Electric Calliandra

Calliandra is a beautiful plant name. I like the way a genus name can sometimes become the common name as well. I wonder how many baby girls of botanists or native plant enthusiasts are named Calliandra? Fairy duster is a pretty nice common name too and this species is sometimes called false mesquite or mesquitilla. You pick.

I mention how the abundance of seed must be good feed for small mammals and birds, but neglected to say that the stems and leaves are browsed by larger critters like deer and cattle. And finally,  there is a funny line in Arizona Flora saying that it is “a straggling shrub” but there is no mention of the showy flowers. I guess we don’t need a flora to tell us that.

The photos are mine. That’s the base of a sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri) in one shot and then a close up of the electric stamens. I think that is the 220-volt model and I’m lucky I didn’t get shocked!