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Shadscale Scrub
Shadscale scrub is a plant community and vegetation type that occurs in upper elevations of the Mojave Desert and lower elevations of the Great Basin ecoregion or biome, characterized by salt tolerant plants— halophytes. It is located at higher elevations than the saltbush scrub plant community, but shares some of its plant species.Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, p 16 Flora The shadscale scrub vegetation type commonly includes: *hop-sage (''Grayia spinosa'') *winter fat ('' Krascheninnikovia lanata''). Shared members with higher elevation saltbush scrub include: *goosefoot family ( Chenopodiaceae) members *four-wing saltbrush (''Atriplex canescens'' *shadscale ('' Atriplex confertifolia'') *cattle spinach, or all-scale (''Atriplex polycarpa ''Atriplex polycarpa'', the allscale, (or all-scale) cattle spinach, allscale saltbush, or cattle saltbush, is a plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States, California, and northern Mexico. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Plant Community
A plant community is a collection or association of plant species within a designated geographical unit, which forms a relatively uniform patch, distinguishable from neighboring patches of different vegetation types. The components of each plant community are influenced by soil type, topography, climate and human disturbance. In many cases there are several soil types present within a given plant community. This is because the soil type within an area is influenced by two factors, the rate at which water infiltrates or exits (via evapotranspiration) the soil, as well as the rate at which organic matter (any carbon-based compound within the environment, such as decaying plant matter) enters or decays from the soil. Plant communities are studied substantially by ecologists, due to providing information on the effects of dispersal, tolerance to environmental conditions, and response to disturbance of a variety of plant species, information valuable to the comprehension of various plant ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chenopodiaceae
Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it the most species-rich lineage within its parent order, Caryophyllales. Description Vegetative characters Most species in the Amaranthaceae are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs; others are shrubs; very few species are vines or trees. Some species are succulent. Many species have stems with thickened nodes. The wood of the perennial stem has a typical "anomalous" secondary growth; only in subfamily Polycnemoideae is secondary growth normal. The leaves are simple and mostly alternate, sometimes opposite. They never possess stipules. They are flat or terete, and their shape is extremely variable, with entire or toothed margins. In some species, the leaves are reduced to minute scales. In most cases, neither basal nor terminal aggrega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natural History Of The Mojave Desert
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are part of nature, human activity is often understood as a separate category from other natural phenomena. The word ''nature'' is borrowed from the Old French ''nature'' and is derived from the Latin word ''natura'', or "essential qualities, innate disposition", and in ancient times, literally meant "birth". In ancient philosophy, ''natura'' is mostly used as the Latin translation of the Greek word ''physis'' (φύσις), which originally related to the intrinsic characteristics of plants, animals, and other features of the world to develop of their own accord. The concept of nature as a whole, the physical universe, is one of several expansions of the original notion; it began with certain core applications of the word φύσις by pre-Socr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flora Of The California Desert Regions
Flora is all the plant life present in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring (indigenous) native plants. Sometimes bacteria and fungi are also referred to as flora, as in the terms '' gut flora'' or '' skin flora''. Etymology The word "flora" comes from the Latin name of Flora, the goddess of plants, flowers, and fertility in Roman mythology. The technical term "flora" is then derived from a metonymy of this goddess at the end of the sixteenth century. It was first used in poetry to denote the natural vegetation of an area, but soon also assumed the meaning of a work cataloguing such vegetation. Moreover, "Flora" was used to refer to the flowers of an artificial garden in the seventeenth century. The distinction between vegetation (the general appearance of a community) and flora (the taxonomic composition of a community) was first made by Jules Thurmann (1849). Prior to this, the two terms were used indiscriminately.Thurmann, J. (1849). ''Essai de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltbush Scrub
Saltbush scrub is a Mojave Desert plant community and vegetation type, found above and beyond the alkali sink Shadscale scrub type. Halophyte plants must deal with salt in the soil, but in less high concentrations than are found in the alkali sink shadscale scrub zone.Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, p 16 Alkali sink vegetation grades into saltbrush scrub. Flora Common species include members of the goosefoot family ( Chenopodiaceae), such as: * four-wing saltbrush (''Atriplex canescens'') *shadscale ('' Atriplex confertifolia'') *cattle spinach, or all-scale (''Atriplex polycarpa ''Atriplex polycarpa'', the allscale, (or all-scale) cattle spinach, allscale saltbush, or cattle saltbush, is a plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States, California, and northern Mexico. This species bl ...''). The shadscale scrub community vegetation also has these family Chenopodiaceae species, but is found at higher elevations. See also * Shadscal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calochortus Excavatus
''Calochortus excavatus'' is a species of flowering plant in the lily family known by the common name Inyo County star-tulip. Distribution The flowering plant is endemic to eastern California, where it is known from several reduced and threatened populations in Mono and Inyo Counties. It occupies grassy habitats in alkaline Shadscale scrub plant communities, alongside ''Atriplex'' and other playa halophyte flora, primarily in Owens Valley. The species is listed as endangered, threatened by the loss of local groundwater. Description ''Calochortus excavatus'' is a perennial bulb, growing a slender unbranched stem to about in maximum height. The inflorescence bears 1 to 6 erect bell-shaped flowers in a close cluster. Each flower has three sepals which lack spotting, and three white petals. The petals may have green striping on their outer surfaces and generally have a red-purple blotch at the base. The anther The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atriplex Polycarpa
''Atriplex polycarpa'', the allscale, (or all-scale) cattle spinach, allscale saltbush, or cattle saltbush, is a plant in the family Amaranthaceae. It is native to the Southwestern United States, California, and northern Mexico. This species blooms in July and August. External links''Atriplex polycarpa'' - Calflora GalleryUSDA Plants Profile: ''Atriplex polycarpa'' {{Taxonbar, from=Q1150701 polycarpa
''Polycarpa'' is a genus of ascidian tunicates in the family Styelidae.
