Part 2

Brightest of the mariposas, the short-stemmed, flame-like flowers usually appear singly, but may occur in patches, producing in April a spectacular display visible from a long distance. Plants growing under bushes elongate their stems to elevate their blossoms into the sunlight. Occasional in the Mojave-Colorado Desert, this species is abundant in the foothills of some of southern Arizona’s mountain ranges, exceeding even the goldpoppy in the neon-like brilliance of display. _Mariposa_ is Spanish for butterfly, and the genus name _calochortus_ is Greek for beautiful grass.

_Calochortus kennedyi_ Lily Family

8. Soaptree yucca

Common throughout the Southwest, the many species of yuccas (YUH-kuhs) are of two major groups, the narrow-leaf and the wide-leaf. Called “soaptree” because of its height (maximum 30 feet) and the fact that its roots contain saponin, soaptree yucca or _palmilla_ (pahm-EE-yah—“little palm”) belongs in the narrow-leaf group. From southwestern Arizona across southern New Mexico, and from west Texas southward into the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Sonora, this spectacular plant blossoms in May and June on desert grasslands from 2,000 to 6,000 foot elevations. Cattle eat the young flower stalks, and Indians used the leaf fibers for making fabrics, basketry, and other items. The yucca is the State flower of New Mexico.

_Yucca elata_ Lily Family

9. Joshua-tree

Another of the narrow-leaf yuccas and largest of the genus, the joshua-tree is restricted in its range to the Mojave-Colorado Desert, of which it is the principal indicator. Blossoms, which do not open as wide as those of other species, grow in tight clusters at the tips of the branches, appearing in March and April. Joshuas do not blossom every year, the interval between flowerings depending upon rainfall and temperature. A small night lizard is dependent upon the joshua-tree, at least 25 {species of birds find nesting sites in it, and numerous insects, spiders, and scorpions live in its dried leaves and fallen branches.}

_Yucca brevifolia_ Lily Family

10. Torrey yucca

Unlike the narrow-leaf soaptrees which produce dry, capsular fruits, the wide-leaf yuccas bear fleshy fruits which Indians cooked and ate. Indians also used the leaf fibers in weaving fabrics. Roots contain saponin and the Indians still cut them up and use the pieces for soap, especially as a shampoo. The stiff, fleshy leaves with needle-sharp tips give the plant the name “Spanish bayonet.” Torrey yucca blooms in April in southeastern New Mexico and west Texas, with similar plants, _Yucca schottii_ in southern Arizona, and _Yucca schidigera_ in the Mojave-Colorado Desert.

_Yucca torreyi_ Lily Family

11. Giant yucca

Massive and thick-stemmed, the locally-named “giant dagger” is supposedly limited in its native range in the United States to Brewster County, Texas. A colony (_Yucca faxoniana_) resembling this species has been reported recently in McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains. An extensive forest of these spectacular plants has given the name Dagger Flat to a broad valley in the Sierra del Carmen of Big Bend National Park. Usually blossoming in April, the massive, white flower clusters gracing the crowns of thousands of these majestic yuccas create a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. A small night-flying moth is the yuccas’ pollenizing agent and, in return for this essential service, lays her eggs in the plants’ ovaries where the young feed on the developing seeds.

_Yucca carnerosana_ Lily Family

12. Sacahuista

Sometimes confused with the yuccas, the several species of “beargrass” or “basketgrass” have pliant, grasslike leaves, small flowers, and papery fruits. The plumelike blossom panicles open in May and June. The plants favor rocky hillsides, and rarely occur on valley floors. Indians roasted the tender bud stalks for food, and cattle browse the leaves when other vegetation is lacking. Mexicans, in weaving basketry, use the entire leaves, which are especially desirable for fashioning basket handles.

_Nolina microcarpa_ Lily Family

13. Sotol

Also likely to be confused with the yuccas, sotol has a basal cluster of pliant, ribbonlike leaves edged with hooked thorns, and a tall flower stalk bearing at its upper end a dense panicle of small, creamy (sometimes brown) flowers. Blossoming in May and June, the maturing flower clusters remain attractive throughout the summer. Mexicans split the succulent basal crowns and allow the sap to ferment, producing the fiery alcoholic beverage, sotol (SOH-tole). Desert-dwelling bighorn sheep are said to browse the tough leaves. The stiff leaf bases, when pulled from the cluster, form the “desert spoons” sold in some curio stores.

