Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Baja Desert/Jungle
Desert – Jungle – Desert
My marine radio handle down here is Jugador, player or gambler. The one I wanted was already taken when I got here 14 years ago; “Slow Learner”. I
used to live in Las Vegas (hence the gambler thing) so I should know all about deserts. I don’t.
I have books, I’ve read a little about them, lived in them nearly all my life. Just now getting to know a little about this sometimes desert all
around me which scientists call a Tropical Thornscrub subdivision of the Magdalena Plain of the Sonoran Desert. It doesn’t always look like a real
desert but those science guys add the annual rain, subtract the evaporation, count and classify the birds, plants and animals and they say it’s a
desert.
Where I live (year round) we sometimes go more than 365 days between raindrops (only in years where tropical weather systems like storms and
hurricanes miss us altogether). Some years here are about like Las Vegas; 10 inches of rain, 110 inches of evaporation, soil that will not easily
absorb rainwater, rather channels it away in flash floods. Most of you Bajaphiles know how quickly rains on the peninsula turn parts of it to
luxuriant jungles. Trees and subtrees leaf out, grow taller and wider taking up most of the sun used by low growth plants the other 45 or so weeks to
live and thrive.
I didn’t notice the ground plants dying or going dormant, I couldn’t witness all the fauna on that shady ground dying or leaving because their food
source, water (many get all their water from their food) or cover disappeared with the sun. I woke up to all this late knowledge this year when we got
much more rain than usual while the ocean temps held off winter’s chill – in my garden all our trees grew to great proportions. We celebrated that
right up to the day all our sun starved flowering plants began to waste, wither and die.
I had clues. I missed em’ all. Each year, when our plumeria turned yellow I was surprised because it really had not yet turned cold. Somehow I learned
that they are among some plants which have a need for a very precise amount of daily sunlight to sustain photosynthesis. Turns out we are surrounded
by spoiled, wimpy or picky plants which like a little rain but not too much. They are a biological embarrassment when compared to the smart and
adaptable sky climbing vines like the San Miguel and the Yuca.
Well, live and learn. I need a couple hundred more years, at least.
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3881
Registered: 2-9-2004
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"They are a biological embarrassment"
There are no biological embarrassments - only our failure to understand and appreciate every magnificent creation. Most plants flourish in the
precise corner of the earth where they belong in order that the immediate ecosystem of which they are a part sustain them. I don't think plumeria is
indigenous to Baja CA, so you witness their adaptation to the climate they're in, not their thriving in their intended habitat.
For instance, in researching rock gardens, I learned that there are small alpine plants that grow among rocks with little sandy soil, at high altitude
and require cold snow runoff to flow over their roots in order to thrive. The water must be cold and flowing in order to carry certain rock minerals
to them. Isn't Mother Nature wonderful?
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GeoRock
Nomad
Posts: 329
Registered: 3-7-2003
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Always have one
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Here's another amazing fact about a very common plant.
Milkweed
While the leaves are poisonous to humans and animals, Milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) is the primary diet of the monarch butterfly caterpillar. After
digestion, the caterpillars become toxic to birds and other predators. This tall perennial with milky sap grows up to two-feet tall, yielding a fiber
that the Native Americans used for rope. Very common in Sierra Nevada meadows, the lovely pink and purple flowers grow into large seedpods after
pollination. In late summer the pods dry, split open, and release hundreds of seeds carried by the wind on long, delicate tufts of white fiber.
Photo and caption by Suzanne C. Ganatta.
Photo taken late October in Cook's Meadow, Yosemite Valley, California.
Well, I can't seem to figure out how to post a photo, sorry.
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GeoRock
Nomad
Posts: 329
Registered: 3-7-2003
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Always have one
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Have tried to copy photo into text box, did not work. This second and final attempt I am trying to attach it, which appears to have worked, but then
no photo appears on the web page. Sorry folks.
[Edited on 3-10-2009 by GeoRock]
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 65297
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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| Quote: | Originally posted by GeoRock
Have tried to copy photo into text box, did not work. This second and final attempt I am trying to attach it, which appears to have worked, but then
no photo appears on the web page. Sorry folks.
[Edited on 3-10-2009 by GeoRock] |
Suzanne: Never, never, never give up!
Look here: http://forums.bajanomad.com/viewthread.php?tid=24603
Also, you posted a question about Easter Vacation... I asked you a question in that thread... 
There is a LOT on Nomad... you just have to look for it!
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