Part 1

100 _Desert Wildflowers_ in natural color

_Photography & Text_ Natt N. Dodge

SOUTHWESTERN MONUMENTS ASSOCIATION

Copyright 1963 by the Southwestern Monuments Association. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper.

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 63-13471 First Printing, 1963—20,000 Second Printing, 1965—20,000 Third Printing, (revised) 1967—20,000

Printed in the United States of America W. A. Krueger Co., Tyler Div. · Phoenix, Arizona

Contents

Hints for Flower Photographers 1 Introduction 1 The Desert 1 Why and When Do Deserts Bloom? 1 Identifying Desert Wildflowers 3 Spring gives an Evening Party 4 1. Longleaf ephedra 5 2. Common reed 5 3. Prairie spiderwort 6 4. Desertlily 6 5. Mariposa 7 6. Golden mariposa 7 7. Desert mariposa 8 8. Soaptree yucca 8 9. Joshua-tree 9 10. Torrey yucca 9 11. Giant yucca 10 12. Sacahuista 10 13. Sotol 11 14. Agave 11 15. Parry agave 12 16. Lechuguilla 12 17. Canaigre 13 18. Trailing-four-o’clock 13 19. Sand-verbena 14 20. Mexican goldpoppy 14 21. Pricklepoppy 15 22. Evening-primrose 15 23. Spectaclepod 16 24. Bladderpod 16 25. Western-wallflower 17 26. False-mesquite 17 27. Catclaw-acacia 18 28. Mescat-acacia 18 29. Honey mesquite 19 30. Senna 19 31. Blue palo-verde 20 32. Bird-of-Paradise-flower 20 33. Lupine 21 34. Adonis lupine 21 35. Smoke-thorn 22 36. Dalea 22 37. Tesota 23 38. Woolly loco 23 39. Heron-bill 24 40. Creosotebush 24 41. Arizona-poppy 25 42. Desert-mallow 25 43. Five-stamen tamarisk 26 44. Yellow mentzelia 26 45. Rock-nettle 27 46. Night-blooming cereus 27 47. Saguaro 28 48. Organpipe cactus 28 49. Claretcup echinocereus 29 50. Strawberry echinocereus 29 51. Rainbow echinocereus 30 52. Yellow pitaya echinocereus 30 53. Barrel cactus 31 54. Fishhook cactus 31 55. Beavertail cactus 32 56. Engelmann pricklypear 32 57. Jumping cholla 33 58. Pencil cholla 33 59. Whipple cholla 34 60. Walkingstick cholla 34 61. Evening-primrose 35 62. Ocotillo 35 63. Field bind-weed 36 64. Santa Fe phlox 36 65. Starflower 37 66. Phacelia 37 67. Nama 38 68. Buffalobur 38 69. Silverleaf nightshade 39 70. Sacred datura 39 71. Tree tobacco 40 72. Ceniza 40 73. Desert beardtongue 41 74. Palmer penstemon 41 75. Paintbrush 42 76. Owl-clover 42 77. Desert-willow 43 78. Trumpet-bush 43 79. Louisiana broomrape 44 80. Coyote-melon 44 81. Snake-weed 45 82. Desertstar 45 83. Mohave aster 46 84. Fleabane 46 85. Broom baccharis 47 86. Desert zinnia 47 87. Brittle-bush 48 88. Silverleaf enceliopsis 48 89. Crown-beard 49 90. Douglas coreopsis 49 91. Paperflower 50 92. Desert baileya 50 93. Goldfields 51 94. Chaenactis 51 95. Douglas groundsel 52 96. New Mexico thistle 52 97. Desert dandelion 53 98. Malacothryx 53 99. White cupfruit 54 100. Prickly sowthistle 54 Suggestions for Additional Reading 56 Index 58

_Hints for Flower Photographers_

If your interest in desert flowers includes a desire to obtain beautiful photographs of them, the following “tips” may be helpful.

MOTION is a major hazard in still photography, and flowers, especially those on long, slender stems, seem to be constantly in motion stimulated by the ever-present desert breeze. The practical solution to this problem is to take your photographing jaunts, if possible, in the early morning when the air is most likely to be motionless. A flower picture blurred by motion is a complete flop!