_Dasylirion wheeleri_ Lily Family

14. Agave

Many species of agaves (ah-GAH-vees) or “century plants” attract attention on desert hillsides when they send up their tall blossom stalks in June and July. The thick, fleshy, sharp-tipped leaves form a basal rosette. Some of the larger species may require 10 to 20 years to store enough plant food to produce the sturdy, fast-growing flower stalk. After blossoming, the exhausted plant dies. _Agave scabra_, one of the spectacular forms, is limited in its range to the Chisos Mountains of Big Bend National Park, Texas.

_Agave scabra_ Amaryllis Family

15. Parry agave

Another of the large “century plants,” Parry agave blooms from June to August, producing spectacular displays on hillsides in northern Mexico, southern New Mexico, and southern Arizona. Some of the larger agaves are called mescal (mess-KAHL) because of a potent alcoholic beverage of that name distilled from the fermented sap derived from the bud stalks. Tequila (tee-KEEL-ah), the famous native drink of Mexico, also is distilled from fermented agave juices, and the beerlike pulque (pool-KAY) has a similar derivation. Indians roasted the bud stalks in stone-lined pits covered with hot rocks. Some of these pits may still be seen.

_Agave parryi_ Amaryllis Family

16. Lechuguilla

One of the common plants of the Chihauhuan Desert and considered the principal indicator of that region, lechuguilla (lay-chu-GHE-ah) covers the ground so densely in some places that it is impossible to walk through it. The stiff, erect, needle-tipped, banana-shaped leaves are a hazard to man and beast. The flowering stalk, which blossoms in May and June, is unbranched and flexible, bending gracefully in the desert breeze. Deer and cattle nip off the tender buds. Mexicans weave the tough leaf fibers into coarse fabrics; and the roots, called _amole_, produce suds when rubbed in water.

_Agave lechuguilla_ Amaryllis Family

17. Canaigre

This coarse, herbacious perennial is one of the early spring flowers of the desert, sometimes blooming along road shoulders and in sandy washes in late February and March. Commonly called wild rhubarb, its sap and roots are high in tannin content, and its delicately pink fruits are more attractive than the blossoms. Indians and Mexicans use the leaves for greens. Papago Indians of Arizona roast the leaves and use the roots for treating colds and sore throat. This plant is a close relative of European dock, several species of which have become naturalized in North America.

_Rumex hymenosepalus_ Buckwheat Family

18. Trailing-four-o’clock

Blossoming from April to October, trailing allionia, known in some places as “trailing four o’clock” or “windmills,” is a spreading annual with small but colorful blossoms on long, trailing stems. The prostrate branches are sticky, so are often covered with grains of sand and flecks of mica. What appears to be one blossom is actually three flowers, giving it the name “pink three-flower.” It is found on dry, sandy benches throughout desert regions of the Southwest. Fruits are winged.

_Allionia incarnata_ Four o’clock Family

19. Sand-verbena

One of the early spring flowers, sand-verbena creates spectacular mass displays, sometimes alone, usually intermingling with other colorful early bloomers such as bladderpod and sundrops, which grow on road shoulders and sandy flats. The flowers are delicately fragrant, especially at night. Semi-prostrate in habit, sand-verbena leaves are covered with a dense growth of short, soft hairs which retard the loss of moisture so essential to desert plants. This annual is common from southern California and southern Arizona into Sonora.

_Abronia villosa_ Four o’clock Family

20. Mexican goldpoppy

Closely related to the orange California-poppy, official flower of the Golden State, the desert species is a bright yellow annual. Following warm, wet winters clusters of these glorious blooms dot the hillsides in late February or early March. By April they may cover the slopes with a blanket of gold interwoven with the blue threads of lupines and purple patches of escobita owlclover. When other early spring vegetation is scarce, cattle graze the plants. Flowers open only during sunny hours, remaining tightly closed at night and on cloudy days.

