Nevada Oasis

I had to be in Las Vegas for reasons unrelated to botany, but as always I brought my camera along, optimistic that outside of the cacophany of glitter and sin there might be something blooming.  Having heard about record droughts in the southwest, however, I didn't expect too much.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Mummy Mountain, part of the Spring Mountain Range sits above high desert
populated by Joshua trees, pinyon pines and junipers.

Before going I checked online for a rainfall map for Nevada, and noticed that just east of Las Vegas there was a bright green spot surrounded by the expected red and orange.  On closer inspection this turned out to be the Spring Mountains, home of the Toiyabe National Forest. With several peaks ranging from 10,000 to nearly 12,000 feet in elevation, this isolated range catches rainfall that otherwise would probably blow on by and evaporate somewhere over the desert.

The Nevada desert is brightened by its own red hibiscus,
Sphaeralcea ambigua.

The approach to the mountains proved to be quite fruitful for wild flowers.  Bright red globe mallows were abundant along the road, though not fully open, along with desert paintbrush and the sunflower-like Packera glabella.   Mormon tea shrubs, Ephedra torreyana, were also in "bloom," shedding pollen from their tiny cones.

Packera glabella, a member of the
sunflower family, Asteraceae, is
common along Nevada roadsides. 

Ephedra torreyana is Mormon tea.  It does not provide the
drug ephedrine, which is found only in Asian species.

There seems to be a species of Indian Paintbrush nearly everywhere in the western U.S.  This appears to be Castilleja chromosa.

Further up the slopes, I found Lesquerella tenella in the mustard family, Cryptantha tumulosa, Astragalus amphioxus, and a shrub in the genus Amelanchier blooming. Large ponderosa pines dominated the forest.

Ponderosa pines are the grandest of the western pines,
dominating mid-elevation, semi-dry forests everywhere.

One of the currants, Ribes malvaceum, blooms in the spring,
with berries to follow later in the summer.

The mustard family, Brassicaceae, can be counted on
for fields of bright yellow. Here in southern Nevada is
Lesquerella tenella.

Cryptantha tumulosa mingles with Ponderosa pines
in the Spring Mountains.

The locoweed, Astragalus amphioxus, puts out its first
blooms of the spring.

The further up we went, the earlier the season.  The road to Mt. Charleston ends about 8000 feet in elevation. The pines here looked more like lodgepole pines, with their finer bark.  Aspens were flushing out with fresh green leaves while grasses and sedges were popping up in force.  About 3 PM, we were forced off the mountain by a mini blizzard - yes real snow flurries in early May!  That is not uncommon in the west, but I really wasn't expecting it within an hour's drive of Las Vegas.

Around 8000 feet in elevation, aspens were just putting out their new green leaves.  It was at this point that it began to snow.

South Africa 2. The Fabulous Proteaceae

A beautiful species of Mimetes, which I've seen
identified as either M. cuculloides or
M.  fimbrifolius. 

The spectacular South African spring owes much of its glory to the flowering trees and shrubs of the Proteacaeae.  This is an  odd family related most closely to the sycamore (Platanaceae) and lotus (Nelumbonaceae) families.  Strange bedfellows indeed!  The Proteaceae is strictly southern hemisphere and most diverse in Africa and Australia, with about 80 genera and 1600 species.  Australia has many colorful species of Banksia and Grevillea, as well as edible macadamia nuts.  We'll get to some of those in a later installment.  In South Africa, the diversity of this family is almost too much to contain within a single blog posting.

In bud, the flowers of Protea cynaroides
are enclosed in a cone-like series of
bracts.

The flowers of the Proteaceae are mostly small, with tubular, nectar-filled bases, and most often grouped into compact heads. Many are surrounded by petal-like bracts, turning them in to compound flowers resembling those of the sunflower family. The Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden has a comprehensive collection, but many can be seen in the shrublands of the Fynbos in the region around Capetown. As is my custom, I will allow them to speak for themselves.  Enjoy!

The bud of Protea cynaroides opens like a large
sunflower to reveal the many small flowers packed inside.

