creek. Foot access along Rackensack Canyon from Seven Springs Road is easy and offers several kilometers up and down canyon to explore. Upper Camp Creek is a gallery riparian woods dominated by willows, cottonwoods and sycamores. Lower Camp Creek appears drier and drier as it approaches the Verde River because the water is further below the sand and alluvium. Wildflowers can be found blooming in any month. The best months for flowers are February through May and then again August through October. The careful observer will find that shady coves, beneath evergreen trees, beneath deciduous trees, sandy bottoms, gravelly terraces and rocky slopes all have their unique suite of wildflowers.

Map of Rackensack and Camp Creek, Maricopa Co., Arizona

Camp Creek flows southeast and eventually joins the Verde River. For most of its stretch it is dry most of the year - on the surface that is. Mesquite, Desert Willow and Fremont Cottonwood are indicators of the more-or-less reliable subsurface flow of water.

Spring Wildflowers (obs. May 2008)

Red Flowers

1. Indian Paintbrush -- Castilleja applegatei
2. Hackberry Beard-tongue -- Pentstemon subulatus
3. Red Brome Grass -- Bromus rubens

Orange Flowers

1. Orange Fiddleneck -- Amsinckia intermedia
2. California Poppy -- Eschscholzia californica
3. Desert Globe Mallow -- Sphaeralcia ambigua

White Flowers

1. Abert's Buckwheat -- Eriogonum abertianum
2. Prickly Poppy -- Argemone spp. spp.
3. Peppergrass -- Lepidium lasiocarpum
4. Sacred Datura -- Datura wrightii
5. Horehound -- Marrubium vulgare
6. Fleabane -- Erigeron sp.
7. Spurges -- Chamaesyce spp.

Greenish Flowers

1. Prostrate Pigweed -- Amaranthus albus
2. Beardless Rabbitfoot Grass -- Polypogon viridis
3. Water Bentgrass -- Agrostis semiverticillata
4. Wild Oats -- Avena fatua
5. Woolly Plantain -- Plantago patagonica
6. Burstwort -- Herniaria cinerea

Purple/Blue Flowers

1. Bigelow's Aster -- Machaeranthera bigelovii
2. Water Speedwell -- Veronica anagallis-aquatica
3. Nutall's Snapdragon -- Antirrhinum nutallianum
4. Chia -- Salvia columbariae
5. Wild Petunia -- Calibrachoa parviflora

Pink/Lavender Flowers

1. Paiute False Bindweed -- Calystegia longipes
2. Dakota Mock Vervain -- Glandularia pinnatifida
3. New Mexico Thistle -- Cirsium neomexicanum
4. Red-stemmed Fillaree -- Erodium cicutarium
5. Yellowthroat Gilia -- Gilia flavocincta

Yellow/Cream Flowers

1. Stick-leaf -- Mentzelia pumila
2. Twinberry -- Menodora scabra
3. Chaparral Honeysuckle -- Lonicera interupta
4. Foothill Deervetch -- Lotus humistratus
5. Downy Monkeyflower -- Mimetanthe pilosa
6. Pineapple Weed -- Matricaria discoidea
7. London Rocket -- Sisymbrium irio
8. Whispering Bells -- Emmenanthe penduliflora
9. California Sundrop -- Camissonia californica

There is a great variety of yellow flowers to be found in the Sonoran Desert. This one is Downy Monkeyflower which tends to grow in damp sandy soil not far from the wash.

Summer Wildflowers (obs. August and September 2008)

Red Flowers

1. Scarlet Spiderling -- Boerhavia coccinea
2. Scarlet Four-O'clock -- Mirabilis coccinea
3. Snapdragon Vine -- Maurandella antirrhiniflora

White Flowers

1. Prickly Poppy -- Argemone spp.
2. Sacred Datura -- Datura wrightii
3. Milkweed Vine -- Funastrum cyanchoides
4. Nightshade -- Solanum douglasii
5. Wright's Buckwheat -- Eriogonum wrightii
6. Waterweed -- Baccharis sergiloides

Greenish Flowers

1. New Mexico Ditaxis -- Argythamnia neomexicana
2. Needle Grama -- Bouteloua aristidoides
3. Fluff Grass -- Erioneuron pulchellum
4. Bermuda Grass -- Cynodon dactylon
5. Rothrock Grama Bouteloua rothrockii

Purple/Blue Flowers

1. Canyon Morning-glory -- Ipomoea barbatisepala

Pink/Lavender Flowers

1. Colorado Four O'Clock -- Mirabilis multiflora
2. Dakota Mock Vervain -- Glandularia pinnatifida
3. Spiderling -- Boerhavia intermedia
4. Trailing Four O'Clock -- Allionia incarnata
5. Wire Lettuce -- Stephanomeria pauciflora
6. Desert Wishbone Bush -- Mirabilis laevis
7. Clammy Weed -- Polanisia trachysperma

Yellow/Cream Flowers

1. Nightshade -- Solanum douglasii
2. Desert Tobacco -- Nicotiana obtusifolia
3. Stick-leaf -- Mentzelia pumila
4. Desert Senna -- Senna covesii
5. Desert Marigold -- Baileya multiradiata
6. Sweet Bush -- Bebbia juncea
7. Desert Trumpet -- Eriogonum inflatum
8. Turpentine Bush -- Ericameria laricifolia
9. Desert Rock Pea -- Lotus rigidus
10. Camphor Weed -- Heterotheca subaxilaris
11. Finger-leaved Gourd -- Cucurbita digitata
12. Bladder-Mallow -- Herissantia crispa

There is a great variety of tubular red flowers to be found in the Sonoran Desert, particularly in canyons and along riparian washes. This one is Scarlet Four-O'clock (Mirabilis coccinea).

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