Ian's Plant Expedition to the Southwest US
December 2004

Page 6 - Arizona Part II

A fantastic Platanus wrightii (Arizona sycamore) near Chiricahua National Monument.  This gnarly tree is found only where it can get summer water in areas with high summer precipitation.

Just south of Chiricahua National Monument I found some nice big Agave palmeri.

. . .with seeds.

This is Mexico.  I didn't go there on this trip, but I thought I would take a picture of it from this mountain near Nogales, just to tease all of you.

This was the best of several cactus nurseries I visited in Tucson.  Vast acerages of potted cacti of every kind - it was amazing.

A flawless Brahea armata at the University of Arizona in Tucson, loaded with unripe, unreachable seed.

The beautiful and much sought after Sabal uresana on the University of Arizona campus.

The Sonoran Desert Museum is an outstanding display of animals and plants native to the Sonoran Desert and beyond. It is a must for anyone visiting Tucson. Here is Agave pelona.

Trichocereus tercheckii var. montanus with Nolina bigelovii at left.

This is how they decorate giant suguaro (Carnegia giganea) for Christmas in Tucson.

This town in southern Arizona must be full of philosophers.

This Washingtonia seedling has popped up by a downtown Yuma sidewalk. All the filaments show it is certainly W. filifera.

The desert near Yuma after a rare rainfall event, with ocotillo all leafed out.

The road to the Kofa Mountains in western Arizona. I was of course headed for the Kofa palm canyon. The scenery here was truly spectacular.

Looking back from the trail to the Kofa palms.

The Kofa palms are reached by a very steep trail through a narrow crevasse in the rock. There has been some debate as to the identity of these palms, as they look a bit different from the usual wild W. filifera. The trunks have been damaged from fire.

A close-up of the crown of one of the Kofa palms. My opinion is that they are indeed W. filifera and they just look different because they receive so little sunlight.

The late afternoon sun on the Kofa Mountains. Next time I will get there earlier and climb to the top!

Nolina bigelovii in the Kofa Mountains. I was pleasantly surprised to see this - but none of them had seeds.

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