Growing Native with Petey Mesquitey Petey Mesquitey

I first learned this snake as the western hog-nosed snake (Heterodon nasicus). It’s now called the Mexican hog-nosed snake (H. kennerlyi). And, this is neat, at least for me; a snake of my Kentucky youth was the eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos). It has all the same crazy wonderful behavior as our borderlands species. Back in those olden days I remember folks called it puff adder or puffing adder, among other colloquial names based on its defensive behavior. Now you know. The photos are mine. Those are Marian’s hands and our dog Badger’s nose.

I’m pretty sure I first encountered the plant called mala mujer in the Santa Rita Mountains south of Tucson around 30 years ago. I had 10 years of commercial horticulture under my belt and I had become a native plant geek. “To heck with all these exotics,” I’d shout to people, “Grow native!” Yes, an obnoxious native plant geek. Anyway, I’m also pretty sure I turned that encounter into a Growing Native episode and I mispronounced the genus Cnidoscolus. “The C is silent,” my botanist/horticulturist friend Gene Joeseph gently told me. Where would I be without friends like that? There…

Hmmm, a rambling reminiscence about amphibians and reptiles and of course to be continued, ‘cause here comes monsoon! The Sonoran Desert Toad, formerly the Colorado River Toad, is Incillius alvarius….formerly Bufo alvarius. As near as anyone can figure Incillius means ditch or trench and alvarius may refer to its large abdomen. A fun common name could be the Tubby Tummied Ditch Toad, but yeah, the Sonoran Desert Toad is an excellent name. And, a duded up Sonoran Desert Toad was the logo for the Tucson band The Dusty Chaps. The photos are mine.

I was looking through photos that I’ve taken of this plant over the years and realized I even have 35 mm slides of Jatropha macrorhiza. Slide show! So yeah, this is a favorite plant. And, I love this description from the web site SEINet: Jatropha macrorhiza “is a charismatic plant you won’t forget once you recognize it. The large, palmately lobed, bristle-toothed leaves coming out of an erect stem with pink flowers really stands out.” Yup! The photos are mine of the newly emerging plants on the rocky hillside described in this episode.

I’ve told the story of the yucca moths and the soaptree yuccas many times. I love to tell it when I give talks and I’m not making this up; years ago on a special International Women’s Day at KXCI, my wife, yes, Ms. Mesquitey, told the yucca moth story on Growing Native. We both think it is one of the most amazing things that happen around us and part of an extremely long and always lengthening list of crazy wonderful happenings in the natural world. The photos are mine and taken here at home. I was pulling back the petals…

It was Linnaeus that created the name Mimosa from the Greek: mimos for mime and the suffix osa for resembling. And as to the plant jabbered about, it was Asa Gray that named the species grahamii to honor James Graham probably at William Emory’s suggestion…fellow soldier surveyors in the field. The photos are mine.