Southwest Sampler

Indian Paintbrush in the Coyote Buttes Wilderness, Arizona

If this were a food blog and you saw the title of this post, you would probably be thinking about some delicious enchiladas or perhaps an exotic mole sauce was coming up! Well, we did visit the southwest recently and did have some great Mexican and Native American food along the way. But alas, the sampler here is limited to flora rather than flour, and focuses on a few early blooms as opposed to a local gourmet menu.

Our trip was centered around getting to "The Wave" rock formation in northern Arizona on April 8. That's the day we had a permit to do this remarkable hike. So we planned a southwest loop trip, as getting there from northwest Oregon is a major endeavor. On the loop, we visited Zion, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Four Corners, and the San Juan mountains of southwestern Colorado as well. To see photos of The Wave formation, follow the link below.

For this post, I'll include plants we found in the high deserts of southern Utah and northern Arizona. The elevations and terrain varied from about 3,000 - 7,000 feet in these desert areas, and the natural landscape colors were splendid, causing frequent stops for scenery photos as well as for flowers.

The weather during our visit to this area was mostly sunny and dry, but we did encounter windy days in several areas. Our first days in Zion and Page were nice and warm, but turned much cooler as a cold front moved in. Some strong winds were associated with that front. Fortunately, the weather was mostly favorable for our hikes and travel days.

This post shows our favorite blooms we saw in each area and you can follow the link below to see all of the photos. I was surprised by the sheer numbers of blooms we saw; as well as the plethora of Evening Primrose species and Milkvetch. I had no idea either of these plants had desert cousins.

Meanwhile, I've done my best to identify at least the genus of these plants, but some will take longer, as I learn more about these desert dwellers.

Utah Penstemon and Prickly Pear Cactus
 at Zion National Park

Prickly Milkvetch at Zion National Park

Gooseberry-Leaf Globemallow near St. George, UT

Pale Evening Primrose in the Coyote Buttes Wilderness

Now before I head out to Baja Fresh for a monster "two hands" burrito and Negro Modelo, just want remind everyone of the Cinco de Mayo date that is soon approaching. Hasta la vista!

Links:

Desert Wildflower Gallery

The Wave Gallery

Stumped

Part of the enjoyment of my wildflower hobby is learning about botany, flowers, and nature in general. It's a lot more fun doing this as a hobby than say, taking a college class and getting tested on the minutia of details real students must learn. And the price is right as well! Over the past two years, I have learned a great deal from this exercise and I have come to appreciate those early explorers in the plant world such as David Douglas, William Clark, and Meriwether Lewis.

Most of those esteemed gentlemen had a good deal of knowledge of the day when they were on their expeditions, but they were not botanists. And of course they were focused on many other things besides finding new plants - such as staying alive!

In the case of Lewis and Clark, all of the plants they could not readily identify were sketched, documented, pulled up, and sent back to experts in Washington D.C. between 1804 and 1806. Here, botanists, horticulturists, and others examined the samples and tried to identify them. They sent back over 200 plant specimens and are credited with discovering 174 new plants, unknown to science at the time. That's an amazing feat, and you can still see some of these samples at The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Douglas made three separate trips to the Northwest in the 1820's and is credited with bringing 200 plants back to England. These specimens were then examined and fully identified by the leading botanists of the day.

Well, coming back to the present and my small hobby, I don't take samples per se as I wander about admiring the flora. Just photos and at times some notes to help me remember the setting. For identification, my expert helpers are about a dozen books and websites that make up a wide swath of accumulated knowledge.

When I go out for a walk or hike, I bring along my camera and capture any unfamiliar blooms or interesting plants. Then back at home, in the comfort of my study, I spend anywhere from half an hour to several days nailing down the plant ID. But even with this wealth of knowledge at my fingertips, there are some findings I simply cannot identify, hence the title of this post.

I suppose it's a good thing some of these captures remain elusive. After all, we humans always need a carrot to reach out to in our next quest.

Here are the three stumpers for 2014 - if you know these guys, call my hot line!

Unknown #1: observed 5/07/2014 at Devil's Churn near Cape Perpetua
on the Oregon coast. Nickel sized flowers with waxy leaves.
Growing on southern cliff near the trail down to the churn.

Unknown #2: as found on 5/23/2014 on Holly Hill Road. The
pea-like blooms are in clusters. Branches have prolific thorns.
The large shrub stands about 8 ft. tall and it seems to be spreading.
Probably and invader of some kind, resembles pea family.

Unknown #3: weedy plant with 1/3 in. flowers.
Found on 6/20/2014 on Laurelview Road.
Plant is about 10-12 in. high. Growing in
disturbed area along road.