Pine tree and lichen landscape in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, photographed with UVIVF.
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California barrel cactus (Ferrocactus cylindraceus) growing out of a granite wall in a wash in Anza Borrego, photographed with UVIVF.
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Dudleya cymosa ssp. pumila is a succulent native and endemic to California, meaning it cannot be found growing naturally anywhere else in the world. This plant is most often found on north-facing canyon walls and roadcuts throughout the transverse ranges (a series of mountains that run east-west through CA instead of the usual north-south.) Dudleya in general have special adaptations which allow them to survive challenging environments, in this case growing in the wet but coldest part of the year and surviving a long, very hot, and very dry summer.
Even in this subspecies there are many included forms, with varying traits such as flower color, leaf farina, altitude, etc., which goes in hand with Dudleya being a genus of complicated and still-developing taxonomy with quite a lot of undescribed species. Molecular phylogeny is making this possible by sampling genetic material to determine evolutionary relationships. This process is further complicated by the fact that Dudleya is a highly poached genus and many populations of unique plants are threatened by sprawling human development and introduced herbivores before they even have a chance to be recognized.
Dudleya is one of my favorite genera of plants, so expect to see more of them in my posts in the future!
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Dendrobium bellatulum is an orchid from low to moderate altitude mountain forests in southern Asia. It is an epiphyte with cane pseudobulbs and the flowers which emerge from leaf nodes on leafless stems are known to be fragrant.
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Gossypium barbadense is one of the species of cotton grown agriculturally in the modern world where it now grows throughout though it originated in Ecuador and Peru. Left to grow beyond the short cycle it sees in cultivation, this species can turn into a small and slender tree which produces showy but short-lived flowers and later bolls of cotton.
Though accounting for around 1/20 of the world’s cotton, the trade names ‘pima’ and ‘Egyptian’ cotton are well-known. Cultivars of G. barbadense are typically Long Staple or Extra Long Staple (I even created and measured staples of this boll’s fiber to check!) which allows them to make fine thread used in high thread count textiles and to create strong cord which has for one thing has been used in auto tires.
It is unlikely that this has remained a pure species as it’s been used by humans for longer than 6,000 years and cotton species in proximity can easily interbreed with one another. Some interbreeding was likely deliberate as well, considering for example that the Hawaiian cotton Gossypium tomentosum was bred with commercial species to convey disease and pest resistance.
G. barbadense has a noteworthy characteristic in having a single large and prominent extrafloral nectary on the underside of its leaves where it produces a visible (and pretty tasty) bead of nectar. These sorts of nectar sources are not intended to attract pollinators but instead usually draw in insects like ants or wasps which will defend the plant as a food source.
While many cotton species have further value for their seed oil, G. barbadense produces too much gossypol, a chemical which in its seeds which renders its oil unsuitable for consumption. Interestingly, gossypol also is known to be an antimalarial compound and has been investigated as a male contraceptive, though in the modern day is only being considered as an alternative to vasectomy.
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Romneya coulteri, known commonly as Matilija poppy, is a perennial from the poppy family native to southern California and Baja California where it occurs in dry regions, often hosting chaparral plant communities. It is fairly common in cultivation especially where water conservation is a concern and is known to spread aggressively via its rhizomatous roots if treated well. The white and yellow flowers are the largest of any plant native to California and was in contention to be the state flower though it was beaten out by its not-too-distant relative, the California poppy.
The fruit employs similar structures to many others in Papaveraceae (if you check my earlier post of Argemone glauca you’ll see great similarity!) but has more chambers than most, making it look like a crown. Each pod bears copious, small, classically poppyesque seeds. If you look closely you can see tiny fractures form in the capsule such that even gentle bumping or shaking can break it to pieces, spilling more of the seed that hasn’t already fallen out the top when shaken in a breeze.
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Physalis crassifolia, the thick-leaved groundcherry (crass = thick, folia = relates to the leaves) is a neat member of the nightshade family which grows in dry areas throughout the American southwest. Despite being members of Solanaceae, the fruits of Physalis are generally considered edible, and this species is no exception. Its fruit is described as “edible and sweet with pineapple and strawberry flavors” though not being fond of tomatoes, I have been reluctant to try. Each fruit grows wrapped in the papery flower calyx. This plant thrives in desert environments, with this plant seen flowering in a dry year in the Mojave Desert in California.
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Visiting Death Valley in 2021 was a disappointment compared to 2020, but there were some die-hard plants still flowering despite the dryness of the year. Phacelia crenulata was one of the few we saw, thriving at the edge of roads where the asphalt sheds water and can help keep it from evaporating as quickly.
Phacelia, AKA scorpionweeds for the curled inflorescences they grow, is native to North and South America though Phacelia tanacetifolia is making headway as an introduced species in Europe.
The scorpion-tail cymes of P. crenulata’s purple flowers mature into capsules full of orange-brown seeds which will hang out in the soil for as long as half a decade waiting for decent conditions to germinate and grow for a year – an endurance which may be necessary in the arid climates to which they are native. I took some seed heads home to photograph and grow, but so far I haven’t gotten them as large as they were growing even in that dry year!
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