One has to view the mysterious, dark, Protea nana  from below
to see its flowers. It is pollinated by rats attracted by its yeasty odor.

Protea scolymocephala looks like a member of the sunflower
family (Asteraceae) until you examine it closely.

Most members of the genus Leucospermum, like the
L. glabrum pictured here, do not have enclosing
bracts as do the  Proteas.

A pure yellow form of Leucospermum
patersonii.

The outer flowers of Leucospermum reflexum form a skirt at the base of
the flower head.

In Leucospermum oleifolium several small flower
heads share a bed of yellowish bracts.

In Leucodendron, like this L. elimense, the yellow-white
 bracts are conspicuous, but the flowers are not.

Leucodendron argenteum has green bracts and yellowish flowers.

South Africa 1. Kirstenbosch

Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden is laid out at the foot of the Table
Mountain range. It features sculptures by local artists, in addition to
the acres of native plant displays.

In my last post, we visited Paradise on Mt. Rainier.  Today, I'm taking you to another botanical paradise
located at the far southern end of the African continent, one that you might imagine couldn't be more different from the lush alpine meadows of Washington State.  There are some parallels however.  Mt. Rainier experiences long cold winters and southern Africa experiences long dry summers, so both are botanically dreary for much of the year.  But then comes spring, and in both places it is spectacular. Melting snow in Washington and winter rains in South Africa bring spectacular displays of wildflowers.

Southern Africa is the home of the Bird-of-paradise family (Strelitztacae) On the left is a yellow variety of
Strelitzia reginae named 'Mandela's Gold' in honor of the late Nelson Mandela, the revered father of modern South Africa. On the right is the narrow-leaved species, Strelitzia juncea.

The giant Strelitzia nicolai, with white and blue
flowers, attains tree-like proportions.

Spring in South Africa comes in September and October.  I had the great fortune to visit Capetown, capital of the Western Cape Province in 1998, as an attendee at the 5th International Botanic Gardens Conservation Congress.  The congress took place in the incredible Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which is dedicated to an extensive collection and display of plants native to South Africa.  Visitors from around the world flock to this garden to see this extraordinary native flora, as do many South Africans, who take great pride in their local plants.  

In this new series, I will take you to several parts of South Africa, but begin with the botanical garden itself.  One does not have to "brake for wildflowers" here, because every step of a leisurely stroll reveals something new.  South Africa is home to many species of Aloe, Pelargonium, Euphorbia, Strelitzia, Zantedeschia, Erica, and, most conspicuously, the families Proteaceae, Asteraceae, and Iridaceae. 

Leucospermum catherinae is one of many
spectacular flowering shrubs of the Proteaceae.

A mass of native white calla lily (Zantedeschia aethiopica) dominates a boggy depression at Kirstenbosch.

Aloe plicatilis, with an odd fan-shaped leaf
arrangement is one of about 500 species of this
African genus.

Kirstenbosch is located at the foot of Table Mountain, which forms a great backdrop for many garden scenes.  The climate here is much like that of southern California, Mediterranean Europe, or southwestern Australia, with rain primarily in the winter. The natural vegetation is shrubby, with trees in some protected areas.  The shrubs are largely evergreen, and adapted to tolerate fires every few years.  In California we call this type of vegetation chaparral.  In South Africa, it's called fynbos.  Flowers on shrubs and herbaceous plants alike crowd together in massive displays during the late winter through early summer, with the peak in October.  It is in just such a climate that evolutionary botanist G. Ledyard Stebbins envisioned the origin of the flowering plants themselves.  The seasonal contrasts and the rough topography in areas of marginally adequate rainfall create numerous microhabitats and brought about the diverse vegetative forms, rapid life cycles, and dependence on animal pollinators characteristic of flowering plants in general. 

Species of Aloe dominate this section of Kirstenboxch.

Guinea fowl wander freely through the botanical garden.

