D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
June
2009
Chuhuahuan Desert
Page: 2While the fishhook barrel cactus and ocotillo put down roots into the soil, lichens — a coalition of fungi and algae — cling like paint to the surfaces of stony outcrops, especially the rocks born of the magmatic interior of the earth. The lichens, which decorate their lithic hosts with patches of gray, green and a vibrant yellowish gold, rank among the world's most durable organisms. They easily survive the temperature extremes of the desert. During periods of prolonged drought, they simply become dormant, awaiting a rainfall to reawaken. They may live for a number of centuries, taking their place among the world's botanical seniors.
The Mountain Drainages
Along the drainages that channel water from the mountain ranges through the foothills into intermittent desert streams and playas, you will meet still other plant species — for instance, the colorful Indian paintbrushes and the desert willow.
For an up-close and personal view of the Chihuahuan Desert without a longish hike in the outdoors, visit the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park in Las Cruces. Now part of the Asombro Institute for Science Education, the park is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed Sundays and Mondays (except for special events). The park is located off Hwy. 70, east of I-25; take the Mesa Grande Road exit. Make a U-turn under the highway to head west on the frontage road, then turn right (north) on Jornada Road. Proceed north on Jornada Road for approximately 6.5 miles, then turn left just before the Chihuahuan Desert Nature Park entrance sign. Follow the entrance road west to the parking lot and trail head. For information, call 524-3334 or visit www.asombro.org |
The showy and adaptable paintbrushes occupy a large range and diverse environments, growing from the lower mountain slopes into the higher elevations. Their summer and fall displays of red and scarlet are attributable, not to their rather modest flowers, but to their red-tipped bracts (much-reduced leaves that have the flowers springing from their bases). The bracts resemble miniature brushes that have been dipped in red paint. If the Indian paintbrushes shortchange their flowers in color, they make up for it with nectar so sweet that it holds strong attraction for the hummingbirds and butterflies.
The desert willow, despite the long, narrow shape of its leaves, is not a willow at all. Rather, it belongs to that family of plants known as the Bignonia. While it holds a reputation for toughness and tenacity, the desert willow produces — through the late spring and into the summer — stylish, purplish flowers that look like small orchids. (They would have delighted Princess Di, a famous orchid lover.) The nectar of the flowers attracts hummingbirds, butterflies and carpenter bees. Should you be so inclined, you can — according to folklore — use treatments concocted from the desert willow's flowers, seedpods or bark to prepare a treatment for a cough, cut, heart problem or athlete's foot (the latter a problem Princess Di probably never experienced during her lifetime).
A Few Creatures
If you're paying attention to the details of the desert, you might make it a special point to be on the lookout for rattlesnakes, particularly during the warming days of late spring and early summer. The western diamondback, the largest of the rattlesnake clan in the desert Southwest, may be "the most dangerous North American serpent, often holding ground and boldly defending itself when disturbed," writes Robert C. Stebbins in his A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. Distinguished, in particular, by black and white rings around its tail, the western diamondback hangs out around "desert, grassland, brushland, woodland, rank growth of river bottoms, rocky canyons, and lower mountain slopes." I once sailed across the Atlantic with a maritime captain who kept a note at the helm on his ship's bridge: "A shipwreck can ruin your whole day." So, too, can a rattlesnake bite.
The collared lizard, with its disproportionately large head, powerful jaws and prominent black collar, raises a far less fearsome threat, although it can nip you hard enough to break the skin. The male stakes out its territory on rocky hillsides or in boulder fields. It basks on the stony surfaces, in the hot desert sun, during the late spring and early summer. It races nimbly, on its hind legs, across open areas, looking for all the world like a miniature tyrannosaurus rex. It preys on insects, snakes, other lizards, even small mammals. It carried the name "Mountain Boomer" where I grew up in the Rolling Plains of Texas, and if it bit you, it would not, according to local folklore, let go until it thundered. I subscribed to that belief completely when I was a small child, and when I saw a collared lizard, I raced away almost as nimbly, on my hind legs, looking for all the world like frightened prey.
In addition to plants and reptiles, you will discover, during close-examination forays of the Chihuahuan Desert, clues to the hidden lives of the insects of the desert. In the trunk beneath the peeled bark of ailing hackberry trees growing in the mountain drainages, for instance, you may discover the tunnels and galleries of wood-boring beetle larvae. Unhealthy trees provide ideal nurseries — protection and food — for the insects. In fresh growth, you will likely find the small but venerable ladybug, which not only feeds on the pestilential likes of aphids and scale insects and mites but which also gives rise to nursery rhymes: "Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home, your house is on fire, and your children are alone."
Now, Janice, our friend who hates our arid Southwest, just doesn't believe me when I tell her that a ladybug will rush home in response to such an alarm. That's OK. For my money, I would rather talk to a bug in the desert than live through 10 days of constant rain on the Gulf Coast.