Part 7

Several species of wild tobacco are found in the desert. Of these, Tree-tobacco is conspicuous because of its rank growth, its large leaves, and the spectacular clusters of tubular, yellow flowers. In addition to nicotine, Tree-tobacco contains an alkaloid, anabasine. This conspicuous plant occurs in moist locations below 3,000 feet elevation and bears flowers throughout the entire year. Although now thoroughly naturalized in the Southwest, it is a native of South America.

Desert-tobacco, sometimes perennial in southwestern Arizona, is a dark-green herb common and widespread throughout the desert areas of the Southwest. It is not nearly as noticeable as its larger relative although it, too, blossoms the year around. Flowers are a pale yellow, almost greenish-white. It provides dense ground cover in rocky canyons and along desert washes.

Leaves, which are somewhat bad smelling, were smoked (and still are during ceremonials) by the Yuma and Havasupai Indians who are reported to have cleared land, burned the brush, and scattered the seeds of Desert-tobacco in an effort to promote the growth of strong plants with many large leaves.

YELLOW

Common Names: TACKSTEM Arizona desert: (Calycoseris wrighti). White. March-May. California desert: (Calycoseris parryi). Yellow. March-April. Sunflower family. Size: 4 inches to a foot tall.

One of the handsomest of desert spring annuals, Calycoseris is common on plains, mesas, and rocky slopes at elevations between 1,200 and 4,000 feet from western Texas to southern Utah, southern California, and south into Mexico.

The name Tackstem comes from the presence of numerous tack-shaped glands which protrude from the stems.

Taking advantage of the cool, moist weather of winter, the Tackstems produce their beautiful rose, white, or yellow blossoms in early spring, and mature their seeds before the advent of hot, dry weather.

YELLOW

Common Names: BRICKELLBUSH, DESERT BRICKELLIA, (PACHABA) Arizona desert: (Brickellia coulteri). Yellow-white. September. California desert: (Brickellia desertorum). Pale yellow. Midsummer. Texas-New Mexico deserts: (Brickellia californica). Yellow-white. July-October. Sunflower family. Size: Small, much-branched perennial shrub, up to 3 feet in height.

Intricately branched and brittle-stemmed, this shrub with blossom heads holding from 8 to 18 yellowish flowers is common throughout the Southwest from western Texas and Colorado to Nevada, Sonora and Lower California.

It grows among rocks and in rocky locations throughout much of the desert country from 3,000 up to 7,000 feet.

YELLOW

Common Names: WILD-ZINNIA Arizona and Texas deserts: (Zinnia pumila). Pale yellow. April-October. Sunflower family. Size: Low, dense-growing perennials in rounded clumps, 4 to 8 inches high.

Closely related to the garden Zinnia, which is a native of Mexico, desert Zinnias are attractive herbs suitable for trial as ornamental border plantings.

Z. pumila prefers caliche soils and is found on dry mesas and slopes from Texas westward to southern Arizona and northern Mexico. It is often found blossoming in association with the Paperflower (Psilostrophe cooperi) which it superficially resembles. The pale yellow flowers of the Wild-zinnia turn white with age.

Z. pumila may be easily recognized by the single heavy rib running the length of each narrow leaf.

YELLOW

Common Names: CATCLAW, CAT’S-CLAW, TEARBLANKET, DEVILSCLAW Arizona, California, and Texas deserts: (Acacia greggi). Pale yellow. April-October. Pea family. Size: Up to 20 feet tall.

The numerous thorns, short and curved like a cat’s claw, serve readily to identify this common, often abundant, shrub or small tree.

There are several species, some with large, bright-yellow flowers, but A. greggi is the most common and occurs throughout all of the deserts of the Southwest, at elevations below 4,000 feet, often forming thickets along streams and washes.

Flowers, like pale yellow, fuzzy caterpillars, are one of the important sources of nectar for honeybees, the trees being alive with insects during the period of heaviest blooming in April and May.

In mid-August, the light green fruit pods begin to turn reddish and, if abundant, make a colorful display.

Seeds of the Catclaw were at one time widely used as food by the Indians of Arizona and Mexican tribes. They were ground into meal and eaten as mush or cakes.

Catclaw is one of the most heartily disliked plants in the Southwest, especially by riders and hikers, because of the strong thorns which tear clothing and lacerate the flesh.

YELLOW

Common Names: MORMON-TEA, BRIGHAM-TEA, JOINTER, (POPOTILLA), (TEPOSOTE), (CANATILLA) Arizona and Texas deserts: (Ephedra trifurca). Pale yellow. Spring. California desert: (Ephedra californica). Pale yellow. Spring. Jointfir family. Size: Harsh, stringy perennials, from 2 to 10 feet tall and sometimes 5 or 6 feet in diameter.

Apparently leafless, these common Southwestern shrubs do have leaves, although they are reduced to tiny scales. The harsh, stringy stems are green to yellow-green and, when dried, were used with the flowers in making a palatable brew, particularly by the Utah pioneers; hence the names Mormon-tea and Brigham-tea. The beverage was also popular with Indians and settlers in treating syphilis and other afflictions, as it contains tannin and certain alkaloids. Flowers are small, pale yellow, and appear in the spring at which time the plants are quite noticeable, and attract large numbers of insects.