Category: Flora

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2013 Desert Wildflower Forecast

Click for a larger view of a Dark-eyed 'Oregon' Junco Male, Junco hyemalis montanus, Courtesy and copyright 2008 Ryan P. O'Donnell
Claret cup cactus in bloom
Arches National Park
Echinocereus triglochidiatus
var. melancanthus
Courtesy NPS, Neal Herbert, Photographer

Hi, I’m Holly Strand.

It’s showtime for desert wildflowers in CA, AZ and NM. But in Utah’s deserts think April or May. Within those months the exact timing, type and quantity of blooms are highly variable. Flowering depends upon the pattern of precipitation from fall onward and on spring temperatures, sunlight and elevation. And of course, on the specific ecological requirements of each particular plant.

Annuals are plentiful in the desert. Annual plants germinate, grow, flower, set seed and die all within one season—often in the spring. To avoid water stress—some annuals will start their life cycle only when there is significant moisture. If it’s dry, they may stay in seed form waiting for better conditions. Likewise, many perennials—plants that live more than 2 years—can remain below ground as dormant bulbs, corms or roots. But when conditions are right, these water stress avoiders –both annuals and perennials–will flourish. When this happens we call it a “good year” for wildflowers.

I couldn’t find a wildflower hotline for Utah—so I called different parks representing Utah’s 3 different desert regions to get a flower forecast for 2013.

Nothing much is happening yet on the Colorado Plateau in and around Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It’s been pretty cold according to staff ranger Sharon Brussell. So the appearance of spring flowers is somewhat delayed. But in April we can expect to see evening primrose, twinpods and milk vetches. And in late April-early May, Princes’ plume, globemallow and yucca. The scarlet blooms of claret cup cactus will follow. If you miss what you are looking for in Arches or the Needles district, just go higher to Islands in the Sky, adds Nathaniel Clark of the Canyonlands National Park. Here–because of the elevation–flowering of similar species occurs 2-4 weeks later.

Snow Canyon is in the Mojave Desert region. Park Manager Kristen Comella told me that this is likely to be a typical year for wildflowers. Spectacled pod and lotus vetch are already out. Soon we’ll see bright yellow flowers of the Mojave’s signature creosote bush, and the deep purple flowers of indigo bush. Prickly pear and Utah yucca will soon follow. If you want to see early spring blooms on Joshua trees, go south on old highway 91 from Gunlock to see Utah’s one and only Joshua Tree forest.

To find out what’s happening in the Great Basin I spoke with Ben Roberts at Nevada’s Great Basin National Park. He says there has been a bit less precipitation than normal but it should still be an OK year for flowers. So far he’s only spotted one — Nevada lomatium. This brave little plant blooms even when there is snow still lying around. From a distance you might even think the low-lying white flowers are a patch of snow. In April desert paintbrush will appear, as will arrow-leaf balsamroot and purple sage. Wild iris, blue flax and prickly pear will follow in May.

For sources and pictures and suggestions for good desert wildflower hikes go to www.wildaboututah.org

For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

Credits:
Image: Courtesy NPS, Arches National Park, Neal Herbert, Photographer
Text: Holly Strand

Recommended hikes for viewing wildflowers

Great Basin National Park (Great Basin)
Baker Creek Trail
Lehman Creek Trail
Pole Canyon Trail

Arches National Park (Colorado Plateau)
Primitive Loop

Canyonlands National Park (Colorado Plateau)
Neck Spring Trail—Islands in the Sky

Snow Canyon State Park (Mojave Desert)
Hidden Canyon
Whiptail Trails

Sources & Additional Reading

Arches Flower Guide (by color, month, name and keys)https://www.nps.gov/arch/naturescience/flowerguide.htm 

Comstock, J. and J. Ehrlinger 1992. Plant adaptations in the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau. Great Basin Naturalist. Vol. 52. No. 3

Fertig, Walter. 2010. Utah’s Mojave Desert Flora. Sego Lily, newsletter of the Utah Native Plant Society. Vol. 33, No. 2. https://www.unps.org/segolily/Sego2010MarApr.pdf

