We saw several of this large Arizona Blister beetle (Lytta magister) this weekend and my little Canon S5 (with its swivel screen) did an excellent job of capturing it. FYI: It can be as large at 1 1/8 inches. The adults eat plant tissue but the larva munch on grasshopper eggs in the soil.
Tag Archives: ezpixels
Flat top Buckwheat
Flat-top Buckwheat is the common name for Eriogonum fasciculatum. It’s starting to bloom everywhere now and I thought I would show just how intricate the blooms are. You need really good eyes or a macro lens to see their glory.
Microseris
There are a small dandelion-like plants in the Sonoran Desert called Microseris. They are members of the sunflower family. This variety is probably Lindley’s Silver Puff. A lensbaby macro shot reveals how beautiful the seed head is.
Phacelia
There are a couple of varieties of Phacelia in our area. The flowers range in color from pale lavendar blue to dark purple. I’m fairly sure the one above is Phacelia distans but I’ve given up trying to identify! I just call them all Celia and then remember the “fa” part 🙂 Beautiful name for a beautiful flower.
Queen of the Night
Seeing this cactus on a trail not far from my house was very exciting! The common name is Queen of the Night and I’ve only ever seen it at the Botanical Gardens. (Botanical name: Peniocereus greggii). The majority of the time, the cactus looks dead and can be easily mistaken for a dead branch so it’s no wonder they are rarely seen. Hope I can remember the location!
They only bloom once a year. Click here to see what it looks like.
Trailing Windmills
Trailing Windmills (Allionia incarnata) is a member of the Four O’Clock family. It’s a tiny vine with a flower about one half inch wide. It’s was spotted by a photographer friend, Howard Wood, in a wash on Peridot Mesa just outside of Globe, AZ.
FYI: The Desert Wishbone Bush is also a member of the Four O’Clock family. To see a photo from the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, check my March 17 post.
Fiddleneck
The common Fiddleneck is in the borage or forget-me-not family “Boraginaceae”. That’s hard to remember but anyone who has walked through a patch of this plant knows that it has sharp hairs on its stems which can irritate our skin. Another fact (if we can trust Wikipedia), is that the foliage of the fiddleneck is poisonous to livestock BUT the native peoples used the shoots, seeds and leaves of several species for food.
Pringle’s Woollyleaf
This teeny tiny plant was a challenge to identify but I’m fairly sure it’s Pringle’s Woollyleaf (Eriophyllum pringlei). Another member of the sunflower family, each plant is only about 1/16 to 1/4 in wide so I would guess that most people step on it before they realize it’s a flower.
Lacepod
The seed pods of Fringepod/Lacepod (Thysanocarpus curvipes) are much more interesting than the flowers. They’re green to begin with and then change colors as they dry out.
Checkerspot
A friend and I saw dozens of these little butterflies at Bartlett Lake yesterday afternoon. In researching the identity, I think it is a Chlosyne commonly called Checkerspot. It was less than 2 inches wide. There were others that were about one half in wide with similar markings. Males and females maybe? My friend and I were just happy that it held still long enough for us both to get a photo!
