Mala Mujer or Cnidoscolus angustidens is an interesting plant in Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family. It’s found in southeastern Arizona and south into Sonora on rocky slopes from 2,500′ to 5,000′ in elevation. What makes it interesting, at least to me, are the green maple-like leaves covered in white dots that are actually little mounds, each holding up a stinging hair. They do sting and some folks have a bad reaction to the sting. As you can see from the photo I clasped the stems and yes I got stung (very cool!), but I didn’t a bad reaction. Sometimes native plant nurseries will have this Euphorb in stock, so it’s well worth asking your favorite nursery person if they grow it.
Canyon hackberry must be an old common name, because all the new literature calls it western hackberry. Western, I suppose, as opposed to the...
The vast landscapes of the southwest are to die for and every once in a while I capture one with my camera. More and...
I was reading a Christmas card from some very dear friends and in the hand written portion of the card it mentioned this season...
