Horehounds and Spotted Ground Squirrels

There is a large batch of horehound (Marrubium vulgare) under a mesquite in our yard. Well, along a fence line that defines “our yard”. It hasn’t spread thankfully and I doubt if I beat it back or tried to dig it up I could eradicate it. It seems so tenacious and that could be why it is found all over North America. It’s not going anywhere that’s for sure. If you ever feel like wild harvesting horehound for medicinal uses, I say go crazy and take all you want! And if you need a reference for how to process or use it, there are many good books about medicinal plants in the southwest, but any book by Michael Moore is always a good read.

The spotted ground squirrels (Xerospermophilus spilosoma) are pretty darn cute in our yard, but they are very shy. One field guide of mine says, “shy and secretive”. If it ever does get cold this fall/winter, I wonder if it will get cold enough for them to hibernate. I’ll keep you posted about that, but if it does happen I won’t see spotted ground squirrels until some hot weather returns.

The photos are mine and you can see the corrugated hoary leaves of horehound. The photo of the ground squirrel was taken through my bedroom window. I rarely see them when I’m out poking around the yard and if I do see one it’s always a tail scampering away to a hole.