Natural History Wanderings

The best early season wildflower reports are coming in from Arizona.  DesertUSA had a few more Arizona posts today:

“….AZ Highways 177 and 77 today. We did the loop from Superior to Winkleman and back up to Globe.
The desert wildflowers are still in their early stages. We saw penstemon, poppy, lupine, blue bonnet, fiddleneck, globe mallow, and desert chicory.”

“…Peridot Mesa on the San Carlos Apache Reservation (20-minutes drive due east of Globe) Wednesday and will both verify the color’s great – and likely to improve over the next week. Mexican Goldpoppy blooms have spread farther across lower flanking hillsides…”

“…Bear Canyon northeast of Tucson, up to 7 Falls, and the wildflowers are just popping out everywhere. We saw and photographed maybe thirty different kinds,and have only been able to identify less than half so far. There were Desert Anemone, Miner’s Lettuce, Brittlebush, Desert Marigold, White Popcorn, Yellow Fiddlehead, Purple Phacelia, Desert Evening Primrose, Blue Dicks, Desert Chicory, Gila Manroot vine, Sandmat, Fairy Duster, Lupines, and many others. Deep in the canyon near the falls, the Mexican Poppies were in patches everywhere and in small carpets on the hillsides.”

To see photos and more reports go to:
http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/az.html
http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/tucson.html

You might also follow the Boyce Thompson Arboretum reports: http://arboretum.ag.arizona.edu/events/wildflowers.html
and Wild in the West blog: http://wildinarizona.com/wordpress/