Desert & Mountains: Flora Diversity of North American Arid Landscapes

1. DESERT & MOUNTAINS Created By: Amparo De Mollinedo Andrea Hernandez Carlos Jusdado

2. LOW DESERT SCRUB

3. CREOSOTE BUSH The most widely distributed shrub in the North American deserts -Shiny, waxy, dark green leaves and small yellow flowers -Can pull water out of extremely dry soil -Indians utilized it for firewood, glue, tea, and a general antiseptic

4. BURROWEED A small shrub that is widely distributed in the Mojave & Sonoran Deserts -Small, deeply-toothed light-gray leaves that are green just in spring -Most leaves are shed during the long dry periods revealing white, densely branched stems

5. One of the most conspcuous and unusual desert shrubs -Long, unbranched, spiny stems radiate upward from the a single base -Stems can reach 20 feet in length -Red flowers at their tips provide crucial nectar for hummingbirds -Small green leaves are produced quickly after rain showers, but are shed soon after the soil dries (this cycle may occur several times a year) OCOTILLO

6. BRITTLE-BUSH -Very brittle stems bearing silvery leaves and yellow, daisy-like flowers -The leaves produce a water soluble chemical that act as a germination inhibitor, that prevent annuals from growing around the plant’s perimeter -Indians utilize the resin from its woody stems as a chewing gum, incense, varnish, and as a pain reliever

7. CHUPEROSA • Appears throughout desert habitats at lower elevations • Often leafless when limited rainfall, but stems can photsynthesize • Grey-green stems and leaves with tubular red flowers to attract hummingbirds responsible for their pollination

8. JOJOBA • Medium-sized shrub found on dry rocky slopes at lower elevations • Gray-green leathery leaves are distinctly-vertically oriented • Separate male and female plants • Greenish flowers; brown fruit (similar to an acorn) were used to make a coffee-like beverage by Natives and early Californians • Oil from seeds has a commercial use (thermally-stable and lubricating)

9. MOJAVE YUCCA • On dry rocky slopes and mesas from the coast to Colorado desert • Rigid, long green leaves armed with sharp spines at their tips (called Spanish bayonet) • Distinct “trunks” grow up to 12 feet • Cream-colored flowers borne in clusters at ends of trunk • This long-lived species of yucca can flower many times, but not each year • Fibers that curl off of the leaf margins were used by Natives to make baskets, cloth, rope, thread • The fruits were eaten raw, flower heads & stems were cooked, and fleshy roots and stems used to make soap

10. DESERT PRICKLY PEAR -Stems are flattened, leafless pads with long white spines -Cactus is short, multibranched, and bears yellow flowers and red fruit

11. BEAVERTAIL CACTUS -Often confused with the desert prickly pear cactus -Spines are absent, but has areoles with small tufts of sharp bristles -The characteristic shape of the cactus pad that gives this species its name -This cactus produces magenta flowers in late spring and early summer

12. JUMPING CHOLLA -Characterized by its distinctly erect trunk -Short branches and numerous spines -The easily-detached stems fall to the ground where they can take root -Also called “teddy bear” cholla because of its brown color and fuzzy-looking spines.

13. SILVER CHOLLA • Intricately branched • Found in Mojave and Colorado Deserts in sandy or gravelly soils between 1,000 and 4,000 ft • Slender medium-green stems with pale sparsely scattered spines, hard to detach • Yellow/bronze flowers in spring

14. DESERT BARREL CACTUS • Large, single-stem round cactus with lengthwise “ribs” • Attains height of 3 – 4 ft and 1 ft in diameter • (Larger than the coastal species) • Long spines (up to 6 in long) • Yellow flowers at the top of the cactus in spring • Common at lower elevations on rocky or gravelly hillsides • Natives used the hollowed barrel as a cooking pot

15. DESERT WASH

16. PALO VERDE • Small-to-medium tree common along washes; lebume family • Green bark can photosynthesize when the tree is leafless in dry season • Covered with bright yellow flowers in spring • Bi-pinnate leaves and elongated seed pods