McMahon, James. 1985. Deserts (National Audubon Society Nature Guides) NY: Alfred A. Knopf https://www.amazon.com/Deserts-National-Audubon-Society-Nature/dp/0394731395

Williams, David. 2000. A Naturalist’s Guide to Canyon Country. A Falcon Guide. Helena MT. Published in cooperation with Canyonlands Natural History Association.https://www.amazon.com/Naturalists-Guide-Canyon-Country-Williams/dp/1560447834 

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Kissing Under the Dung Twig

Juniper Mistletoe
Phoradendron juniperinum
in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
Courtesy Stan Shebs, Photographer
This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Close-up of Juniper Mistletoe
Phoradendron juniperinum
in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada
Courtesy Stan Shebs, Photographer
This file is licensed under the
Creative Commons
Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.

Holly: Hi, I’m Holly Strand.

Together with poinsettia and holly, mistletoe is an iconic Christmas plant. The term mistletoe doesn’t refer to a single species or even a single lineage of plants. Instead there are over 1300 species belonging to 5 different plant families. All mistletoes are partially or mostly parasitic –they obtain water and minerals from a host tree, shrub or cactus via specialized stems. Sometimes mistletoe stems may branch into tangled masses called witches brooms. These gnarled structures offer nesting habitat for songbirds, raptors, and squirrels and can provide forage for deer and elk.

In Utah, Juniper mistletoe is the most common species. You’ll find it across the Colorado Plateau and along the Wasatch Front. Acacia mistletoe is much rarer and found only in the Beaver Dam Mountains west of St. George. Both of these species are leafless and spiky looking but many types of mistletoe have green leaves to support photosynthesis.

Most mistletoes reproduce with the help of birds that eat their fruit. Mistletoe seeds pass through the bird’s digestive system and are deposited on new branches where they stick and germinate. This explains the mistletoe’s strange name which is Anglo Saxon for “dung twig”.

Considering its humble origins in bird poop, mistletoe has made quite a name for itself. Like a botanical Forest Gump, it keeps cropping up throughout history in myths, cultural traditions and even medicines.

  • In Norse mythology, the overprotective Goddess Frigg went to all the living creatures on earth, making them pledge not to harm her beloved son Baldur. But she overlooked the mistletoe. When mischievous Loki discovered this, he arranged that Balder’s brother would throw an arrow made of mistletoe to strike Balder—killing him, of course.
  • In Virgil’s epic poem the Aeneid, mistletoe was the “Golden Bough” which allowed Aeneas to pass into the Underworld.
  • The ancient Druids revered both oak trees and the mistletoe that grew in them. They believed that a potion prepared from mistletoe would make barren animals reproduce. And they used mistletoe as an antidote to all kinds of poisons.


    • Throughout the ages, mistletoe was used to treat many medicinal conditions such as epilepsy, infertility, hypertension and arthritis. Today, many claim that mistletoe stimulates the immune system, helping the body fight more efficiently against cancer and other diseases.

    While it was originally hung in doorways to attract good health and good fortune, by the 18th century mistletoe morphed into a Christmas decoration. We don’t know exactly how the custom of kissing under the mistletoe –or dung twig—evolved, but I’m certainly glad it did!

    For pictures and sources for this program and archives of past programs, go to www.wildaboututah.org For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

    For Wild About Utah, I’m Holly Strand.

