Petey has wild dreams if he stays in bed too long in the morning. Get up Petey!
Amoreuxia palmatifida is always a delightful botanical find. Look for it on rocky slopes between 3,500′ and 5,000′ in southeastern Arizona. The bloom period coincides with summer monsoon and the orange flowers are best seen in the morning unless it is a cloudy day when flowers stay open a little longer. The seed capsules are beautiful. Even Kearney and Peebles of Arizona Flora seem to wax poetic when they mention, “the hyaline endocarp, through which the seeds may be seen as through a window after the exocarp falls away.” Beautiful.
Petey is enthusiastic about the naturally occurring grass parks that create magical openings in the coniferous forests of the White Mountains.
The common name of cacomistle (cacomixtle) for the ringtail is from the Nahuatl language. It translates to “half cat.” I can see that, especially...
Bristlehead (Carphochaete bigelovii) is a small shrub that I’m not sure I would have recognized without the flowers and bristles. I wonder if I’ve...