17. SMOKE TREE • Small tree of sandy desert washes at lower elevations • Intricate, spiny-tipped branches • Leaves absent most of the year, so grey-green bark carries on most photosynthesis • Masses of small, purple pea-like flowers cover it in early summer

18. MESQUITE • Most important plant to Southwest Natives; beans were ground in meals and wood used for housing, burning, bows and arrows, basketry • Narrow bipinnately compound leaves • Extremely deep root systems are able to reach water year-round

19. IRONWOOD • Medium-sized, legume tree found in desert washes with mesquite and catclaw • It has a simple pinnate, bluish leaf, elongate seed pods, and scaly bark • Small rose-colored flowers in spring • Extremely hard wood good for carvings, tool handles and arrowheads

20. DESERT WILLOW • Elongated, willow-like leaves, but it is neither a willow nor a legume, but rather a member of the tropical Bignonia family • Found in the washes with mesquite and catclaw • Different from other desert shrubs as it is leafless and dormant in winter • Pink flowers look like thoseof snapdragons • Seeds in long, silky pods • Wood used for bows & arrows

21. CATCLAW • One of several deeply-rooted shrubs/trees of the legume family found in sandy washes throughout the deserts of North America • Small, bi-pinnate leaves are shed in winter, recurved (“catclaw”) spines • Yellow flowers in late spring; seeds (in pods ~3 in long) are food for many animals

22. MOUNTAINS

23. BLACK OAK • This tall (~75 feet) tree forms a black-oak woodland at lower elevations, but is mixed with conifers at higher elevations • Unlike “live oaks,” the large (~4-8 inch) leaves of this oak are shed in winter • Acorns take two years to mature • Seriously depleted as fuel for gold smelters

24. JEFFREY PINE • Found from Oregon to Baja California, on well drained moist soils at Intermediate elevations (4,000 to 9,000 ft) • Attains 100 to 180 ft height and from 4 to 6 ft in diameter • Reddish-brown bark, deeply furrowed, irregular plates • Dense blue-green needles in bundles of three, 5 to 8 in long • Medium-size cones about 7 in long; scales have inward curved pickles • Natives made baskets out of small roots; Wood is commercially valuable

25. SUGAR PINE • From Oregon into Baja California • From the coast to 10,000ft • Cool slopes and canyons in mixed stands • Grow to about 200 ft high and 3 to 6 ft wide • Straight trunk and crown tends to flatten • Bark of young trees is grey but turns reddish-brown when older • Blue-green slender needles 3 in long • Cones attain 2ft long 5 in wide, most 16 long • Scales are brown-black inside with yellow-brown tip • Wood important for industry • Seeds eaten by the Indians

26. COULTER PINE • Central California to northern Baja California • In southern California found in warm slopes and ridges with oaks, incense cedar, yellow pine… • Resembles Digger pine but no branched trunk, larger cones • Cones: tip of scale darker than the base * • Seeds were a stale food for Indians

27. Jeffrey Pine Sugar Pine Coulter Pine

28. INCENSE CEDAR • From 1,500 to 8,000 ft from Southern Oregon to northern Baja California • Shady, cool northern and eastern slopes in mixed stands • Up to 90 ft tall and a trunk of up to 4 ft in diameter • Cinnamon-brown bark 2 to 3 in thick at base appears furrowed and ridged • Dark-green scale-like leaves arranged in pairs arranged in pairs • Tips of branches flattened , small cones in 3 pairs of scales mature in 1 season. Reddish wood for pencils

29. CYPRUS

30. Cones • Sugar Pine • Coulter Pine • Jeffrey Pine • Giant sequioa • Cyprus • Incense Cedar

31. Cones • Sugar Pine Coulter Pine Jeffrey Pine Giant sequioa Cuyamaca Cyperus Incense Cedar