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Mesquite Bosque
Mesquite Bosque is a vegetative association within the Southwestern United States, under the Kuchler scheme of plant association categories. Geography The Mesquite Bosque association occurs in the Sonoran Desert, with mesquite (''Prosopis'' spp.) dominating. In some cases, this plant association is along xeric portions of desert floodplains, bajadas, and arroyos. Plant species The mesquite (''Prosopis'') species include: * Velvet mesquite - ''Prosopis velutina'' * Screwbean mesquite - ''Prosopis pubescens'' - "Tornillo" * Honey mesquite - ''Prosopis glandulosa'' Other species include: * Catclaw acacia - ''Acacia greggii'' * Fremont cottonwood - ''Populus fremontii'' * Desert mistletoe - ''Phoradendron californicum'' * California fan palm - ''Washingtonia filifera'' - the Mesquite Bosque association is one of the Kuchler scheme designation areas where this endangered palm may occur. Gallery File:Looking North Into The Mesquite Bosque at the DNR.png, Looking North Into The Me ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mesquite Bosque Sahuarita Arizona 2014
Mesquite is a common name for several plants in the genus ''Prosopis'', which contains over 40 species of small Legume, leguminous trees. They are native to dry areas in the Americas. They have extremely long roots to seek water from very far under ground. As a legume, mesquites are one of the few sources of Nitrogen fixation, fixed nitrogen in the desert habitat. These trees bloom from spring to summer. They often produce fruits known as "pods". ''Prosopis'' spp. are able to grow up to tall, depending on site and climate. They are deciduous and depending on location and rainfall have either deep or shallow roots. ''Prosopis'' is considered long-lived because of the low mortality rate after the dicotyledon, dicotyledonous stage and juveniles are also able to survive in conditions with low light and drought. The Cahuilla indigenous people of western North America were known to eat the seeds of mesquite. History ''Prosopis'' spp. have been in North America since the Pliocene era ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosopis Glandulosa
''Prosopis glandulosa'', commonly known as honey mesquite, is a species of small to medium-sized, thorny shrub or tree in the legume family (Fabaceae). Distribution The plant is primarily native to the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico. Its range extends on the northeast through Texas and into southwestern Kansas and Oklahoma and northwestern Louisiana, and west to southern California. It can be part of the Mesquite Bosque plant association community in the Sonoran Desert ecoregion of California and Arizona (U.S.), and Sonora state (México), and in the Chihuahuan Desert of New Mexico and Texas in the US, and Chihuahua in Mexico. Description ''Prosopis glandulosa'' has rounded big and floppy, drooping branches with feathery foliage and straight, paired spines on twigs. This tree normally reaches , but can grow as tall as . It is considered to have a medium growth rate. It flowers from March to November, with pale, yellow, elongated spikes and bears straight ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Communities Of The Western United States
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclude the fungi and some algae, as well as the prokaryotes (the archaea and bacteria). By one definition, plants form the clade Viridiplantae (Latin name for "green plants") which is sister of the Glaucophyta, and consists of the green algae and Embryophyta (land plants). The latter includes the flowering plants, conifers and other gymnosperms, ferns and their allies, hornworts, liverworts, and mosses. Most plants are multicellular organisms. Green plants obtain most of their energy from sunlight via photosynthesis by primary chloroplasts that are derived from endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. Their chloroplasts contain chlorophylls a and b, which gives them their green color. Some plants are parasitic or mycotrophic and have lost the ability t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tamaulipan Mezquital
The Tamaulipan mezquital ( es, Mezquital Tamaulipeco) is a deserts and xeric shrublands ecoregion in the southern United States and northeastern Mexico. It covers an area of , encompassing a portion of the Gulf Coastal Plain in southern Texas, northern Tamaulipas, northeastern Coahuila, and part of Nuevo León. Distribution The Sierra Madre Oriental range to the west separates the Tamaulipan mezquital from the drier Chihuahuan Desert. The Tamaulipan matorral is a transitional ecoregion between the mezquital and the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests to the west and the Veracruz moist forests to the south. The Western Gulf coastal grasslands, known as the Tamaulipan pastizal south of the border, fringe the Gulf of Mexico. The Edwards Plateau savannas lie to the north, and the East Central Texas forests and Texas blackland prairies to the northeast. Geography The Bordas Escarpment transects this ecoregion, running from near the southern limit northwest to the vicinity of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bosque
A bosque ( ) is a type of gallery forest habitat found along the riparian flood plains of stream and river banks in the southwestern United States. It derives its name from the Spanish word for 'woodlands'. Setting In the predominantly arid or semi-arid southwestern United States, a bosque is an oasis-like ribbon of green vegetation, often canopied, that only exists near rivers, streams, or other water courses. The most notable bosque is the -long ecosystem along the valley of the middle Rio Grande in New Mexico that extends from Santa Fe south to El Paso, Texas. One of the most famous and ecologically intact sections of the bosque is included in the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Flora and fauna Common trees in the bosque habitat include mesquite, cottonwood, desert willow, and desert olive. Because there is often only a single canopy layer and because the tree species found in the bosque are generally deciduous, a wide variety of shrubs, grasses, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Endangered
An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and invasive species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List lists the global conservation status of many species, and various other agencies assess the status of species within particular areas. Many nations have laws that protect conservation-reliant species which, for example, forbid hunting, restrict land development, or create protected areas. Some endangered species are the target of extensive conservation efforts such as captive breeding and habitat restoration. Human activity is a significant cause in causing some species to become endangered. Conservation status The conservation status of a species indicates the likelihood that it will become extinct. Multiple factors are considered when assessing the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Washingtonia Filifera
