When I wrote my last blog I thought that the next big event for me was the Tucson Festival of Books. That will happen this coming week end. In the meanwhile, two other big events have intervened.

ONE
Jim Avramis sent an e-mail on Friday inviting me to be a co-leader of a hike the very next day. It turned out that I was free, and had even been thinking of going on the hike which had been advertised long ago. It was to Ironwood National Monument where I gave a talk last November 16.
About 60 people gathered in the parking lot at Marana Airport as Lahsha Brown welcomed us and gave us our marching orders. There were three hiking groups. Mine was led by Jim Avramis, and Gary Borax. I was there to share some knowledge of the plants of the region.
We car pooled to the Monument, ending up traveling along narrow lanes lined with thorny shrubs and trees scraping the sides of the vehicle  “Desert pin-striping it” as one hiker said.

We parked on the flanks of the mountain range and made our way up the slope to the saddle between Ragged Top and Walcott peak. Ragged Top has a distinct jagged outline, and is home to a herd of big-horn sheep. It was lambing time for the sheep, so we were told to avoid Ragged Top, and circumnavigate Walcott peak. Eighteen of us made the three-mile journey, crossing washes, making our way up the slope to the saddle, and going around the mountain back to the cars. We noticed thousands of  tiny wild-flower seedlings too small to recognize. Then we saw poppies, heliotrope, brittlebush, and other flowers. I met, for the first time, Chuparosa (Justicia Californica), a beautiful plant with red tubular flowers, also called Hummingbird bush and beloperone. It was a gorgeous day, and there was much to enjoy.
Getting back to our starting point at the airfield, I handed out my flower posters, apologizing for the fact that I did not have enough for all of the people in our party.

TWO
The other big event was a trip to Sedona with my wife, Louise, and granddaughter, Kayla. More about that next blog.

 

 

Jim giving us directions

 

 

 

Chuparosa

 

 

 

 

 

Making our way to Walcott saddle

 

 

 

 

Some of our group at the base of Walcott peak

Thanks to our alert friend David Hollombe, we know that the mystery flower noted on January 31, was not a flower at all, but a discoloration created by the fungus Puccinia monoica. He suggested it might be on the plant: Boechera perennans. This week I confirmed his suggestion. The infected plant is in a hillside with a number of boechera growing near it, and though the upper leaves on the infected plant are very different, the lower ones match the other plants near by. Boechera, or as it used to be called, Arabis, is called Rock-cress, and is a perennial (which is what perenanns means). It can have pink and white flowers on the same flowering stalk as in the second picture.

 

Holding the top of the infected plant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is what the top normally looks like

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some flowers are pink

 

 

 

On the same inflorescence, some are white

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later that day my wife and I saw another plant with both pink and white versions of its flowers, the tiny Slender phlox (Microsteris gracilis.) It blooms very early in the year, in this case February, and is only an inch or so high when it starts to bloom. This is a very sweet little flower.

 

 

Two of the Slender phlox plants, showing the pink and white versions

 

 

 

 

The pink close up

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the white

 

 

 

 

Today I was hiking with Ed and we saw many examples of a lomatium plant. I have known this plant for years, and so far my botany friends have been unable to identify it. The flowers are similar to Lomatium nevadense, but the foliage is different, and the plant grows much larger (up to a foot high compared to only a few inches for L. nevadense). With my close-up camera I was able to see what the individual flowers of this plant in the carrot family look like. My flower books do not list it. Wikipedia notes that there are 75 species of lomatiums in the world, and it has article on 51 of them. None of them seemed to match this plant. It seems that most of the plants in this genus have yellow flowers. These are white. None of the ones I saw had long thin  leaves. Any suggestions?

 

 

 

Looking down at the mystery Lomatium on the trail

 

 

 

 

A flower cluster on the Lomatium

 

 

 

Looking more closely at the cluster

 

 

 

 

 

 

A close up of individual flowers in the cluster

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The leaves of the mystery lomatium

 

 

 

 

 

 
I am excited about speaking to the Cochise chapter of the Arizona Native Plant Society in Sierra Vista tomorrow, and as one of thirteen speakers at the Botany Conference coming up this Saturday at the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum. Both talks will be about taking a closer look, but the species shown will be different (except for one mystery plant.)

An alert individual  (David Hollombe) has pointed out that the false flower we reported on January 31, was produced on a plant by a rust fungus called: Puccinia monoica. The fungus invades the plant and prevents it from flowering. Then it turns the upper leaves yellow, making them look like flower petals. For a moment this deceived us. Evidently it also deceives pollinators who land on it, get frustrated, and fly off, helping the fungus spread. The host plant is usually in the mustard family. Thank you, David.

 

Plant infected with rust fungus

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Larson and I went to Milagrosa Canyon (which I recently incorrectly called “Milagro” which is Spanish for “Miracle” instead of Milagrosa, Spanish for “Miraculous”). He wanted to see the honeycombs that Ed and I saw earlier. I had a different camera lens and was able to get a better picture including bees flying in and out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The cliff with the hive (left of the saguaro). Note Dave’s white hat in the foreground

 

 

We followed the trail up and to the left, finding a number of new flower species in bloom, like . Arizona fiesta-flower (Pholistoma auritum), Anemone, Twist Flower, and lots more of the Red Justitia. We ended up at the base of a Rock climbing-wall. As we sat for our snack we couldn’t help noticing the marvelous echo, and even tested to see if burps would echo back at us (as Dave’s wife would say, “you boys!”). We saw ravens, swallows (or were they swifts?) and hummingbirds flying around. We were eventually joined by some rock climbers.

Arizona fiesta flower with its red, white and blue

 

 

 

The next day Ed and I walked a short distance up the Babat Do’ag. Trail, and found  29 species of wildflowers in bloom, including lots of Gordon’s bladder pod (Physaria gordonii). Noting the harsh weather conditions in other parts of the country we felt especially privileged to be in such miraculous country with warm sun and bright blue skies.

 

In Milagrosa Canyon looking back to Tucson

Note the remains of a saguaro left center, with its thin wooden skeleton tops curving to the right

 

 

 

 

Common fiddleneck (Amsinckia intermedia)

My fingers give an idea of scale

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gordon’s bladderpod (Physaria gordonii)