Plant Hunting Along Spitler Trail in the San Jacinto Mountains

Today we hiked over 7 miles into the San Jacinto Mountains, about 5,800 feet above sea level.

Again, we were collecting vascular plants. Has anyone figured out what vascular plants are? What does that mean?

It's amazing how the terrain changed. At first we were in t-shirts down at the valley floor, but as we drove up the mountains, the weather was cold and misty and had to put on layers of clothing. Even so, the structure of the plants changed as well. Some of the plants we encountered at lower elevations were also found at higher elevations. However, the plants' structures were slightly different. For example, we encountered a flower bush that was pretty tall at a lower elevation but was shorter at a higher elevation. Why do you think this is the case? Hmmm...try to answer this question and earn bonus points!