Steve’s Dustymaidens (Chaenactis steviodes) is another wildflower that you need to look at very closely to see just how beautiful it is. They started showing up this past weekend. Below is what you first observe so if you’re curious, move in!
Tag Archives: desert flora
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.
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.
Wild Carrot
Leaves smell like carrots when crushed and roots are edible. (Daucus pusillus?)
Owl’s Clover
Spotted yesterday on the Sunrise Trail. Another common name is Exserted Indian Paintbrush.
White Poppy Dreams
The white poppies are so fascinating and wind gives them such a fluid look.
Desert Wildflowers
Our Death Valley road trip was awesome but better yet was that the wildflowers held on til we got home!
Parting Shot
I’m hearing reports from all my photographer friends that poppies are showing up everywhere. Even this tiny Pincushion cactus (Mammillaria grahamii) is sporting new growth so Spring has definitely sprung! I’ll be out shooting as soon as I get back.
(no phone or internet for the next 10 days)
Room with a View
From my office window yesterday morning I noticed that Poppies have come up all over the mountains around us. We haven’t seen them around here for about 10 years so it’s very exciting!