The botanical garden is laid out in areas representing different regions of the country, and has a modern conservatory complex for plants requiring warmer or drier conditions than those found around Capetown.  As usual, I will end this narrative and allow the photographs to speak for themselves. 

The sky-blue flowers of  Agapanthus
africanus, a member of the Amaryllidaceae,
are familiar to gardeners in warmer parts
of the world.

. 

Cussonia spicata is an arborescent member of the Araliaceae. 

The bright red flowers of an arborescent species of Erythrina frame a view of
nearby moutains.

Cyrtanthus is another African genus of the
Amaryllidaceae.  This appears to be a form of
C. elatus.

One of many idyllic vistas in Kirstenbosch.

Delosperma cooperi, in the Aizoaceae, creates a mass of color at the base of Table Mountain.

Pelargonium cordifolium is one of about 200 African species
of this genus in the Geraniaceae.

Clivia is still another African garden favorite in
the Amaryllidaceae.

A large, modern conservatory houses more delicate native species.

Spring flowering geophytes are displayed in bloom in the conservatory. Geophytes include plants that
are dormant during the long hot summer and arise from bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes.

A walk through Paradise

Lupines, Indian paintbrush, and white daisies cover
the meadows of Paradise in mid-summer.

My second home has always been in Washington State.  My Dad first took me up there from our home in California when I was about 6 or 7, and I have returned many times since.  They only things I remember were sleeping under a makeshift tent under a giant fallen tree trunk, and buying a small figurine of a black bear as a souvenir.  After I became a plant geek at the ripe old age of 12, our family trips to Washington were exciting times of botanical discovery.  Washington is indeed a botanical paradise, and nestled on the side of Mt. Rainier, at about 5400 feet elevation, is the actual, real Paradise - it says so on the sign at the end of the road!  The explorer who named this complex of alpine meadows must also have been a lover of wildflowers, for nowhere else can one see such a lavish display.

Paradise is covered with up to 20 feet of snow from October through May, but through the brief summer there is a constantly shifting display as different species put forth their blossoms to attract their time-share of local pollinators.  Similar displays, but varying in the species composition, can be found in the alpine zones throughout the state, grading into the floras of Oregon and California to the south and British Columbia and Alaska to the north.  In future installments, I will get to some of these other places, but I begin with the epicenter of Paradise.  And there's no need for further chatter - I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

In late May, the wildflower season is still weeks away.

The national park staff who stay through the winter might
be able to enter and exit buildings through the
upstairs windows.

The columbia or tiger lily, Lilium columbianum,
is one of the treasures to spot in sunny
spots in the forest along the road to
Paradise.

My favorite wildflower of all, Aquilegia
formosana, can be seen along roadsides and
in sheltered spots among the alpine
meadows.

Glacier lilies, Erythronium pallidum, are typically the first
flowers to appear as the snow melts.

Avalanche lilies, Erythronium montanum,  are close relatives
of the glacier lilies.

Anemone occidentalis emerges with
the glacier and avalanche lilies as the
snow melts.

Ranunculus eschscholtzii brightens up a spot
of bare ground.

Sedum oreganum grows on rocky
outcrops, and is common along the
road to Paradise.

Indian paintbrush, Castilleja miniata, brings color to many
parts of Washington.

Dense leafy shoots of Veratrum
viride arise in the spring.

The small, green, lily-like flowers of
Veratrum viride appear in massive
inflorescences in mid-summer.

Veronica cusickii provides blue accents
in the meadows of Paradise.

A shooting star, of the genus Dodecatheon,
appear to be diving toward the ground.

The yellow monkey flower, Mimulus caespitosus, pokes out
from among rocks.

An alpine willow is one of the few shrubs to be found at
Paradise.

Pedicularis bracteosa, the bracted
lousewort.

Penstemon menziesii is found in rocky,
exposed parts of the meadow.

Streams dissect the Paradise meadows, forming
cascades and small waterfalls as they descend.

In the 1960's there were some accessible ice caves under the
glaciers around Paradise.

At Sunrise, on the opposite side of Mt. Rainier from Paradise, the meadows are a bit drier.