Tamarix growing in alkaline soil along year round stream in Pushwalla Canyon.
Saltcedar (Tamarix ramosissima) Introduced/naturalized, perennial, highly invasive shrub or small tree that grows up to 8m (26ft) tall. It is found in arid deserts, often in washes, seasonal stream beds, and in alkaline soils. It consumes large amounts of groundwater in riparian and oases habitats and is becoming alarmingly widespread. Scale-like leaves in feathery branchlets may appear pale orange in winter.
Tamarix (genus) are Introduced water hogs in the desert landscape. They were originally planted along the railroad borders as windbreaks. and by settlers for shade. They do provide habitat for owls and other large birds that need to roost in large trees, but it's a very controversial tree.
Jepson eFlora https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=46076
Anza-Borrego Desert Wildflowers https://borregowildflowers.org/?type=search&searchtype=S&family=&name=Tamarix%20ramosissima
Baja California Plant Field Guide, Jon P. Rebman, Norman C. Roberts, 3rd. ed, 2012, p. 392.
Shrubs and Trees of the Southern California Deserts. Jim W. Dole and Betty B. Rose, Foot-loose Press, 1996, p. 70.
Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants, Lowell John Bean and K. Saubel, Malki Museum Press, 1972
CalFlora's Southern California Plant Communities http://www.calflora.net/botanicalnames/plantcommunities.html
Plants of Southern California: Regional Floras http://tchester.org/plants/floras/#abdsp (comprehensive website)
Native and Introduced Plants of Southern California by Tom Chester http://tchester.org/plants/index.html
T. ramosissima or a hybrid. Here is a paper about these species: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.132403299 Either way, it's non-native and invasive.
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Coachella Valley Preserve: For many thousands of years, particles of sand from the San Bernardino Mountains and Indio Hills washed into the Coachella Valley forming a system of sand dunes. Today, these dunes are part of the Coachella Valley Preserve System, a 20,000-acre sanctuary.
The Coachella Valley Preserve also contains several palm oases that sit on top of San Andreas Fault lines. Underground water rises to the surface through these cracks. California Fan Palms (Washingtonia filifera) grow along the cracks where the water seeps up creating a desert oases. Many plant species thrive in the alkaline soil.
Coachella Valley sits at the convergence of four vast ecological systems - the Colorado (or Sonoran) Desert, the Mojave Desert, and the coastal and peninsular mountain ranges.
https://www.blm.gov/visit/coachella-valley-preserve
