Arizonensis --> Sonoran Desert Naturalist --> Sonoran Desert Wildflowers

Wildflowers in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, USA

Desert Wildflower Reports - 2015

May 31^st, 2015: Catalina State Park. Tucson's urban sprawl has reached right to the park boundary. Within the preserve wildflowers and nature still prevail. Recent, but very atypical rains have kept the park unusually green for the season.

Desert Willow

May 31, 2015, Catalina Park, AZ. Dark green trees covered with pale pink trumpet flowers. More info

Cane Cholla

May 31, 2015, Catalina Park, AZ. Large cholla cactus with rather long straight joints. Often with a single tree-like trunk. More info

Trailing Four O'Clock

May 31, 2015, Catalina Park, AZ. Stems trail along the sandy soil with bright pink flowers at regular intervals. More info

Virgin's Bower

May 31, 2015, Catalina Park, AZ. Satin white flowers on a woody vine. Later, the maturing seeds are even more conspicuous. More info

Woody Crinklemat

May 31, 2015, Catalina Park, AZ. Miniature woody shrubs with over-sized flowers by comparison. More info

May 24^th, 2015: I-17 exit to Bumble Bee. The Crown King Road crosses a dozen kilometers of upland Sonoran Desert with many cacti and desert shrubs. May 2015 has been unusually cool and wet so that the spring flowering season has continued and some summer bloomers have started already.

Catclaw Acacia

May 24, 2015, Crown King Rd., AZ. Small cream-colored flowers in dense compact spikes. A honeybee favorite. More info

Centaury

May 24, 2015, Crown King Rd., AZ. A few plants in the deep sandy washes were revived by unusual May rains. More info

Range Ratany

May 24, 2015, Crown King Rd., AZ. This woody plant grows stronger by tapping into the root systems of neighboring shrubs. More info

Paper Flower

May 24, 2015, Crown King Rd., AZ. Many slightly woody stems about 80cm tall all with bright yellow flowers. More info

Tamarisk

May 24, 2015, Crown King Rd., AZ. Also called Salt Cedar. True cedars don't get flowers at all. This is an exotic invasive plant. More info

April 19^th, 2015: North of Glendale and Peoria, Arizona, along Carefree Highway and up Lake Pleasant Road and out Castle Hot Springs Road the annuals have all dried and gone to seed. But the trees, shrubs and succulent cacti are blooming full bore.

Foothills Palo Verde

April 19, 2015, Castle Hot Sprgs. Rd., AZ. In any given area this paler yellow palo verde blooms about 2 weeks later than the blue palo verde. More info

Desert Ironwood

April 19, 2015, Castle Hot Sprgs. Rd., AZ. Blooming a week or two earlier perhaps because we've had an exceptionally warm late winter to spring. More info

Engelmann Prickly-Pear

April 19, 2015, Castle Hot Sprgs. Rd., AZ. Big, saucer sized flowers with numerous tepals (petals and sepals). Numerous on old cattle pastures. More info

Velvet Mesquite

April 19, 2015, Castle Hot Sprgs. Rd., AZ. Lots of tassled flowers but they are a few weeks old and there's almost no nectar left for the bees. More info

Lacey Tansy-Aster

April 19, 2015, Castle Hot Sprgs. Rd, AZ. Many stems from a woody crown with pinnately divided leaves. More info

Desert Evening Primrose

March 29, 2015, Vekol Valley, AZ. Big, bright yellow - like a pats of fresh butter dropped in the sandy washes. More info

Lobed Ground Cherry

March 29, 2015, Vekol Valley, AZ. Leaves, fruit and purple flowers hug the ground remaining in the shallow boundary layer. More info

Blue Palo Verde

March 29, 2015, Vekol Valley, AZ. Truly splendid show with tens of thousands of flowers open in the trees at once. More info

Desert Holly

March 29, 2015, Vekol Valley, AZ. Holly-like leaves and small heads of pinkish flowers. Growing in shade of wash bank trees. More info

Ocotillo

March 29, 2015, Vekol Valley, AZ. Bright red flowers at the tips of coachwhip branches visited by hummingbirds. More info

March 22^nd, 2015: We could easily have listed a hundred species of blooming plants along the Seven Springs Road north of Carefree, Arizona.