_Eschscholtzia mexicana_ Poppy Family

21. Pricklepoppy

Not restricted to a desert habitat, this spiny-leafed perennial is widespread on dry soils from Nebraska to Wyoming and from Texas to southern California and Mexico. Abundant throughout the summer, the flowers may be found, in warm climates, during every month of the year. Copious spines and the acrid yellow sap make the plants distasteful to cattle, so a heavy growth of pricklepoppy may be an indicator of an overgrazed range. Also called “thistlepoppy,” a single plant may be graced by a dozen or more fragile flowers, each ready to be replaced by one or more prickly buds. The seeds are said to contain a powerful narcotic.

_Argemone platyceras_ Poppy Family

22. Evening-primrose

Also known as “yellow cups,” this plant is limited in its range to the Mohave-Colorado Desert. Having smaller blossoms than the goldpoppy with which it might be confused, this showy annual blooms March to May in dry washes and on stony hills below 4,500 feet. The foot-high plants sometimes form massed displays accented by splashes of bright red where clumps of beavertail pricklypear mark small, rocky islands, or where patches of ocotillos wave their scarlet-tipped wands in the spring breeze.

_Oenothera brevipes_ Evening-primrose Family

23. Spectaclepod

Found at elevations above 1,000 feet, spectaclepod is one of the long-flowering species blooming from February to October. The large flower heads are pleasantly fragrant, and the peculiar, flat, double fruits resemble tiny spectacles protruding at right angles to the stem. This species is found in the Petrified Forest area of northern Arizona, and Hopi Indians are reported to use the plant in treating wounds. Another species, California spectaclepod, is often abundant, covering sandy flats of the lower deserts. This species blooms from February through April and sometimes again in the fall.

_Dithyrea wislizenii_ Mustard Family

24. Bladderpod

Another early bloomer, February to May, bladderpod is one of the first spring flowers to spread its yellow carpet across the desert flats. The small, low-growing plants lift numerous clusters of four-petaled flowers, forming an understory of color among the taller herbs. In some localities, bladderpods are called “beadpods” because of the spherical fruits. The plants afford good forage for cattle. A close relative, with white to purple flowers, is found from Texas to Arizona and Mexico, starting to blossom in January during warm winters.

_Lesquerella gordonii_ Mustard Family

25. Western-wallflower

A showy plant with a large terminal cluster of four-petaled flowers, it is frequently called “desert wallflower.” When growing under shrubs it often extends its stems 2 feet or more to reach up into the sunshine. Usually blossoming in March, some plants may be found blooming at almost any time during the summer to as late as September.

_Erysimum capitatum_ Mustard family

26. False-mesquite

With mimosa-like leaves and long-stamened flowers growing in clusters, false-mesquite, “calliandra,” or “fairy duster” is a small, straggling bush, quite Japanesy in appearance, from a few inches to 3 feet high. It blossoms from February to May, and is quite common below 5,000 feet from west Texas to southern California and northern Mexico. In California it is especially abundant along the east side of the Chocolate Mountains. During periods of drought the leaves enter a state of continued wilt, but revive promptly when rain comes.

_Calliandra eriophylla_ Pea Family

27. Catclaw-acacia

Also known by such descriptive names as “tear-blanket” and “wait-a-minute,” catclaw acacia is one of the notoriously thorny shrubs or small slender trees of the rocky hillsides and borders of desert washes. Flowers are fragrant and, during the blooming period in May, attract many insects, including honey bees, which gather and store nectar that makes high quality honey. The stringbean-like fruits turn red in late summer and, if abundant, make a spectacular show. These fruits were ground into meal and used for food by Arizona and Mexican Indians. Thickets of catclaw acacia provide havens of refuge for birds and rabbits pursued by hawks or other predators.

