Only In Aridoamerica: Plant Taxa Unique to Western North America

Listed are plant taxa unique to or uniquely developed within Western North America. My bias is toward the more cold hardy taxa. Links go to specialist resources. ACACIELLA (PRAIRIE ACACIA)ACMISPON (DEER VETCH)AGASTACHE (HORSEMINT)AGAVE AGOSERISALLIUM*AMARANTHUSABROSIA (BURSAGE/RAGWEED)ARBUTUS (MADRONE)In the Sierra Madre Occidental: Arbutus bicolor and A. madrensis in temperate and cold climates, A. arizonica in semi-dry temperate climates, A. tessellata in warm-temperate climates, and A. …

Sand Prairie/Sand Savanna Resources

(range map above includes Quercus welshii (synonym Q. harvardi var. tuckeri) within Quercus harvardii) Plant List Juniper Dunes Wilderness, WNPSINLAND NORTHWEST SAND PRAIRIE SPECIES OF INTERESTQuincy Series Soils of the Columbia Basin-Allium robinsonii, Hanford riverbank sands and gravels-Abronia mellifera, sand verbena, anza taxa-Dalea ornata-Elymus lanceolatus-Eremothera spp. dwarf sand evening primrose-Erysimum captitatum-Erigeron piperianus, WA endemic, sand-Krascheninnikovia …

Soil Memory

A grain grower plants for the year. A tree grower plants for lifetimes. Those who tend to wild prairies and savannas are attending the future on an evolutionary timescale. Ancient mast trees like the oak reach their fullest glory on the flaming stampeding savanna. On the prairie, long-lived and short-lived plants find harmony in a …

Mountain Grass

I made my garden on a stony slope. And I'm pleased with what now flourishes here. The rocky earth suites me. I am a proud citizen of steep and stony country. I've never felt quite at home on the fertile plains. The hills harbor their own kind of abundance. When I cleared the brush from …

Native Tree Willows

My valley is defined by the enormous reservoir formed behind Grand Coulee Dam. There is almost nothing left of the former floodplain ecosystem on this stretch of the Columbia River. Ethnographies of the local indigenous cultures reference many uses for willows. Willow taxonomy is complicated, and it is unclear which willow species were utilized. Most …

Sand Prairies of the Columbia River and Beyond

I first identified porcupine grass whiles scrambling up steep sandy slopes on a rare plant survey in Hells Canyon. Hesperostipa commata is a tall beautiful grass with with tenacious spikey leaves and long glistening awns. As so often happens to a botanist, this discovery followed me home. I then recognized porcupine grass all about familiar …

Basal Pomage: A Berry Called Shad and the Peraphylum Pariah

I've spent many summers filling my guts with certain hearty purple berries which have long stupefied English speakers. Their asinine etymology makes me misanthropic. But from a bioregional or indigenous perspective, the local Amelanchier species is the pome fruit of pome fruits. It is more American than apples or pie or "America". Thinking of my …

Parrots, Pigeons, and Other Avian Dispersers of Human Habitat

MOAR bird shit!

Land Use and Political Autonomy

When I worked on Forest Service lands, I joked that I was an agent of "The Imperial Toothpick Farm". The US Forest Service constructs more roads annually than the government of any other country- logging roads. The Forest Service has done certain commendable things, yet it is essentially a federal timber cartel.In early colonial New …

Alnoculture

My social media circles passed around an Italian archeology paper about evidence for a practice of rotating alder forestry, grazing, and grain cultivation. The archeologist named this practice ancient "alnoculture". However accurate their interpretation of the strata may be, it's potent concept because alders are potent trees. No known temperate plant fixes more nitrogen per …