Violet Snapdragon

March 22, 2015, Seven Spring Rd., Carefree, AZ. Rather small plant with sticky leaves and small, beautiful flowers. More info

Tufted Evening Primrose

March 22, 2015, Seven Spring Rd., Carefree, AZ. Very large, white flowers with four petals. They close up and turn pink by afternoon. More info

Whispering Bells

March 22, 2015, Seven Spring Rd., Carefree, AZ. Pale yellow, bell-shaped plants stay on the plant after they wither and a jostled in the wind making soft sounds. More info

Chia

March 22, 2015, Seven Spring Rd., Carefree, AZ. Small purple flowers in round clusters that appear stacked up on the stem. More info

Sugar Berry

March 22, 2015, Seven Spring Rd., Carefree, AZ. Evergreen trees with glossy, leathery leaves. Flowers cream-color and accented by red stems. More info

March 8^th, 2015: Many wild flowers were found blooming along the Bartlett Dam Road northeast of Carefree, Arizona.

California Poppy

March 8, 2015, Bartlet Dam Road, Carefree, AZ. Spectacular annuals with 5 petals often in large patches on gentle slopes. More info

Canaigre

March 8, 2015, Bartlet Dam Road, Carefree, AZ. Large leaves set at ground level. Tall reddish spikes of seeds. More info

Snapdragon Bush

March 8, 2015, Bartlet Dam Road, Carefree, AZ. Yellow snapdragons on an intricately branched, leafy bush. More info

Bigroot

March 8, 2015, Bartlet Dam Road, Carefree, AZ. Small flowers on leafy vines followed by prickly, spherical cucumbers. More info

Desert Windflower

March 8, 2015, Bartlet Dam Road, Carefree, AZ. Low-growing perennials with finely divided leaves and up to ten tepals. More info

March 5^th, 2015: Over a long lunch break I hiked up Shaw Butte in Phoenix, Arizona. Plants are blooming, but mostly perennials and very few annuals. I suspect the long gaps in the rainfall pattern kept annuals from prospering this year.

Compass Barrel

March 5, 2015, Shaw Butte, Phoenix, AZ. Normally blooms April and May, but February was way warmer than usual this year. More info

Fiddleneck

March 5, 2015, Shaw Butte, Phoenix, AZ. In wet years grows a meter or more tall. More info

Buffel Grass

March 5, 2015, Shaw Butte, Phoenix, AZ. The reddish spikes look pretty, but this exotic is bad for the Sonoran Desert! More info

Creosote Bush

March 5, 2015, Shaw Butte, Phoenix, AZ. Woody shrub with shiny, compound leaves and flowers with five petals. More info

Phacelia

March 5, 2015, Shaw Butte, Phoenix, AZ. These annuals are in full bloom, but smaller and fewer than usual. More info

Feb. 15^th, 2015. Brittle Bush with its numerous yellow heads is leading the way into spring in the deserts surrounding the Phoenix area. I drove a few miles north of Lake Pleasant on the back road to Crown King and found quite a number of species blooming: Blue Dicks, Triangle-leaf Bursage, Brittlebush, London Rocket, Jojoba, Red-stemmed Fillaree, Comb Bur, Parry Dalea, Desert Windflower, Chia, Lacepod, Seaside Deervetch, Ragged Rock Flower, Paper Flower, Rumex, Fairy Duster, Bigroot, Hairy Bowlesia, and Henbit.

Feb. 1^st, 2015. Rackensack Wash: Early spring flowers and 11 butterflies on the wing. The last week of January brought substantial rains to the southern and eastern portions of the Sonoran Desert. The low elevation, western areas of Arizona and southern California remain very dry and likely to have few if any wildflowers showing this spring.

Scrambled Eggs

Feb. 1, 2015, Rackensack Wash., AZ. Low growing plant with tubular flowers and finely dissected leaves. More info

Fillaree

Feb. 1, 2015, Rackensack Wash., AZ. Often growing very low to the ground. Spring Azure butterfly. More info

Mock Vervain

Feb. 1, 2015, Rackensack Wash., AZ. Clumps of lavender flowers also popular with butterflies. More info

Desert Rock Pea

Feb. 1, 2015, Rackensack Wash., AZ. Big velvety soft leaves. Five free petals. Schizocarp fruit. More info

Wild Oats

Feb. 1, 2015, Rackensack Wash., AZ. Tall grass with pendulous spikelets bearing long awns. More info

Web	Sonoran Desert Naturalist