Except for motion, nothing will irritate you more often than the abrupt, frequent, and marked CHANGES IN LIGHTING due to small clouds passing over the sun. Again, early morning has an advantage in normally cloudless desert skies. Clouds may be expected after 10 o’clock on many days.

DEPTH OF FIELD is highly important in flower photography, and you will be gratified with the results if you take pains to have all parts of the picture, except the background, in sharp focus. This desirable objective has become less difficult to attain with the advent of “faster” films which enable you to use the required small diaphragm “stop” without too greatly reducing the shutter speed, and still obtain adequate exposures.

Too many flower photographers fail to get really CLOSE UP PICTURES. A single blossom or a small cluster of blossoms provides a much more attractive and significant picture than an entire plant. One blossom with, perhaps, a bud, one fruit, and a trace of foliage, if well composed, is tops among flower pictures. This objective requires camera equipment with the ability to focus on objects close to the lens. Also it complicates the goal of getting all parts of the picture into sharp focus.

UNCLUTTERED BACKGROUNDS are a “must” in flower pictures. You might consider joining the flower photographers who carry with them plain gray or variously tinted background cards or light-weight boards. Such a card or board of contrasting color, when placed behind the blossom, will accomplish wonders in giving prominence to the flower. One method of obtaining a dark background is to ask someone (if you are a contortionist you can do it yourself) to stand in such a position as to cast a shadow on the ground or foliage behind the subject. The sky makes an excellent background, and you will find it useful whenever you can set your camera below the level of the subject.

With the foregoing points in mind, study the pictures in this booklet with the aim of trying to surpass them in quality. By exercising care and patience, you should be able to do so.

_Introduction_

_The Desert_

When Webster defined a desert as a “dry, barren region, largely treeless and sandy” he was not thinking of the 50,000 square mile Great American Desert of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Most of it is usually dry and parts may be sandy, but as a whole, it is far from barren and treeless. Heavily vegetated with gray-green shrubs, small but robust trees, pygmy forests of grotesque cactuses and stiff-leaved yuccas, and myriads of herbaceous plants, the desert, following rainy periods, covers itself with a blanket of delicate, fragrant wildflowers. Edmund C. Jaegar, author of several books on deserts, reports that the California deserts alone support more than 700 species of flowering plants.

The late Dr. Forrest Shreve, for many years Director of the Desert Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution near Tucson, Arizona, defined a desert as “a region of deficient and uncertain rainfall.” He divided the Great American Desert into four major sections: (1) _Chihuahuan_ (chee-WAH-wahn), including the Mexican States of Chihuahua and Coahuila (coa-WHEE-lah), southwestern Texas, and south-central New Mexico; (2) _Sonoran_, including Baja California, southwestern Arizona, and northwestern Sonora; (3) _Mojave_ (moh-HAH-vee), Colorado, including south-eastern California and extreme southern Nevada; (4) _Great Basin_, including Nevada, Utah, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon.

Since the steppes and mesas of the Great Basin Desert have generally lower temperatures, higher elevations, and greater precipitation than the other three sections, we are not including its flowers in this work.

_Why and When Do Deserts Bloom?_

The Great American Desert produces, when conditions are favorable, a gorgeous exhibition of wildflowers. Trees, shrubs, and herbs all contribute to the splendor of the display. Soil composition, slope and exposure, suitable temperatures, and adequate moisture are essential to plant growth and flower production.

Moisture is the uncertain factor, and years may pass without enough rainfall to stimulate plant growth. Rain of less than 0.15 inch is wasted as far as desert plants are concerned, for the moisture evaporates before penetrating the soil. Some annuals produce seeds having water-soluble germination inhibitors in their coverings, hence fail to sprout, even after rain, unless the moisture totals at least half an inch.

