Category Archives: Nature

MORE LATE BLOOMERS

November 28, 2015

Last Wednesday Ed and I hiked in Molino Basin. We were delighted to see a number of flower species still in bloom. Perhaps the most abundant was Spreading Fleabane (Erigeron divergens). We saw hundreds of these plants in bloom.

There was also quite a few Gymnosperma plants in flower (Gymnosperma glutinosum). This is a plant that blooms almost any time of the year but seemed particularly plentiful today.

Then there was the Narrow-leaf Aster (dieteria asteroides), with its beautiful bluish-purple flowers.

Much to our surprise we found a Tufted Evening Primrose in bloom (Oenothera caespitosa). We normally see these flowers from March to July. Since it is an evening bloomer the flowers usually close by about 9 or 10 in the morning. We only saw one on this walk, around noon the day before American Thanksgiving. What a beauty.

The Squaw Bush (Rhus aromatica ver. Trilobata) was not in flower but it called out to us with its fall coloring and red fruit.

Our plant walk that day was greatly enriched by the people we met on the trail, a couple from Montana, and family from Long Island, New York to mention just a few of them.

Today I walked with another friend on the Finger Rock trail. Our bird bath was frozen solid last night, but later in the morning the warm sun made us quite comfortable as we made our way up the trail. People were coming and going with smiling faces. There were a few species in bloom, notably Leadwort (Plumbago zeylanica), with its beautiful tubular white flowers and copper-colored fall leaves.

We also saw lots of seedlings promising a glorious spring.

More Invisible Flowers

November 24, 2015

We are now toward the end of November and there are still plenty of flowers to see, some of them new to me this year. Here are three recent ones: A climbing milkweed with small, pale yellow flowers called Arizona swallow-wort (Metastelma arizonicum). Ed and I found it on the Tanque Verde Ridge Trail in Saguaro National Park East.

The Arizona Swallow-wort covering another plant

The penny gives an idea of how small the flowers are. The fruit is much bigger.

A flower bud and an opened flower.
About a week later we were on the Garwood Trail and saw a beautiful pink patch. The plants looked like they belong to the buckwheat family. We were hiking in a loop and I was sure we would see more of the same plant later, but that was not to be. When we couldn’t find any, we turned back to this patch and I got a few photographs. I did not have my super close up camera with me, so I returned that same afternoon with it, and got some pictures of the flowers. It turned out to be Palmer’s Buckwheat, Eriogonum palmerianum.

A patch of the Palmer’s Bucwheat

An individual plant, the penny giving scale.

An individual flower

I was about to leave the area when I saw a plant I had never noticed before, lying flat on the ground. This was a member of the Euphorbia family (New Mexico Silverbush, Argythamnia neomexicana), and I was happy to get some pictures.

The New Mexico Silverbush plant lying on the ground. Below is a picture of an individual flower. These are quite small.

This means that in two weeks in the middle of November we had found three more “invisible flowers” to add to my growing collection.

On my last posting I noted that one of our Golden Barrel cactuses (Echinocactus grusonii, a Mexican species) that had been hollowed out from the inside by some animal, had some new growths. Today I took these pictures to show that the growths are “pups”, or new plants. So this cactus that was almost completely hollowed out and had every reason to die a year and a half ago, is producing lots of new life. It looks like we will have eighteen new plants in the spring when I cut them off and plant them out on their own.

The gouged out Golden Barrel showing some of the 18 pups that are developing. Below a closeup of one of them.

Plant Mysteries

October 16, 2015

Today my wife and I drove along I 10 to visit the Amerind Foundation and I was impressed with the plants along many stretches of the highway especially between Tucson and Benson. I was not able to stop and take pictures because of it being a freeway, but on the return journey we found a frontage road which gave us access to a few of them. It looks like some kind of sunflower, but I do not know which one. Some of the plants were over eight feet tall. The flowers are about an inch and a half wide, and some of the leaves were over five inches long. As can be seen from the photographs, the plant is very open with rough, reddish stems. Since this is so abundant I am hoping that someone can help me to identify it.

