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.
The scientific name of the ringtail is Bassariscus astutus. It’s in the Procyonidae, the same family as our local borderlands’ critters the raccoons and...
The botanical name of Wright’s Beebrush is Aloysia wrightii. It used to be Lippia wrightii, well actually it has gone back and forth, but...
Desert anemone (Anemone tuberosa) is in the Buttercup Family. Buttercups are the genus Ranuculus and so the family name is Ranunculaceae. It’s probably just...