Another visit to the Mountain fire area to check on conditions and revisit a senna seedling/sprout to see it a little further along. Turns out it was Senna covesii rather than the S. bauhinioides that I had suspected.
Regrowth of the shrubs is continuing. Very few of the shrubs were killed by the fire; most are recovering. I think more were knocked out by the tremendous flows through the wash from the November rains. Some were uprooted and others had the bark stripped. It's a fairly steep wash so the flows must have been rapid.
Seedling population is quite high. Mostly Sphaeralcea and Glandularia. Erodium cicutarium is particularly abundant; only one plant in flower, though. The abundant Aristolochia sprouts I saw on a previous visit have gone dormant; didn't see even one.
A couple of flowering surprises include a patch of Nuttallanthus texanus and some bonsai Mirabilis coccinea attempting to flower. I thought the latter were Hybanthus verticillata until I got a closer look.
Very little fauna activity. A few birds - heard a gnatcatcher, and saw some goldfinches in the larger wash near the road. One persistent grasshopper. It was the first really cold morning of the year. I carried an extra shirt to change into when it got warmer. Never did. I used all four layers and had trouble getting the backpack on. I'm thankful there's no video of that wrestling match.
First season biennial. The only Cirsium taxon found in the area.
Resembles Brassica tournefortii but no hairs. Revisit.
C. muricata? Revisit for seed
Removed
Seedlings; abundant in the area, especially dense here.
Comments
A very rewarding outing! Nature has put up a good fight against some extremes.
I've really enjoyed this saga and look forward to future observations.
Interesting post! I live in Minnesota but try to visit Arizona as much as I can and may retire there some day. So enjoy hearing what you are up to.
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