The botanical name of our 3 needle per fascicle (bundle) Chihuahuan pine is Pinus leiophylla var. chihuahuana. Further south into Mexico where the 5 needle version occurs it becomes Pinus leiophylla var. leiophylla. Some botanists, by the way, list the variety as a subspecies. Well, either way it’s really a neat native pine here in the borderlands.
The photos are mine and taken in the Chiricahua Mountains where we were wandering around looking for a Christmas tree. Below is a photo of large sprout coming off a pine trunk. It was an area that burned during the 2011 Horseshoe Two Fire and some of the surviving fire damaged trees put out large crown-like sprouts. That’s fascinating and unusual for a pine species. And now you know.
This is a rambling episode about beer cans in the wild, plant gestalt, and instincts about places. Oh, and an interesting plant called Sideroxylon...
Berberis fremontii is in the Barberry family or Berberidaceae…that’s fun to pronounce. Fremont barberry has quite a range north of the Salt River in...
When Petey gets done slinging binomials around he finally decides to talk about a very cool native butterfly.
