Natural History Wanderings

Paul from Boyce Thompson Arboretum  had the following wildflower bloom report:

New flowers spotted this week include Climbing Milkweed (Sarcostemma cynanchoides); watch for a particularly easy-to-find one of these blooming at the easternmost end of the main trail, near the handrail of the hairpin turn down below Picket Post Mansion. Look for white flowers and clusters of tiny orange aphids – hundreds, maybe thousands of them. Slightly uphill are a few Mustard Evening Primrose (Camissonia californica); while down in the riparian grove along gurgling, splashing Queen Creek you’ll find knee-high trailside thickets of pale-blue phacelia. Elderberry trees (Sambucus mexicana) have white flower-cluster ‘doilies’ along silver king wash and queen creek; perhaps a good omen of summertime fruit production?

Showy Colorado four o’clock are blooming beneath the red gum trees in the eucalyptus grove, white ratany has paradoxically red flowers along the Curandero Trail, and prickly pear cactus blossoms (‘The Yellow Rose of Texas’) are more numerous this week. Watch for asparagus-spear-shaped stalks of the golden-flowered agave (Agave chrysantha) in various places from the cactus garden up towards the mansion. And Tomatillo fruits are ripe, juicy and abundant — bright red berries the size of coffeebeans add bursts of color to the otherwise inconspicuous Anderson Thornbush (Lycium andersonii) this year. Watch for cliff chipmunks, black-throated sparrows and other photogenic resident critters to feast on these ephemeral fruits while they’re ripe and available during the final two weeks of April.