Big Bend National Park (Part 3: Flora)

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Continued from: Visiting Big Bend National Park (Part 2: Fauna)

 

In this part of my Big Bend National Park trip report, I’m sharing the stunning Chihuahuan Desert flowers that we found at the beginning of Big Bend’s blooming season.  We couldn’t get from point A to point B without stopping at least 10 times to get pictures of all the beautiful wildflowers and blooming cacti.  I think my husband seriously regrets getting me a new camera for my birthday.  I used a few field guides as reference: Plants of the Chihuahuan Desert: A Guide to Common Native SpeciesNaturalist’s Big Bend: An Introduction to the Trees and Shrubs, Wildflowers, Cacti, Mammals, Birds, Reptiles and Amphibians, Fish, and Insects (Louise Lindsey Merrick Natural Environment (Paperback)), and A Guide to Plants of the Northern Chihuahuan Desert.

 

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Spiny fruited prickly pear
Opuntia spinosibacca

 

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Spiny fruited prickly pear
Opuntia spinosibacca

 

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Spiny fruited prickly pear
Opuntia spinosibacca

 

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Chisos prickly pear
Opuntia chisosensis

 

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Purple prickly pear
Opuntia azurea var. diplopurpurea

 

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Blind prickly pear
Opuntia rufida

 

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Strawberry pitaya
Echinocereus stramineus

 

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Texas rainbow cactus
Echinocereus dasyacanthus

 

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Tree cholla
Opuntia imbricata

 

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Dog cholla
Opuntia aggeria

 

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Brown-flowered cactus
Echinocereus chloranthus var. chloranthus

 

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Brown-flowered cactus
Echinocereus chloranthus var. chloranthus

 

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Warnock’s pineapple cactus
Echinomastus warnockii

 

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Horse crippler
Echinocactus texensis

 

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Claret cup cactus
Echinocereus coccineus

 

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Lechuguilla
Agave lechuguilla

 

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Sotol
Dasylirion leiophyllum

 

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Torrey yucca
Yucca torreyi

 

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Giant dagger yucca
Yucca faxoniana

 

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Ocotillo
Fouquieria splendens

 

For the images below, click for higher resolution.  (You’ll want to, they’re really pretty!)

 

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In this cluster of images above from left to right, top to bottom:

Common Horehound (Marrubium vulgare), Black-foot daisy (Melampodium leucanthum), Prairie fleabane (Erigeron modestus), Antelope horn milkweed (Asclepias asperula), Indian wheat (Plantago helleri), Saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis), Saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis), Annual white buckwheat (Eriogonum annuum)

 

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Honey mesquite
Prosopis mesquite

 

Picture30     Picture31     Picture32     Picture33     Picture34     Picture35

 

In this cluster of images above from left to right, top to bottom:

Retama (Parkinsonia aculeate), Indian Mallow (Abutilon theophrasti), Huisache (Acacia farnesiana), Tree tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), Creosote (Larrea tridentate), Mormon tea (Ephedra spp.)

 

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In this cluster of images above from left to right, top to bottom:

Dogweed (Thymophylla spp.), Skeleton-leaf goldeneye (Viguiera stenoloba), Desert merigold (Baileya multiradiata), Damianita (Crysactinia mexicana)

 

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Texas bluebonnet
Lupinus texensis

 

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Unknown

 

Picture39     Picture40     Picture41     Picture42     Picture43     Picture44     Picture45     Picture47

 

In this cluster of images above from left to right, top to bottom:

Crinklemat (Tequilia greggii), Aster (Machaeranthera tenacetifolia), Guayacan (Porlieria angustifolia), Sandbells (Nama hispidum), Hillside vervain (Verbena neomexicana),

Velvet field mustard (Nerisyrenia camporum), Evergreen sumac (Rhus virens), Mistletoe

 

Next: Visiting Big Bend National Park (Part 4: Outside the Park)

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