When soil moisture from December and January rainfall is enough to support potential plants it dissolves the seed coats, and the desert floor is soon carpeted with eager green seedlings. When winter rains are scant, as is so often the case, the dormant seed population fails to germinate and the spring flower display doesn’t appear. There is no sure way to forecast a spectacular blossom year, for a sudden cold wave or period of drying winds may literally nip in the bud a potential season of brilliant bloom. A great flower year may occur only once in a decade.

Perennials are more dependable than annuals, since some of them, particularly cactuses and other succulents, have water storage tissues in their stems or roots. These perennials may be counted on to blossom each year, but with much less abandon than after winters of above normal precipitation. Many perennials have surprisingly extensive root systems. Fascinating are the ways by which plants manage to thrive under severe conditions of desert heat and drought. As we have seen, most annuals lie dormant as seeds until suitable moisture and temperature occur. Then they grow very rapidly, to bloom and mature seeds while the soil still has moisture. Winter rains produce spring-blooming ephemerals, and summer showers produce summer “quickies.”

Another group of plants, including the ocotillo (oh-koh-TEE-yoh), slows down life processes to become dormant during dry periods, even to dropping all leaves. When rains come they put on new leaves, several times a year if necessary.

Cactuses and other succulents gorge themselves with water when the soil is wet, releasing moisture very sparingly from storage tissues during the “long dry.” Some have discarded or reduced foliage, or have covered leaf surfaces with varnish or wax, to decrease to a minimum the loss of vital moisture through transpiration.

_Identifying Desert Wildflowers_

Unless you are a botanist, identification of flowers by measuring and counting their various parts, as described in technical keys, is generally too complicated to be practical. Several years ago, recognizing this problem, I authored a book, _Flowers of the Southwest Deserts_, illustrated by Jeanne R. Janish and published by the Southwestern Monuments Association, designed to aid the wildflower fancier in plant identification by color-grouping the flowers. With Mrs. Janish’s superb illustrations pointing out each plant’s most obvious characteristics, it has proved an excellent field guide. However, the demand for natural color flower portraits could not go unheeded, and this book is the result. The two books complement each other, although each fills a need in its own right. Used together, they make you more positive of some identifications.

Probably the best way to become acquainted with a flower is to be introduced to it by someone. But there is one catch to this method—one plant may be known by many aliases.

When the Spaniards came into the Southwest over 400 years ago they found Indians had names for some flowers in their own languages. The Spaniards added their names, and later the Americans added English names. Some of these names were of similar-appearing but quite different flowers they had known “back East.” Later, scientists studied the desert plants, and gave them all Latin names.

To assist in standardizing names of desert flowers, this booklet gives preference in its headings to scientific and common names found in _Arizona Flora_, by Kearney and Peebles, Second Edition, 1960. Common names found in _Texas Plants, A Checklist and Ecological Summary_, 1962, by F. W. Gould, also have been used. In addition, placed within the text, are some of the more widely used common names that we have encountered. Tree names, both common and scientific, follow the _Checklist of Native and Naturalized Trees of the United States_, by Elbert L. Little, Jr., 1953.

There are many desert flowers, some quite common, for which there was not space in this booklet. If you wish to broaden your acquaintance to include more, we recommend, for added reading publications listed in the back.

The author wishes to express here sincere thanks to Mrs. Pauline M. Patraw, Santa Fe botanist, for assistance in identifying many of the flowers pictured here. For assistance in checking identifications, the author is indebted to Miss Barbara Lund, Park Naturalist, National Park Service; to Dr. Charles T. Mason, Jr., Curator of the Herbarium, University of Arizona Tucson; and to Dr. W. B. McDougall, Curator of Botany, Museum of Northern Arizona, Flagstaff.

_Spring gives an Evening Party_

When Paloverde trims her golden gown, And Deerhorn dons her filaments of white; When tall Saguaro fits his fragrant crown In preparation for the party night; When bats across the ruby sunset dance, When Ocotillo lights his candle’s flame, When verdure carpets Desert’s wide expanse, Then Spring is in the Southwest once again.

The linnets in their scarlet vests and caps Are first to answer Spring’s insistent call, While white-crowned sparrows scan their travel maps, Discussing details of the coming ball. Then thrashers practice every morn and eve The songs they’ll sing upon that night of nights, While phainopeplas, in their haste to leave, Dash back and forth in short, impatient flights.