In May 2014 I posted pictures on this blog of two of our golden barrel cacti in our front yard whose insides had been hollowed out by ground squirrels. I have been keeping my eye on them to see if they would die from this evisceration. About a year and a half later they are not only still alive, but one of them has new growth, and I can’t figure out what that growth is. The middle one was never attacked, and has been in bloom even though we are in the middle of October. One of the other two has these rosettes. Once again I am wondering if anyone knows what these rosettes are. Long ago the plant toppled over from being scoured out, and the new growths are along what is now the top of the plant and used to be the side.

The first picture shows the three barrel cacti. The one in the middle is still whole.

The second picture is a flower on the middle one, and the other two pictures show the mysterious growth.

It is amazing to me how I can walk past a plant for years – in this case about 30 – and not really notice it. I assumed it was a salt-cedar (Tamarix ramosissima), which is not native, so I did not look very closely. My friend Jim was with me on a recent trip and said it was Burro Brush (Ambrosia monogyra). This is a name I have encountered on my various plant lists and was amazed and delighted to find that it was right there in the parking lot of Gordon Hirabayashi camp ground. The plant is very woody. The photograph shows a portion of Jim’s jeep for scale. It is quite an impressive plant and is in full bloom right now. For the first time I am giving it the attention it deserves.

The days are growing shorter, and the mountain slopes are covered with large patches of yellow flowers. After a good summer rainy season, there is more rain to come, which gives us hope for a spectacular Spring.

Mountain colors

May 16, 2015

Last night it snowed high up in the Catalina mountains. I had been planning to lead a nature walk in Marshall Gulch. Three days ago I twisted my knee, not by hiking in the rocky wilderness, but by standing up after sitting in our dining room chair! Because of the snow and the wonky knee I cancelled the walk.

Among other plants I wanted to show people the Orange Gooseberry (Ribes pinetorum). Some years I have hiked in Marshall Gulch too late in the season and have missed the flowers entirely. This year Ed and I were fascinated to look at the plant with its distinctive leaves, and what we imagine is the sequence from flower to fruit. The flower buds have a touch of pink in them. When the flowers open the petals are orange to red, and curve backwards. Later it seems that they flatten out and the color fades a little. After that the petals point downward again, similar to the initial bud, and the fruit starts to form at the top.

Ed looking up at Orange Gooseberry bushes

Some of the branches

ribes pinetorumLF A single leaf

The flower bud

Ribes pinetorum 7 red An opened flower

The flower with petals splayed out

A flower on the left, and on the right the dried petals with fruit forming above them

We have seen some coral root orchids this year. These orchids have no chlorophyl. They get their nourishments from fungus at their roots.

The oak trees on the mountain are starting to bloom, with their long male catkins and nearly invisible female flowers. This time of the year on the live oaks, some of the leaves turn color before falling off.

Below looking into a Netleaf oak (Quercus rugosa) with leaves ready to drop and male flowers

Our eyes were caught by the beauty of a

spray of lupine at the end of a fallen log. The yellow flowers are Wooton’s groundsel. There are a few flowers in the mountains. Many more will come out after the summer rains begin.

NEW FLOWERS

April 29, 2015

Today Ed and I drove up the mountain, and found that last Sunday morning’s rain in Tucson was snow up on the mountain. In this picture you can see the patches alternating between snow and dry ground as the trees cast their shadows on the landscape.

The earliest Spring flowers have come and gone, but there is still plenty to see. Right now the Blue and Foothills Paloverde trees are loaded with blooms, though a little past their prime.

Walking along the sidewalk near our home I noticed a plant I had not seen before. “Too bad it is not in bloom” I thought to myself. A common error. I was able to get a photograph of the plant, lying flat on the desert, and was amazed to see that it was in bloom with tiny flowers. It is called Downy Prairie Clover, (Dalea neomexicana).

