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Tag: Cochise County
Ménage à trois.
Giant mesquite bugs
(Thasus neocalifornicus) at San Pedro House, Cochise County, Arizona.
Waterlily.
Reticule.
Most of the willows in Garden Wash were covered with these lacy coccoons, each supported by a tangle of willow leaves. I think they are housing the pupae of geometer moths. Arizona does infestation remarkably well. There were thousands of these in the trees.
Grass again.
Redwhisker clammyweed (Polanisia dodecandra), at Garden Wash.
This is my current nominee for plant-with-the-best-common-name. It is a cleome, with sticky-fuzzy hairs on stems and leaves that leave a gummy, foul-smelling sap on your hands when handled. The scientific name is useful and descriptive. The genus name
Polanisia
refers to the unequal lengths of the flowers’ stamens, while dodecandra indicates that each floret has twelve stamens.
Mojave woodyaster (Xylorhiza tortifolia) at Garden Wash, San Pedro House. In the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, Cochise County, Arizona.
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Pontia protodice, the checkered white.
Flaxflowered ipomopsis (Ipomopsis longiflora) in Garden Wash at San Pedro House.
This plant has reduced its foliage to adapt to xeric conditions. It is so delicate and wispy it’s almost invisible in the landscape, except when it flowers after rain.
The flowers are characteristic of plants pollinated by moths: a long salverform profile, with a whorl of petals for a landing platform, and a long, tubular perianth. Only a moth with an exceptionally long proboscis could reach the flower’s hidden nectar. Moth-pollinated flowers are also often pale-colored or white, and open at night when moths are active.
Dithyramb 