_Acacia greggii_ Pea Family

28. Mescat-acacia

Armed with long, slender, straight white spines, giving it the name “white-thorn,” this pretty flowering shrub is abundant over large areas of dry slopes and mesas from Texas to Arizona and Mexico at 2,300 to 5,000 feet. It is often used as a decorative in landscape plantings around buildings. Blossoms are fragrant and sometimes continue from May to August; the shrub occasionally blooming again in November. Cattle and horses eat the bean-like fruits.

_Acacia constricta_ Pea Family

29. Honey mesquite

Mesquite (mess-KEET) is a many-branched tree 15 to 23 feet tall, which flowers from late April to June. It is common bordering desert washes, often forming dense thickets. The flowers furnish honey bees and other insects with nectar, and the long, sweet pods ripen in autumn, providing food for livestock. The fruits have long been a staple in the diet of desert Indians, who used the trunks, roots, and branches of the trees for firewood and the dried gum-like sap to mend pottery and as a black dye. The inner bark provided the Indians with materials for basketry and coarse fabrics. Roots of mesquite trees have been reported to penetrate to a depth of 50 to 60 feet to tap sources of ground water.

_Prosopis juliflora_ Pea Family

30. Senna

Blossoming from April to October, this species is common at elevations between 1,000 and 3,000 feet Nevada to New Mexico, Arizona, California, and northwestern Mexico. There are fifteen or more other species, many of which are found in a desert habitat and range in size from low-growing herbs to small shrubs 3-5 feet high. Senna is sometimes called “rattlebox” because the nearly ripe seeds rattle in their woody pods when the plant is stirred, startling the hiker who immediately thinks “rattlesnake!” A closely related species, _leptocarpa_, is noted for its foul-smelling foliage.

_Cassia covesii_ Pea Family

31. Blue palo-verde

Perhaps the most dependable of spring bloomers, blue palo-verde trees cover themselves with masses of yellow blossoms in April and May. Usually found alongside desert washes, they mark these ephemeral stream courses as paths of gold threading the open desert. During much of the year the trees are relatively leafless, the green bark of trunk and branches taking over the function of leaves. The word _palo-verde_ (PAH-low-VEHR-dee) means “green stick” in Spanish, referring to the color of the bark.

_Cercidium floridum_ Pea Family

32. Bird-of-Paradise-flower

Not a southwestern desert native, this striking shrub, 3 to 10 feet high, was introduced from South America and has escaped from cultivation to establish itself in parts of the desert where conditions are suitable. The blossoms are showy but ill-smelling, and are popular as ornamentals about homes, especially in Mexico. The shrub’s principal advantage in landscape plantings is its long blossoming period, which sometimes lasts from April to September.

_Caesalpinia gilliesii_ Pea Family

33. Lupine

This is but one of many species of lupine, both annual and perennial, common throughout the West at nearly all elevations. Perhaps the most publicized is the “Texas” lupine, or “bluebonnet,” hailed by Texans as their State flower. Desert species are early bloomers, sometimes appearing in protected sandy soils and on highway shoulders in January. In favorable seasons masses of these handsome blue to violet blossoms color desert hillsides with acres of fragrant bloom. Sometimes growing in pure stands, often mixed with a variety of other spring flowers, lupines may usually be found blossoming as late as June.

_Lupinus sparsiflorus_ Pea Family

34. Adonis lupine

Considered one of the more handsome of the desert perennials, the “adonis” lupine, as it is known in southern California, is found near sandy washes in the high desert. It is especially abundant in Joshua Tree National Monument. The name _adonis_ refers to its great beauty. The name _lupinus_ is derived from the Latin _lupus_ meaning wolf, because these plants were at one time thought to be soil predators. Actually, as with other members of the pea family, lupines are able to take atmospheric nitrogen and leave it in the ground, thereby increasing rather than depleting soil fertility.

_Lupinus excubitus_ Pea Family

35. Smoke-thorn

Better known as “smoketree,” this silvery-gray, seemingly leafless shrub grows in and along sandy washes below 1,500 feet, throughout the Mojave-Colorado Desert. At a distance it resembles a plume of smoke rising from a campfire. Its small but violet to indigo flowers cover it with a gorgeous blue blanket in May, making it one of the really handsome desert shrubs. It requires ample supplies of water, hence is restricted to washes that carry runoff from both winter rains and summer downpours. The seeds sprout readily, and the seedlings with their well-formed leaves look very unlike their parents. Few seedlings survive the hazards of drought or being smothered by sand carried down the washes by flash floods following cloudbursts.