Looking straight down at the plant

The plant against the black velvet, The flowers are scarcely visible at the tips of the fuzzy white things

A typical leaf

Side view of a flower

Bottom view of a flower

Hiking with Dave in Sabino Canyon we came across this beautiful flower. As far as I know I have not seen it before. It is very attractive growing among the green foliage by the intermittent stream. It is called Arizona Centaury (Centaurium arizonicum).

A plant with several flowers

Close up of one of the flowers

Thinking of invisible flowers, I caught one of the most interesting ones just near the end of its flowering period. It is called Glandular Threadplant (Nemacladus glanduliferus). If I ever get around to publishing a book on “Invisible Flowers” this would make a nice cover. The penny gives you some idea of how small it is.

From the penny you can judge how small the plant is, and how very small the flower is

A close-up of this little beauty

We are now in late Spring or early Summer. Today Ed and I saw our first orchid. (Spring Coral Root). We look forward to seeing all kinds of flowers as the year progresses.

PLANTS AND SKUNKS

March 30, 2015

Recently Dave, Lis and I went off the beaten path to climb a hill in the front range of the Catalina Mountains. On the way I saw a large patch of Plectritis (Plectritis ciliosa). This is one of those plants that is so easily overlooked that it does not really have a common name. The plants are about six inches high, with an inflorescence that is about the size of a marble with a cluster of small flowers twisted around the head. Its name is from a Greek word which means ‘braided”. I always enjoy seeing this little plant which is not included in most wildflower guides, (not even my own, which I plan to make up for this in a future book.) I managed to get some good close-up pictures, but failed to take a wider view, showing a collection of them in their habitat. I returned two days later to photograph a group of them in their habitat, but couldn’t find a single one! A few days after that, Ed and I were exploring the plants in the Gordon Hirabayashi Camp Ground (formerly called Prison Camp), and found large patches of it. Looking down at a patch of Plectritis

A double flower head

A closer look at the flower head

An individual flower – many are pinker than this one

On a different walk Dave and I found ourselves in Bear Canyon, resting in the shade by the stream. I was interested in studying and photographing a plant that I have seen many times but not really noticed. At first it looks like a grass, but it is very different. I believe it is Swamp carex (Carex senta), one of a very large family called Sedges. Many look like grasses, but are quite different. I do not fully understand the various parts, but I believe that the pale yellow top, like a bottle brush, contains the male flowers, and that the female flowers may be lower down on the plant with yellow tips.

A patch of Swamp carex in the stream bed, with previous years’ leaves forming a massive mat

A look at a single plant with the inflorescence

The penny gives scale to this picture of the flower parts of the Carex

A close up – with all kinds of fascinating bits and pieces

Last Saturday, on a very pleasant nature walk with the Arizona Native Plant Society, we saw many flowers of interest. Walking back by the road we couldn’t help noticing how much the ground around many of the prickly pear cactus were all dug up. Various theories were advanced until one person knew the answer. This is Skunk work. Evidently skunks love burrowing around the roots of the cactus to get grubs, beetles, and other goodies.
The ground around a Prickly pear dug up by skunks
On recent walks I have come across two new flowers. One must be one of the chickweeds, (Cerastium), and the other looks like a petunia. Since this is in a camp site, I suspect that the petunia was planted by one of the campers or the camp director. It is very pretty, but looks out of place in this mountain setting.

The mystery chickweed

The Petunia (or whatever it is)

Flowers at the top

March 19, 2015

February 13th was a beautiful day on the mountains. Dave and I went looking for some Iris plants I saw last year to see if there might be signs of them this early. Nothing. But then, on the west end of the Butterfly trail, the delightful Red Fuzz Saxifrage plants (Saxifraga eriophora) were starting up. With their mixture of red and green leaves, red flower stalk, and white or pink flowers, they are quite a sight. Some years I have even seen them poking through the snow. I went there again today and caught a picture of a flower cluster, glistening from the recent rain. It was a cool day on the mountain (38 degrees), and the flowers looked like they were doing fine.

