Natural History Wanderings

submitted by Paul Wolterbeek from Boyce Thompson Arboretum

Friday March 9 http://ag.arizona.edu/bta Director of Horticulture Cathy Babcock reports:”as you make the scenic drive to Boyce Thompson Arboretum, wildflowers will greet you along 20 miles of Highway 60 approaching the gardens from Gold Canyon eastwards – a colorful palette of lupine, globemallow, penstemons, brittlebush and fairy duster. About a mile out from the entrance the show of penstemons and Mexican Gold poppies is stunning.

“BTA offers a plethora of native Sonoran Desert wildflowers which began showing back in January and now there are at least two dozen colorful species to see and photograph along the 1.5 mile long Main Trail. Camera-ready clumps of Fetid Marigold are trailside immediately as you start down the main trail below the visitor center, then look for vigorous clumps of Wild Rhubarb (Canaigre) just past the Smith Building. The Cactus Garden offers the chance to compare three blooming lupines (Coulter’s, Bajada & Silver), view yellow evening primrose and Mexican poppies, see Western Dayflower, hot-pink Parry’s Penstemon, rattlesnakeweed spurge, and Odora (also known as Yerba de Venado). Watch for Chuparosa near the Boojum Trees, and then low thickets of Amcinkia (fiddlenecks) just below Ayer Lake. Walking past and above AYER LAKE watch for native shrubs such as Mormon Tea and Tomatillo, and trailside patches of Purple Bladderpod, Bluedicks, and Phacelia – the latter with its signature “scorpion tail” curled inforescence. Also starting to show are the colorful Mariposa Lilies.

“They’re past their prime, but hundreds of white flowers still cover many of the native Rhyolite Bush (AKA Ragged Rock Flower, Crossosoma bigelovii) above Ayer Lake and also along the ‘switchbacks’ section of trail that descends below Picketpost Mansion. Monkey flower is a rare find – and there’s one tiny patch of this just getting started approximately across from the “Rattlesnakes Only” sign above Ayer Lake.

DOWN ALONG QUEEN CREEK in the shaded riparian area the trail is bordered by thickets of Blue Phacelia (Wild Heliotrope, Phacelia distans) that aren’t blooming yet, but will be quite impressive here in another week or two. Climbing above are robust vines of Wild Cucumber (Marah gilensis) snaking up and through jojobas and other unwitting host plants -reaching aggressively skyward with green tendrils and clusters of tiny starfish-shaped white flowers. It’s hard to believe all that growth happened in less than one month, and that in another few months these ephemeral vines will begin to dry up, fragment and fall back to the earth – disappearing until next Spring.

See all of these and more on a guided wildflower walk Sunday March 11 at 11:00 a.m. with Arizona Native Plants Society volunteer Cass Blodgett. Weekly wildflower walks repeat March 17, 25 & 31 and they’re included with daily admission of $9 for adults or $4.50 for ages 5-12.   Preview Arboretum spring flowers with this relaxing three-minute video clip of highlights filmed around the trails a couple years back: http://ag.arizona.edu/bta/wildflowers_2005_384.wmv