_Dalea spinosa_ Pea Family

36. Dalea

Noted for its royal purple flowers, this low shrub, less than 3 feet high with peculiar zig-zag branches, blossoms from April to June. In common with other daleas (day-LEE-ahs) it is usually called “indigobush” or “peabush.” It is normally found below 3,000 feet in desert mountain ranges from southern Utah through Arizona and southeastern California. There are many species of dalea in the desert, all characterized by deep blue to indigo and rose-violet flowers, which attract attention by their beauty. Indians used the extract from twigs for dyeing basketry.

_Dalea fremontii_ Pea Family

37. Tesota

Thriving only in a frost-free climate, this is among the largest and most beautiful of desert evergreen trees. It is usually found along sandy washes, mingling with mesquites and paloverdes. It is particularly susceptible to mistletoe infestation, which has killed or weakened many fine trees. Blossoming in May and June, the trees are sometimes laden with lavender, wisteria-like flowers. The wood is extremely hard and heavy, hence the tree is locally known as “ironwood,” or _palo-de-hierro_, in Mexico. Indians ate the seeds and used the wood for tool handles and arrow-points. Its long-burning qualities made it especially desirable for fuel. As a result, many of the trees have been cut, making it one of the species threatened with extinction.

_Olneya tesota_ Pea Family

38. Woolly loco

Many species of “locoweed” ranging in color from deep purple to creamy white are found throughout the desert at nearly all elevations. They sometimes create extensive mass displays but are more commonly found mixed with other flowers. Species with bladder-like pods are called “rattleweed.” Loco in Spanish means “crazy” and refers to the fact that a number of species of _astragalus_ contain selenium, which causes a serious disease among livestock, especially horses, that eat it and as a result “act crazy.”

_Astragalus mollissimus_ Pea Family

39. Heron-bill

Also called “alfileria,” this species and its close relative, Texas filaree (_Erodium texanum_) are both early blossoming annuals, often widespread on plains and mesas, February to May. The flowers, although abundant, are small and so hidden in low-growing foliage that they rarely create a mass display. Texas filaree is native to North America, but alfileria is thought to have come from Europe with the Spaniards, and is now naturalized throughout the Southwest. Corkscrew-like appendages of the fruits are tightly twisted when dry, but untwist when moist, literally screwing the sharp-pointed fruits into the soil. Both species are excellent spring forage for livestock.

_Erodium cicutarium_ Geranium Family

40. Creosotebush

Often erroneously called “greasewood,” creosotebush is generally recognized as the most adaptable of all desert plants, and a definite indicator of the Lower Sonoran Life Zone. The shrubs cover thousands of square miles, often in pure stands, and flower throughout much of the year, but most profusely in April and May. Fuzzy white, globular fruits are almost as spectacular as the flowers. The plant can endure long periods of drought. Following rains its foliage gives off a musty, resinous odor, suggestive of creosote, stimulating the Mexican name _hediondilla_ (little stinker). In Mexico the plant is considered to have medicinal values and many uses. The Pima Indians boiled the leaves, using the decoction as an emetic and to poultice sores. They used the lac, found as an incrustation on the branches, to cement arrow-points and to mend pottery.

_Larrea tridentata_ Caltrop Family

41. Arizona-poppy

Often abundant on road shoulders and in low spots where rainwater from hot-weather showers provides adequate moisture, “caltrop” or “summerpoppy,” with large blossoms and attractive compound leaves, decorates the desert when other flowers are noticeable by their absence. The long, weak stems, usually prostrate, give the plants a vine-like appearance, but when growing under shrubs they extend upward so that the shrub is mistakenly thought to be blooming. Superficially resembling the springtime goldpoppy, Arizona-poppy has five rather than four petals, and may be found in bloom as late as October.

_Kallstroemia grandiflora_ Caltrop Family

42. Desert-mallow