The desert halls glow bright as time draws near. Each cactus wears her frilled and perfumed dress. Ground squirrels, for this joyous time of year, Sport their best furs. The rabbits do no less. From far and near the desert folk have come To wait their hostess, Spring, who, very soon, Will lift stars o’er the skyline, one by one, And then turn on the glorious, golden moon.

1. Longleaf ephedra

Commonly called “Mormon tea,” there are many species of ephedra (ef-FED-rah) growing throughout the Southwest. This yellow-green, stringy-stemmed shrub with tiny, scale-like leaves, is usually 3 to 4 feet tall, but sometimes reaches a height of 12 feet. Its small, fragrant, springtime flowers grow in dense clusters that attract insects. Some species provide winter forage for cattle and are said to be browsed by bighorn sheep. Pioneers brewed a palatable drink from the dried stems. Certain Indian tribes considered the brew a tonic, beneficial for treatment of syphilis and other diseases. The drug, ephedrine, comes from a Chinese member of this genus.

_Ephedra trifurca_ Jointfir Family

2. Common reed

Somewhat resembling bamboo, carrizo grows in dense thickets in marshes, along river banks, and in other wet locations. Largest of the grasses, it sometimes attains a height of 12 feet. The large, tassel-like flower heads appear from July to October and create a spectacular mass display. The horizontal rootstalks interlock, crowding out other plants. A single rootstalk may extend 30 feet. The straight, hollow stems served Indians as arrowshafts, pipestems, and loom rods. Along the Mexican border the leaves are woven into mats and the long, sturdy stems are used as screens and in roofing native houses.

_Phragmites communis_ Grass Family

3. Prairie spiderwort

Because of its slender, drooping leaves, this delicate blue-to-violet, three-petaled flower might easily be mistaken for a lily. Plants grow from 8 to 18 inches high. A perennial, the spiderwort’s thick, succulent roots enable it to produce blossoms from April to September. Not abundant, it is usually found in moist locations in desert mountain ranges at elevations above 2,500 feet. Flowers form in clusters at the tip of a plant’s stem, and are pollenized by bumblebees that eat the pollen.

_Tradescantia occidentalis_ Spiderwort Family

4. Desertlily

Limited in its range to the desertlands of southern California and southwestern Arizona, the desertlily or ajo (AH-hoe) resembles a small easter lily. During dry seasons the plants do not bloom, but following wet winters each deeply-buried bulb sends up a vigorous shoot which may be from 6 inches to 2 feet tall, with a bud cluster at its tip. The delicately fragrant flowers may appear in late February, with some tardy bloomers still in evidence in early May. Bulbs were dug and eaten by Indians and, because of their flavor, were called ajo (garlic) by the Spanish pioneers. The town of Ajo and a nearby valley and mountain range in southwestern Arizona were named for this plant.

_Hesperocallis undulata_ Lily Family

5. Mariposa

Similar in appearance to the segolily, State flower of Utah, weakstem mariposa, sometimes called “straggling butterfly lily,” varies in color from white to pale purple. The slender stem is not erect, like other mariposas, of which there are many species, but wanders over the ground or makes its twisting way among the branches of low shrubs. It grows at elevations up to 4,000 feet on slopes and benches of mountains of the Mojave-Colorado Desert, in the Death Valley area, and in the desert mountains of southern Arizona, blossoming during April and May. Indians and pioneers ate the bulbs.

_Calochortus flexuosus_ Lily Family

6. Golden mariposa

Considered by some botanists as a distinct species, this mariposa or “butterfly tulip” is found in the higher mountains of the eastern Mojave-Colorado Desert and also in the vicinity of the Painted Desert of northern Arizona. Common in Petrified Forest National Park from May to July, the bright yellow flowers make an eye-catching display among the colorful pieces of petrified wood covering the ground. The bulbs can withstand severe cold, but suffer during winters when there is frequent freezing and thawing.

_Calochortus nuttalii aureus_ Lily Family

7. Desert mariposa