Aloe Plants

These succulents thrive in the desert

Aloes are native to Africa and Arabia

Soap Aloe

This year is the first time I have seen this aloe in Vegas. The surface of the plant is very oily. After some research, I found that the oily sheen is normal.

Detail Of Oily Soap Aloe's Sheen

The sap from the leaves and stems of Aloe saponaria produce a lather which can be used as a soap. Over the years I have heard of the medical and health properties from the use of aloe gels. WebMD has an article discussing these properties and I do recall that the gel from Aloe vera var. officinalis (below) being rubbed on the skin does inhibit the growth of scar tissue from superficial wounds. Dave's Garden dot com has a very interesting and fun article worth the time to read as well.

Traditionally,for me, Aloe "vera" was red inflorescence on pale green leaves; The use of this Latin nomenclature has grown as time has passed (or as my study of the plant has changed and increased my vocabulary).When, specifically, querying, "Aloe Vera," there are plenty of images with no flowers. When querying, "Aloe Vera flowers," the majority of images come up with the red flower variety of many species. Have been interested in Aloe vera for ages,... I guess because of its purported medicinal qualities, and over the years yellow inflorescence has become more commonly included in image queries. Seemingly, aloes have gained in popularity as a part of gardens so I am including a link to Dave's Garden dot com; a good place to start when researching the correct identity of your own Aloe species.Looking up "Aloe vera" at Dave's Garden the description includes bright yellow flowers.

YELLOW Aloe vera (Aloe vera var. officinalis)

Am posting this above image to illustrate Aloe vera without too much more discussion. The image below is a detail of the inflorescence showing the beautiful yellow flowers (corolla).

Detail of YELLOW Aloe vera

Because of the poliferation and hybridization of Aloe it is difficult for me to find an authoritative accepted plant name list defining our most popular Aloe vera. There are many lists of accepted synomyms.

RED aloe vera

What is the difference between RED and YELLOW Aloe vera? This article attempts to make the answer easier for us. Ha!

Detail of RED Aloe Vera

There is clearly quite a difference between the RED and YELLOW Aloe vera. Will leave it to the scientists to name the plants.

Blog by LonsLens © Lonnie D. Watkins

Spring Flowers I

Nothing Epic

A post gathering some of my favorite flower images so far this Spring.

Firecracker Penstemon

This image above of Firecracker Penstemon from a distance showing the lush green foliage. The foliage is one of its drawing points considering the plant's drought tolerance.

Firecracker Penstemon - inflorescence detail

The image above of Firecracker Penstemon details the brilliant scarlet color of the flowers making up it's inflorescence.

Common Dogweed

The image above of Common Dogweed is a wind-blown seed type weed that I just noticed the past couple of years. There is some type of insect enjoying the flower included.

Common Dogweed - blossom detail

Wow! Isn't Common Dogweed (a.k.a. Five Needle Prickly Leaf) a bright yellow? The blossom is only about the size of an one-cent piece. The insect was photo bombing me.

Ice Plant

The image above of Ice Plant exhibits the property of nyctnasty as illustrated by the image below captured at the same time during the afternoon.

Ice Plant - blossom detail

The image above of Ice Plant with the blossoms out in direct sunlight.

Ocotillo Plant

The image above of Ocotillo plant is not a cactus. Don't tell the thorns that though. A very tough plant and very drought tolerant.

U.S.D.A. distribution map

The map above posted by the U.S. Forest Service showing the distribution of Ocotillo Plant within the Continental U.S.

Blog by LonsLens © Lonnie D. Watkins

Nyctinasty

Blossoms closing at night?
Blossoms opening during the day?

The Southwest Desert of the United States is a very harsh environment. Temperature soar during the Summer days up to one-hundred and twenty degrees. A one-hundred degree temperature during the day is average and normal. Cactus flowers here profusely during March and early April. The rainfall is extremely low most of the year so plants have adapted to conserve water loss due to heat and evaporation. The North American Monsoon is mapped and discussed at this link. One of the more unfamiliar methods that plants here in our desert use to conserve water is through nyctinasty. There is an article at Live Science

Reading about this process, nyctinasty, to gather information for this blog post, I learned that many plants exhibit this behavior living in many environments. Southwestern Desert cacti may be collapsing at night to conserve water in my opinion. Furthermore, the opening and closing of the blooms may be a way to maintain and regulate internal plant temperatures. I base my opinion on experience from gardening out here in the Mojave, and from the information I have read about the topic.

Nyctinasty during the early morning.

The flowers are closed in the morning and are closed by late afternoon.

Flowers open during mid-day

Known for blooming during the Easter Season, Peanut Cactus surely is beautiful.

Blog by LonsLens © Lonnie D. Watkins

Went Out To Capture Spring

Learned A Couple Of Things

Over the years, I have captured dozens of Red Yucca images. Discovered something new this last photo walk. There is a difference between adolescent plants and matured plants. In addition, while researching for this blog I learned that red yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora) is actually a century plant. And looking at the Latin nomenclature for this plant, I see the word aloe.

The adolescent Red Yucca has bright red scarlet inflorescence like the speciment below.

Adolescent Red Yucca

The adolescent plant was added to a landscape just recently. At least since they have been planted I can verify by actually "seeing" them installed that it has been less than one year, yet cannot speak about their age before planting. I believe the plants were loaded with hormones as well to encourage flowering.

The image below of an older Red Yucca included in a different landscape down the street is quite a different color.

Older more mature Red Yucca

The matured plant is a number of years old because I have been walking past it for ages. Any forced hormone effect would have dissipated by now and the red is noticeably softened and the flowers display a strong yellow at full bloom. Had not noticed a difference in colors between young and old plants before so I felt it was worth noting in a post.

Blog by LonsLens © Lonnie D. Watkins