Petey is very excited about spring, but avocados are on his mind. Please stay out of the produce section Petey!
It is very exciting to think that avocados come from a plant native to the Americas. A wild native in the Laurel family, Lauraceae. A family that includes other interesting species like cinnamon, and bay laurel. And though we can’t grow an avocado tree (Persea americana), here in southeastern Arizona we can sure enjoy the pulpy fruit and spicy leaves of this very cool plant.
When I initially wrote this story I was using Lyman Benson’s The Cactus of Arizona as my reference and the queen of the night...
Lesquerella is named in honor of Leo Lesquereaux and Wikipedia reminds me that he was a “Swiss bryologist and a pioneer of American paleobotany.”...
Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is common around our little homestead and beyond. There are even thickets of it all along the banks of the...
