There are 30 species of Dalea found in Arizona, many of which are the the nursery trade because they are so doggone pretty. How cool is that? Very.
Dalea formosa can be found in many different plant communities around Arizona , New Mexico. West Texas and southward. It sure seems to like rocky rubble wherever it is and the gravelly plain at the base of the Dragoon Mountain, where I love to poke around, fits the bill.
The yellow banner on the beautiful pea-like flowers (papilionaceous!) does change to purple (joining the purple keel and wings) as it ages and it may well be a sign that says “sold out.”
The photos are mine and taken in the area described in this episode.
Western soapberry is Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii and is in the Sapindaceae. In that family there are around twelve species of Sapindus. I say...
I originally wrote Borderlands Jaguar while driving up to Tucson to do a presentation for the Center for Biological Diversity (http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/). I wrote it...
It was the American botanist Soreno Watson, who was on the receiving end of the Lemmon’s collections, that named the onion collected in the...