    Credits:

    Image: Courtesy Wikipedia, Stan Shebs, Photographer
    Text: Holly Strand

    Sources & Additional Reading:

    Drury, Susan. 1987. “Customs and Beliefs Associated with Christmas Evergreens: A Preliminary Survey” Folklore 98.2 pp. 194-199., Abstract

    Fertig, Walter. 2006 “Utah Plant Families: The Mistletoes (Viscaceae)” Volume 29 No. 6 Sego Lily (Newsletter of the Utah Native Plant Society) Utah Native Plant Society

    Horneber MA, Bueschel G, Huber R, Linde K, Rostock M. 2008. “Mistletoe therapy in oncology.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18425885 Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008 Apr 16;(2):CD003297. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003297.pub2. PMID: 18425885 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

    Milius, Susan. 2002. Science News. “Mistletoe, of all things, helps juniper trees.” Web edition: January 2, 2002. Print edition: January 5, 2002; Vol.161 #1 (p. 6) https://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/2334/description/Mistletoe,_of_all_things,_helps_juniper_trees

    Watson, David. M. “Mistletoe—A Keystone Resource in Forests and Woodlands Worldwide.” 2001. Annu. Rev. Ecol. Syst. 2001. 32:219–491, https://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2012/07/03/rspb.2012.0856.full

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    Reseeding the West After Fire

    Reseeding the West After Fire
    Soil bared by fire with
    furrows left by new seeding.
    Devil’s Playground Fire, Box Elder Co.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Nancy Shaw, Photographer

    Reseeding the West After FireBlue flowers of wild flax
    years after seeding
    of Devil’s Playground.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Jim Cane, Photographer

    Reseeding the West After FireSeed being planted after fire
    using a rangeland drill.
    Scooby Fire, Box Elder Co.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Nancy Shaw, Photographer

    Reseeding the West After FireNative grasses established
    two years after
    seeding Scooby Fire.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Jim Cane, Photographer

    Native sweetvetch farmed
    for seed production.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Jim Cane, Photographer

    Palmer penstemon farmed
    for seed production.
    Courtesy & Copyright 2012
    Bob Hammon, Photographer

    More than 7 million acres burned this summer across the western United States. It’s the biggest fire year since 2007. In Utah, wildfires blazed across 450,000 acres, as much land as the urbanized Wasatch front. Most of these fires scorched basin and foothill habitats dominated by sagebrush or juniper forests. After a year or two, the blackened land will turn green. But shrubs and trees in these basin habitats are frequently killed by fire. Where these native plant communities naturally recover, it’s because perennial wildflowers and grasses resprout, and, like the shrubs, germinate their seeds. However, overgrazing a century ago impoverished many western rangelands. Aggressive weeds from Europe and Asia could then invade, such as tumblemustard, Russian thistle, and red brome or cheatgrass. These weeds outcompete our natives, multiplying with each fire cycle to eventually carpet the landscape.

    To stem this tide of weed invasion after fire, land managers assist plant community recovery by planting mixtures of shrub, grass and wildflower seed. The shrub seed is mostly native, harvested from the wild by private seed collectors. The tiny seeds of several kinds of sagebrush prevail, often mixed with fourwing saltbush, shadscale, or bitterbrush.

    The grasses are largely farmed by specialty growers. In past decades, these were mostly tough, competitive grasses from the Asian steppe, notably crested and tall wheatgrasses, and Russian wildrye. These practical, affordable grasses stand up to cheatgrass, but they also impede the return of the native flora. Today, half the grass seed applied after Great Basin fires includes natives, such as Sandberg bluegrass, squirreltail, Indian ricegrass, and bluebunch wheatgrass.

    Use of wildflower seed has lagged. It’s challenging to farm yet costly to wild harvest. Today, a handful of innovative farmers are growing native wildflowers for seed, such as yarrow, Lewis flax, sweetvetch, two prairie-clovers, a milkvetch, and several penstemons. How much seed is needed? After the big fire year of 2007, four thousand tons of shrub, grass and wildflower seed were planted in the American West!

    This is Linda Kervin for Bridgerland Audubon Society.