''Washingtonia filifera'', the desert fan palm, California fan palm, or California palm,Flora of North America Association. ''Flora of North America: North of Mexico Volume 22: Magnoliophyta: Alismatidae, Arecidae, Commelinidae (in Part), and Zingiberidae''. pp. 105–06, 116–17. . is a flowering plant in the palm family Arecaceae, native to the far southwestern United States and Baja California, Mexico. Growing to tall by broad, it is an evergreen monocot with a tree-like growth habit. It has a sturdy, columnar trunk and waxy, fan-shaped (palmate) leaves. Names The Latin specific epithet ''filifera'' means "thread-bearing". Description ''Washingtonia filifera'' grows to in height, and occasionally to as much as in ideal conditions. The California fan palm is also known as the desert fan palm, American cotton palm, and Arizona fan palm. The fronds are up to long, made up of a petiole up to long, bearing a fan of leaflets long. They have long, thread-like, white fiber ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoradendron Californicum
''Phoradendron californicum'', the desert mistletoe or mesquite mistletoe, is a hemiparasitic plant native to southern California, Nevada, Arizona, Sonora, Sinaloa and Baja California. It can be found in the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts at elevations of up to 1400 m (4600 feet). The mistletoe is a leafless plant that attaches to host plants, often leguminous woody desert trees such as '' Cercidium'' and ''Prosopis''.Spurrier, S., Smith, K.G. (2006). Desert mistletoe (''Phoradendron californicum'') infestation correlates with blue palo verde (''Cercidium floridum'') mortality during a severe drought in the Mojave Desert. ''Journal of Arid Environments''. 69, 189-197. Desert mistletoe takes water and minerals from its host plants but it does its own photosynthesis, making it a hemiparasite. During the winter it produces inconspicuous, fragrant flowers. Female desert mistletoe plants produce red to clear berries that are eaten by the phainopepla (''Phainopepla nitens''), a silky ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Populus Fremontii
''Populus fremontii'', commonly known as Frémont's cottonwood, is a cottonwood (and thus a poplar) native to riparian zones of the Southwestern United States and northern through central Mexico. It is one of three species in ''Populus'' sect.'' Aigeiros''. The tree was named after 19th century American explorer and pathfinder John C. Frémont. Distribution The tree is native to the Southwestern United States and Mexico. In the United States, the species can be found in California, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and Colorado. In Mexico, it can be found in Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, México (state), and Puebla. The riparian tree grows near streams, rivers, springs, seeps, wetlands, and well-watered alluvial bottomlands at elevations below elevation. Description ''P. fremontii'' is a large tree growing from in height with a wide crown, with a trunk up to in diameter. The bark is smooth when young, beco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acacia Greggii
''Senegalia greggii'', formerly known as ''Acacia greggii'', is a species of tree in the genus ''Senegalia'' native to the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, from the extreme south of Utah south through southern Nevada, southeast California, Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas to Baja California, Sinaloa and Nuevo León in Mexico. The population in Utah at 37°10' N is the northernmost naturally occurring ''Senegalia'' species anywhere in the world. Common names include acacia bush, catclaw acacia, catclaw mesquite, Gregg's catclaw, paradise flower, wait-a-minute bush, and wait-a-bit tree; these names mostly come from the fact that the tree has numerous hooked prickles with the shape and size of a cat's claw which tend to hook onto passers-by; the hooked person must stop ("wait a minute") to remove the prickles carefully to avoid injury or shredded clothing. (The common name "cat's claw" is also used to refer to several other plant species, including ''Uncaria to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prosopis Pubescens
''Prosopis pubescens'', commonly known as screwbean mesquite, is a species of flowering shrub or small tree in the pea family, Fabaceae, that is native to the southwestern United States (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, California, southern Nevada and Utah) and northern Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora). Description This plant grows to about . It has light brown bark, usually short, straight spines 1 to 3 centimeters long, twice-compound leaves, and numerous small yellowish flowers appearing in elongate spikes. The tightly twisted seedpods ( legumes) are up to 5 centimeters long and very much resemble turned screws. This morphology may have been an evolutionary defense against seed predators such as bean weevils (Bruchinae). The seeds germinate after being scarified in the digestive tracts of animals that eat them. The plant also grows in a clockwise spiral. Habitat It is found along streams and valleys in deserts, particularly in damp or saline soi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Association (ecology)
In phytosociology and community ecology an association is a type of ecological community with a predictable species composition and consistent physiognomy (structural appearance) which occurs in a particular habitat type. The term was first coined by Alexander von Humboldt and formalised by the International Botanical Congress in 1910. An association can be viewed as a real, integrated entity shaped either by species interactions or by similar habitat requirements, or it can be viewed as merely a common point along a continuum. The former view was championed by American ecologist Frederic Clements, who viewed the association as a whole that was more than the sum of its parts, and by Josias Braun-Blanquet, a Swiss-born phytosociologist. On the other end of the argument was American ecologist Henry Gleason, who saw these groupings of plant species as a coincidence produced by the "fluctuation and fortuitous immigration of plants, and an equally fluctuating and variable environment". ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
