Nature - Plants & Flowers

Juniper perched in the Incandescent Rocks, Nevada.

Lysichiton americanus. Off the trail to Marlette Lake in the Carson Range, Nevada, in Spooner Lake State Park. The plant is so-called because its blossoms have a distinctive odor--i.e., reek! Per Wikipedia it is now established in the UK as well.

Near Upper Pahranagat Lake, NV

Mineral Peak, Douglas County, Nevada, USA. Probably a piñon pine, judging by the living trees still around. Looking WNW; Carson Valley in the background.

Chloride, Arizona. We always called this ground-hugging variety, with the slightly bluish cast, "Spanish dagger" when I was a kid, but evidently that's so broadly applied as to be useless. (Wikipedia claims that "Spanish dagger" is applied only to a variety in the southeastern US, but other sources indicate that's wrong. Misinformation in Wikipedia--perish the thought! ;) Anyway, this is probably Y. harrimaniae , based on its location. It's probably not blue yucca ( Y. rigida ), despite the color, because it has no stem. Yuccas belong to the same family as agave, but bloom more than once.

ID, anyone? They're in the drainage of San Juan Creek, Toiyabe Range, Nevada. Map location is approximate.

Pink Fuzzy Flower. ID, anyone? Off the trail to Triangle Lake in the Sierra Nevada, California. Map location is approximate.

All mixed together, just off the Pacific Crest Trail near the Lake of the Woods junction. Sierra Nevada, California.

Agave spp., possibly A. mckelveyana due to its altitude, here outside Sedona, Arizona. There are quite a number of agave species, with great internal variation, and it seems the taxonomy is something of a mess. A.k.a. "century plant," from the folk belief that the flowering stalk only grows after a century. In fact the plant usually flowers in one to three decades--still a remarkable delay! The original plant then dies, but it usually has propagated by rhizomes (runners), so that the living specimen above is probably a clone of the original. Off the Brin Mesa trail, just outside Sedona. Map location is approximate.

I think. Calyptridium monospermum , aka Cistanthe monosperma . Off the Pacific Crest Trail between the trailheads on old US 40 and I-80 (Donner Pass area.) Map location is approximate. I thought it looked like natural graffiti!

Along the Horsethief Canyon designated vehicle route in the Piper Mountain Wilderness, north of Death Valley, California. Beavertail ( Opuntia basilaris ) is a type of prickly pear cactus where the thorns are isolated in small clumps, leaving big flat blades like a beaver's tail. It was a staple of the local Native Americans and is also used in traditional Mexican cooking. You can often find the blades in the Hispanic foods section of supermarkets in the US Southwest.

Prunus andersonii. Native to western Nevada and adjacent California. It _is_ in the same genus as peaches, cherries, and almonds. It is a thornbush whose pink-to-red flowers (seen here) turn into a small fuzzy fruit. It's not particularly edible altho rodents and such eat it. It's obviously impossible to tell from a photo, but the blossoms also have a heavy sweet fragrance.