I wrote this song about Lycium fremontii when I was managing the native plant nursery of Desert Survivors on West Starr Pass in Tucson. The nursery is located right beside the Santa Cruz River at the base of A Mountain (Sentinel Peak). I used to perform the song whenever I did slide show talks and a version of it ended up on The Best of Growing Native Volume III. This is yet another version. I love the chorus and have always envisioned the song being part of a musical about Tucson or the Sonoran Desert that surrounds it. I’m looking for investors…I’m kidding.
I have so many 35 mm slides of this shrub and its flowers and fruit, but I took the photo used here from http://swbiodiversity.org/seinet/ and by Tom Van Devender. He is a botanist, ecologist, biologist and wonderful fellow. I thank him.
Leslie Newton Goodding had a busy career. It was when he worked for the U. S. Department of Agriculture that he collected the type...
Cliffrose is the star of this show. It also goes by the common name of quinine bush or its scientific name is Purshia mexicana....
It’s true that life in southeastern Arizona is full of “behold!” moments. It is so exciting to live in such a diverse land, both...