Looking down on the Red Fuzz Saxifrage plants

A close-up with my thumb giving scale

Another close-up wet with recent rain
We also saw Periwinkle and Dandelion at 8000 feet. The beautiful Valerian (used as a medicinal plant for sleep problems) has buds and soon will be in bloom (Valeriana arizonica).

Periwinkle (Vinca Major) already in bloom

My watercolor painting of Valerian

Jim and I were driving along on our way home from botanizing in the desert. Out of the clear blue sky I asked him to tell me about Tackstem (Calycoseris wrightii). He wondered why I asked the question, and I explained that my chief Botanical advisor on the Flower book, Joan, had come to the conclusion that Tackstem does not occur on the Catalina mountains, and is fairly rare in this part of Arizona. If we see a white flower like this in the Catalina Mountains it is almost certainly Desert Chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana). He agreed, and said that sometimes, depending on weather conditions, etc, Tackstem may be found along some road sides. The flowers of the two are nearly identical, but the Tackstem has little tack-shaped glands growing along the stem, and base of the flowers.

Chicory flower

Tackstem flower

Chicory at the base of the flower

Base of the Tackstem showing the glands

A few minutes later I noticed some white flowers out of the corner of my eye and I suggested we stop and have a look. When we got out of the car and walked back to the flowers, we found that they were Tackstems! This is the first time I had ever met and photographed the plant.

Every time we go out, we see more flowers in bloom. On a recent hike I counted over 60 different flowering species. What a treat.

THE DESERT IN BLOOM

March 7, 2015

The forest floor in Saguaro National Park East is carpeted in green, like a well tended
golf course. But what looks like grass is really thousands and thousands of small plants with tiny white flowers in the Borage family, possibly Bearded Cryptantha ( Cryptantha barbigera. )

Bearded Cryptantha

Three of the women admiring a Saguaro

Yesterday a group of women accompanied me in search of an interesting plant there: Texas Desert Rue, (Thamnosa [Greek – Smelly Shrub] Texana). It grows only a foot or two high, and has very small dark red flowers and a distinctive and pleasant (to my taste) odor. It is also called Dutchman’s Breeches, because of the shape of the fruit. It is harmful to livestock because it causes them to be oversensitive to light. The plant we were looking for was in a wash (dry river bed). This involved a fairly long walk in sand, which I found a little tiring. After we located and photographed it, we continued along the wash until we joined a trail to head back to our vehicles. After a short distance we came across several Thamnosa plants right along the side of the path.

Kathleen’s hand giving an idea of scale of the Texas Desert Rue

Getting a closer look

A close-up of a flower

The fruit, like Dutchmen’s breeches

There were many plants to entertain us on our three and a half mile loop. Altogether we saw about fifty different species in bloom, and many more about to flower.

Earlier this week Val and I took a ride to Ajo – about 150 miles west of here, to give a talk to the Ajo Garden Club. We expected to see lots of wildflowers along the roadsides, since we have had some good winter rains. The showing was not up to our expectations, though there were many Lupines and Desert Marigold along the road. Half way to Ajo it started to rain, and continued all the way to the Ajo Public Library where I spoke about “Nature’s Small Wonders”. The talk was well received. On the return journey we stopped at a town called “Why” (possibly so named because there is a Y-shaped intersection in the middle of the town), population under 200 . I had driven through this part of Arizona before, and knew that it was just a little collection of homes and a gas station. Just for fun I asked the attendant at the gas station how far to go until we got to Why. He tilted back his head, and began to roar with laughter. “You are in it!” he said. As I left I looked up at the name of the Gas station. It read: “Why Not?”

We went through Why to the Organ Pipe National Monument with its wonderful visitor’s center, and lots of fascinating plant and animal life, resolving to go back again when the Organ Pipe Cactus and the Ajo Lily are in bloom (April or May).

Organ Pipe cactus (Stenocereus thurberi) on a cloudy day at Organ Pipe National Monument

A walk in Cienega Creek

February 14, 2015

It was a very windy day, so Ed and I were looking for a place to hike that was somewhat sheltered. We found it in Cienega Creek, a wild-life preserve. We had to make reservations, but that turned out to be very easy.

