Arizona Naturalists >>> Sycamore Gallery Flora

Guide to Trees, Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants in Arizona Ponderosa Woodlands

The trees, shrubs, perennial herbs and annuals described in this guide are those that occur in the higher montane regions where Ponderosa Pine is often a dominant plant. The elevations range from 1200 to over 2400 meters. Within this elevation range some areas are dry with thin soils or with a strong south-facing slope and so do not support ponderosa pine. Other areas deep in canyons or in damp meadows support plants that thrive under moister soil conditions. Still other Arizona lands within this elevation range are fire prone and have either grassland or chaparral vegetation dominant.

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Pinyon Dwarf Mistletoe

Dwarf Mistletoe

Yellowish stems and twigs growing directly out of living branches of Piñon Pines. Similar species on pines and firs. More ...

Flannel Bush

Flannel Bush

Uncommon shrub with 5-petaled flowers and leaves with deeply lobed, smooth-margined leaves. More ...

Many-flowered Puccoon

Many-flowered
Stoneseed

Leaves are linear and rough to the touch. One to four nutlets per flower. More ...

Cliff Rose

Cliff Rose

Medium-sized evergreen shrub. Leaves small w/5-7 lobes. Flowers white with yellow centers. Seeds with long silky tails. More ...

Harlequinbush

Harlequin Bush

Tall slender plants with small pink flowers. Four petals arrayed to one side and eight stamens. Inferior ovary. More ...

Fendler's Ceanothus

Buck-Brush

Mature shrubs often about 2 meters. Clusters of many small white flowers. Branches spiny. Elyptical leaves. More ...

Celery becoming naturalized

Wild Celery

Clusters of small white flowers arranged in umbels on an aromatic herb. Twin seeds from each flower below petals. More ...

Whorled or Horsetail Milkweed

Horsetail Milkweed

Leaves finely divided into grass-like segments. White, five-pointed flowers in umbels. Flowers attractive to many insects. More ...

white prairie clover

White Prairie Clover

Conical spikes of five-petaled white flowers. Leaves compound with linear segment. Glandular. Sharp terpene odor. More ...

Common Yarrow

Common Yarrow

Herbacous plants about a meter tall with flat-topped panicles of small white flower heads. Leaves pinnately divided. More ...

Butterfly Milkweed

Orange Milkweed

Clumps of bright orange flowers often attracting numerous butterflies. Herbaceous from underground root/crown. Milky sap from breaks. More ...

Mexican Campion

Cardinal Catchfly

Each of the five red to orange petals are divided into several slender lobes. Herbaceous with swollen stem nodes. More ...

Butterfly Milkweed

Arizona Thistle

Numerous long-tubular florets formed into a head surounded by spiny bracts. Hummingbirds love it. Seeds with silky hairs. More ...

Wheeler's Thistle

Wheeler's Thistle

Heads of many long tubular pink florets enclosed in a spherical involucre of spiney bracts. More ...

dwarf four o'clock

Dwarf Four O'Clock

Pinkish flowers and deltoid leaves on a slightly fleshy herb. More ...

wood sorrel

Alpine Wood Sorrel

Compound leaves with three parts. Five pink or lavender petals. No branching above ground. More ...

Winged Buckwheat

Winged Buckwheat

Tall spindly herbaceous plant mostly growing in summer with monsoon rains. Conspicuous winged fruits in abundance. More ...

Flat-spined Bur Ragweed

Flatspine Bur Ragweed

Herbaceous annual becoming apparent after summer monsoon rains. Pinately divided leaves. Greenish flowers, but w/ flat, burgandy-color spines on burs. More ...

Ashy Silktassel

Ashy Silktassel

Intricately branched, large shrub with broadly elyptical, smooth-margined, opposite leaves. Leaves have an ashy cast due to minute hairs. More ...


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Copyright Michael J. Plagens, 1999-2011, page created 8 August 2011