Elephant's Tooth and the mountains above Oatman glowed red in the sunset last night.
An interesting plant
Desert mistletoe, Phorodendron californicum, a common hemiparasite around here is the main source of food for Phainopepla nitens in winter. (I'm not aware of a common name for the Phainopepla.) A single bird is said to eat over 1,100 berries a day (Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and helps spread mistletoe seeds through its droppings. Phorodendron californicum evolved to co-exist with its host trees and shrubs in the Mojave and Sonora deserts and can live on a host plant 60 to 70 years extracting the water and nutrients it needs in addition to what food it can produce through photosynthesis in its own green stems. Leaves of Phorodendron have been reduced to scales that cover the brittle jointed stems and the surprisingly fragrant tiny flowers have no petals in bloom. Berries produced on mistletoe that grow on mesquite, acacia and ironwood were eaten by indigenous peoples, but those growing on Palo Verde and desert buckthorn were considered bitter and inedible.
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| Phorodendron californicum |