After parking the car we descended the trail to the creek bed. We met only one person that day, and he was a naturalist friend, Joe. We stopped to chat with him and walked together for a while. Joe spotted an ancient artifact on the trail which we examined, and then carefully put back in place.

The creek bed was dry, but after we turned north for a short distance, we found a stream. On either side there were twenty-foot cliffs, so the wind was gentle and the air warm.

The creek supports a large population of trees: giant cottonwoods, ash, mesquite, willows and other trees. Where the creek was fairly wide, and thus moving slowly, the male flowers that had fallen from the cottonwoods covered the surface, turning it gold.

There is water under this carpet of gold flowers from the Cottonwoods overhead

We looked upstream and saw the point where the water was coming out of the ground. Beyond it was just sand. This is fairly common in these western washes. The water may be running year-round underground, surfacing here and there, only to descend again.

In the top half of the picture there is just sand. In the middle you can see where the water starts flowing, some of it covered in cottonwood flowers

Another stretch was lined with the bright green foliage of yellow monkey flowers, a plant with blue flowers which we did not identify, and possibly some water cress.

The creek bordered by aquatic plants, with shadows of cottonwood trees

Just a few of these plants with blue flowers were blooming

Ed was able to identify all kinds of birds that were flitting from branch to branch.

The surrounding cliffs were carved by water. We especially noticed a mesquite tree that had been deeply undercut. We wondered how it could survive living life on the edge like that.

There were signs of high water in canyon, including this mass of tree trunks and branches. This creek must be impossible to explore in high water, and a section of it is part of the Arizona Trail that runs from Mexico to Utah, over 800 miles.

A six foot high pile of debris from floods in the canyon

We made our way back up the hill to the car park, driven by a steady wind at our backs. This was one of those short and sweet nature walks.

BIRD WATCHING

February 4, 2015

It has been almost a month since my last posting. Not being able to include pictures has been a deterrent to making new entries. Our son, Owen, has solved the problem, for which I thank him.

This is one of Owen’s great photographs

In the last week or so we have had a lot of rain – about three inches in three days at our house. Considering that this area receives only a little over ten inches a year, that is a lot. And more is on the way. This leads us to expect a spectacular show of spring flowers.

Recently Ed and I were invited by our friends Doug and Arlene, to see the birds in the nature preserve known as Whitewater Draw in Sulphur Springs Valley, near the border with Mexico. The preserve is one of a number of locations for the Sandhill Crane. It has several very large ponds, full of all kinds of water fowl and other birds. Doug and Arlene, both keen birders, pointed out a number of them: Great Horned Owl, Shovelers, Pintails, Coots, Ruddy ducks, Green winged teal, to name but a few. We arrived late morning. It was a beautiful overcast day, with grey clouds reflected in the water. This part of the valley is flat, and is ringed with mountains ranges. I thought, “This is a watercolor day.” When we got home I did a little sketch which I will later develop into a painting.

A 5 by 9 inch watercolor sketch

We saw only a few cranes in the morning, but were treated to a large flock of Snow geese, which circled, finally landing in the water only to take off later, circle, and then land again. It was a wonderful sight, especially when the sun caught their brilliant white color.

We went to the old mining town of Bisbee and returned after lunch. As soon as we got out of the car we could hear flocks of sandhill cranes, in raucous conversation. They came swooping in, some landing on the ground, others waterskiing up to the shore. Later more flocks arrived. Had we stayed until dark, we might have seen as many as ten thousand of them. What a treat! The flocks stay here until the middle or end of February when they will migrate north for the summer, some going as far as northern Canada and Alaska.

A flock on the ground, and a half a dozen coming to join them

In my last posting I mentioned seeing a number of Jack rabbits on a couple of our hikes. Here are some pictures.

Note the huge pink ears

Sometimes they run rather than hop

And this is a rabbit

In a few weeks, we will see the desert in bloom!

Frank S. Rose

Flowers and more