    Credits:

    Images: Courtesy & Copyright Nancy Shaw
                Courtesy & Copyright Bob Hammon and
                Courtesy & Copyright Jim Cane
    Text: Jim Cane, Bridgerland Audubon Society

    Additional Reading:

    https://wildfiretoday.com/page/2/

    https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/research
    /shrub/greatbasin.shtml

    https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/boise/research/shrub
    /projects/plant_guides.html

    Forero, Leslie, Plants Surviving Cheatgrass Invasion May Improve Restoration Chances, Study Shows, UPR Utah Public Radio, Feb 26, 2018 https://www.upr.org/post/plants-surviving-cheatgrass-invasion-may-improve-restoration-chances-study-shows

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    Fall Frost

    Frost on a Hairy Leaf
    Copyright © 2012 Andrea Liberatore

    Frost on a Leaf
    Copyright © 2012 Andrea Liberatore

    Frost Damage on a Tomato
    Copyright © 2012 Andrea Liberatore

    Evergreens take hardiness
    to the Extreme
    Two-needle Pinion Pine
    Copyright © 2009 Linda Kervin

    Fall has descended in earnest across Utah. Leaves have flashed their colors and dropped to the ground. Juncos have replaced the flycatchers on my backyard’s best perches, and my garden has been cleaned up and tilled under. As I watched the fall weather affect plants in my vegetable garden, I began to wonder about the different reactions they had to the changing temperatures. My tomatoes and squash turned brown and wilted at the merest suggestion of cold temperatures. Other plants, like kale, carrots and onions are still bright and fresh, even after an early snowfall. What is it about some plants that allow them to withstand frost, while others succumb right away?

    Frost occurs when the temperature of an object – in this case a plant leaf – falls below the dew point of the air. Moisture from the atmosphere collects on the surface of the leaf and freezes when temperatures drop below 32 degrees. Just seeing frost on a plant doesn’t necessarily mean it will die – it’s the internal tissue temperature that counts. Like humans, plants are made mostly of water – upwards of 80-90% in an herbaceous plant like lettuce. When temperatures drop, the water inside plant cells expands as it freezes, tearing cell walls and causing irreparable damage.

    The amount of harm done to a plant depends on many different factors and is generally referred to as a plant’s hardiness. Species or individuals that are more compact will incur damage at a lower temperature than others due to their reduced surface area. Those growing close to the ground are more protected by their proximity to the warm earth. Plants with darker colored leaves such as the deep greens of spinach and chard may be hardier because their leaves absorb and retain heat better than lighter-colored leaves. Fuzzy or hairy leaves also fend off cold temperatures better than their smooth counterparts.

    Perhaps the best defense of all is found in plants that protect themselves with natural antifreeze. When frost hits these plants, the relatively pure water in the space between leaf cells freezes first, which in turn draws more water out of the surrounding cells. The remaining cellular fluid contains a high concentration of sugars and other molecules, which reduces the fluid’s freezing point and protects the cell’s contents from ice.

    Evergreens, of course, take hardiness to the extreme, utilizing a number of different tactics to remain alive and photosynthesizing throughout the winter. These tactics include compact leaf size, a thick leathery consistency, and a waxy coating that both insulates and prevents water from escaping into the dry winter air.

    Frost damage to less hardy plants can be postponed by human interventions such as covering with blankets, but as the cold spells get longer and more frequent, damage is inevitable. Everything has its season, and now is the time to harvest the last of those hardy fall greens and tuck the garden in for the coming winter.

    For the Stokes Nature Center and Wild About Utah, this is Andrea Liberatore.

    Credits:
    Images: Courtesy &
                Copyright 2012 Andrea Liberatore
                Copyright 2009 Jim Cane
    Text:     Andrea Liberatore,
                Stokes Nature Center in Logan Canyon.

    Additional Reading:


    Savonen, Carol (2012) Some plants make natural antifreeze to cope with winter’s wrath. Oregon State University Extension Service. Available online at: https://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/node/847


    Frost And Your Plants: What You Need To Know, Farmer’s Almanac, November 17, 2021, https://www.farmersalmanac.com/frost-temperature-outdoor-plants-9788

    Huber, Kathy (Feb 16, 2002) What Happens When a Plant Freezes. The Houston Chronicle. Available online at: https://www.chron.com/life/gardening/article/What-happens-when-a-plant-freezes-1635570.php