Species within the genus ''Polycarpa'' include:Sanamyan, K. (2015)''Polycarpa'' Heller, 1877 .In: Shenkar, N.; Gittenberger, A.; Lambert, G ...
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Atriplex Confertifolia
''Atriplex confertifolia'', the shadscale or spiny saltbush, is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Amaranthaceae, which is native to the western United States and northern Mexico. Description The height of ''Atriplex confertifolia'' varies from . Shadscale fruits and leaves provide important winter browse for domestic livestock and native herbivores. Compared to fourwing saltbush ('' Atriplex canescens''), shadscale has shorter and wider leaves and the fruit does not have four wings (although it may have two wings in a "V" shape). This species blooms from March to June. Maximum osmotic pressure has been reported in Atriplex conf. where it is about 202.5 atm. Distribution and habitat Shadscale is a common, often dominant, shrub in the lowest and driest areas of the Great Basin The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of Cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atriplex Canescens
''Atriplex canescens'' (or chamiso, chamiza, four-wing saltbush) is a species of evergreen shrub in the family Amaranthaceae native to the western and midwestern United States. Description ''Atriplex canescens'' has a highly variable form, and readily hybridizes with several other species in the genus ''Atriplex''. The degree of polyploidy also results in variations in form. Its height can vary from 1 foot to 10 feet, but 2 to 4 feet is most common. The leaves are thin and 0.5 to 2 inches long. It is most readily identified by the fruits, which have four wings at roughly 90 degree angles and are densely packed on long stems. This species blooms from April to October. Habitat Fourwing saltbush is most common in early succession areas such as disturbed sites and active sand dunes. It is also found in more mature successions dominated by sagebrush—''Artemisia tridentata'' and shadscale. Uses Among the Zuni people, an infusion of dried root and blossoms or a poultice of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Krascheninnikovia Lanata
''Krascheninnikovia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the subfamily Chenopodioideae of the family Amaranthaceae known as winterfat, so-called because it is a nutritious livestock forage. They are known from Eurasia and western North America. These are hairy perennials or small shrubs which may be monoecious or dioecious. They bear spike inflorescences of woolly flowers. Description The species of ''Krascheninnikovia'' are erect subshrubs or shrubs. The plants are densely covered with dendroid stellate hairs and additionally with simple, unbranched hairs. The alternate leaves stand solitary or grouped in fascicles, and can be petiolate or nearly sessile. The flat, non-fleshy leaf blades are linear to narrowly lanceolate to ovate, with entire margins, and truncate, cuneate, rounded, or subcordate base. The flowers are unisexual, the plants can be monoecious or dioecious. Male flowers form an interrupted spike or subcapitate inflorescence of glomeruled, ebracteate flowers. These ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vegetation Type
Vegetation classification is the process of classifying and mapping the vegetation over an area of the earth's surface. Vegetation classification is often performed by state based agencies as part of land use, resource management, resource and environmental management, environmental management. Many different methods of vegetation classification have been used. In general, there has been a shift from structural classification used by forestry for the mapping of timber resources, to floristic community mapping for biodiversity management. Whereas older forestry-based schemes considered factors such as height, species and density of the woody canopy, floristic community mapping shifts the emphasis onto ecological factors such as climate, soil type and floristic associations. Classification mapping is usually now done using geographic information systems (GIS) software. Classification schemes Following, some important classification schemes. Köppen (1884) Although this scheme is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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