Wildflower Tour By Docent and Park Member Martha Pille
Photos by Martha Pille and Dave StoutAs we were driving west on Arizona 86 towards Why, the heavy grey clouds that brought an inch of rain to Tucson the day before began to clear. With the emerging sunshine, everyone had high hopes that the jackets and rain gear wouldn't be needed. There were 45 of us on two busses; our intrepid leaders included Tohono Chul Grounds Curator Russ Buhrow and Education Curator Jo Falls as well as Docent Lynn Kaufman and naturalist Pinau Merlin.
About an hour out, the bus began to slow, and we began to think, "why are we stopping here?" There were no great fields of poppies or even the blue of the lupine seen along the roadsides around Tucson. But Russ said, "come on," and proceeded to show us another world just a few yards from the edge of the road. Once our eyes adjusted to looking at our feet, we had to scramble not to trample all the beautiful little flowers that were responding to the gentle rains we had this winter. The pygmy white daisy, barely two inches tall, was our first delight. This was followed by fiddleneck, filaree, scorpionweed, Indian wheat (plantago), bladderpod and peppergrass. The dew enhanced the glow of the sunshine on individual flowers, and no one cared about our wet feet. It was hard to curb Russ's enthusiasm and to get back on the bus, but we did knowing there was more to come.
The next two stops were similar, and soon we were discussing the difference between white tackstem and chicory and between purple mat and filaree. Then we found a native filaree (texana) to make things even more confusing! We soon could distinguish the popcorn flower (cryptantha) because if opened just right, the fuzz and white flowers really did look like popcorn. With a hand lens, we were able to see the little tacks on the stem of tackstem and to separate it from the chicory, both having similar creamy white flowers with a faint purple tinge on the underside. We found loco week and distinguished it from the lupines. Then we found a hairy lupine and learned it's called bajada lupine. The silverpuffs were pretty ordinary little yellow puffs, a far cry from the striking silvery seed head it will become. We saw both kinds of globemallow, the taller perennial and the shorter and more abundant annual. A cluster of small delicate yellow flowers was identified as golden smoke (corydalis) and a few lone stems with pea-like blue flowers was Texas blue flax. One of the sweetest little white flowers gathered in a bunch was called "morning bride" by the book, but "chaenactis" by our field experts. We found a few yellow evening primroses, but the delicate flowers were pretty badly beaten up by the rains of the day before. There were many more tiny plants without the showy flowers that intrigued Russ and Lynn. They had a good time arguing in Latin for genus and species.
As we got back on the bus, Russ pointed out the buffel grass at the roadside edge. It was yellowed and coarse, and the "enemy," a non-native grass introduced for livestock that has taken over and crowded out the natives. But that is another story.
As we continued west, we got more sunshine. The glow on the observatories at Kitt Peak was spectacular against the big, puffy clouds. There were now great vistas of lupine punctuated here and there with owl clover, and the poppies were in abundance alongside the highway. Pinau found a particularly good specimen of owl clover, and with a hand lense we discovered why this purple wildflower was so named. She also pointed out pocket mouse holes and identified as a pack rat nest a rather large mound covered with prickly pear, rocks and debris. She said it was a female nest because it was neater and had more protective material than those of the other sex.
A few more miles down the road at the turnoff for Santa Rosa Ranch, we hit the high point of the trip. For as far as the eye could see were fields and fields of poppies, this time punctuated with spots of lupine and owls clover. Some of us just stared at the wonder, but many camera shutters were clicking. It was still before noon and a little cool, so many of the poppies were still partially closed. Russ wondered how much denser the color would be if the flowers were fully open. It was his opinion that this "big show" was probably better than that of 1998, the last time we had winter rains that brought on a profusion of wildflowers. Lynn highlighted the moment by spotting western bluebirds feeding on mistletoe berries.
By the time we all trekked back to the busses, the camera bugs were marked with grass stains and dirt on their knees. Tummies were growling, and the package of snacks that Jo had provided was devoured. We had at least another hour until lunch, and there were stops for bathrooms and gas. Finally, we turned south at Why and were soon at Organ Pipe National Monument. It didn't take long for the picnic tables to be covered with bag lunches and drinks. Then it was time for a trip to the Visitors' Center. By now, the skies were mostly sunny, and the temperature was about 65 degrees, just perfect for our activities.
The after-lunch plan to drive the Ajo Loop had to be scrapped after it was determined that one of the busses was four feet too long to handle the dips in the trail. Instead, we hiked into Alamo Canyon and got close-up looks at the organ pipe cactus, one of the features of this park that many Tucsonans aren't familiar with. There was lots of creosote, bursage, ocotillo and jumping cholla. But, new for our list of the day was slim evening primrose, trixis and monoptilon, with the lovely name of "desert star," that was very similar to the pygmy white daisy seen earlier. Birds were not in abundance, but Lynn identified a singing rock wren and an ash-throated flycatcher to add to the short list of phaineopepla, caracara, cactus wren and raven.
All too soon it was 4 p.m. and time to be heading home. After our great hike, most of us were happy to be sitting down. The sign at Why said "Tucson: 120 miles." We watched the countryside speed by, and as dusk approached, we were treated to a pale, full moon rising over the mountains in the east.
