Death Valley Flora

Share native plant sightings, info about plants that grow in the Death Valley area, or ask questions about wild desert plants here.

Death Valley Flora

Postby CactusHugger » Sun Jul 21, 2013 5:52 pm

Death Valley Flora
This is a neat little slideshow that presents a bunch of plants that grow in DVNP. There are even a few cactus in there that I would like to hug!
:cactus:
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby whiskeypete » Thu Oct 10, 2013 7:18 am

Nice slideshow! Gotta love desert plants. They are just a little tougher than most other plants. Anything that can survive out here deserves a little credit!
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby CactusHugger » Wed Nov 20, 2013 8:37 pm

Devil's Claw
Now this is an interesting plant! Nice video blackturtle!!! Can I smoke it?
:smokin:
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby cactuspete » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:54 am

Can I smoke it? OMG, that's funny! Actually I have no idea if you can smoke it or not, but thanks for posting! That's a good video. I'm going to have to check out more of that guy's videos! At YouTube he says that he actually grew this plant in his backyard since he couldn't locate it anywhere in the wild. That's what I call dedication!
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby surfsteve » Fri Nov 22, 2013 9:49 am

Devils claw looks almost like Datura or white trumpet vine, a poisonous hallucinogen. I often see one or the other growing along the side of the road. I always thought they were datura trumpet vines but now you got me wondering if they could actually be devil's claw. At 55 mph it's hard to tell. I've heard of kids smoking datura before but it doesn't seem to be a problem because although it gets you high it's an extremely unpleasant experience. I read that Devil's claw is often prescribed for arthritis. Never heard of anyone smoking it. I take a pinch of borax every day or so to keep my joints working and it works wonders. Never heard of anyone comparing it to devil's claw for that purpose. Got a feeling that borax works much better.
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby blackturtle.us » Sat Nov 23, 2013 11:11 am

cactuspete wrote:Can I smoke it? OMG, that's funny! Actually I have no idea if you can smoke it or not, but thanks for posting! That's a good video. I'm going to have to check out more of that guy's videos! At YouTube he says that he actually grew this plant in his backyard since he couldn't locate it anywhere in the wild. That's what I call dedication!

Thanks! It was convenient to have the plant in my backyard so I could take pictures of it every couple weeks.
surfsteve wrote:Devils claw looks almost like Datura or white trumpet vine, a poisonous hallucinogen. I often see one or the other growing along the side of the road. I always thought they were datura trumpet vines but now you got me wondering if they could actually be devil's claw. At 55 mph it's hard to tell. I've heard of kids smoking datura before but it doesn't seem to be a problem because although it gets you high it's an extremely unpleasant experience. I read that Devil's claw is often prescribed for arthritis. Never heard of anyone smoking it. I take a pinch of borax every day or so to keep my joints working and it works wonders. Never heard of anyone comparing it to devil's claw for that purpose. Got a feeling that borax works much better.

Datura and Devil's Claw look similar, but there are some striking differences. The seed pods and flowers are the most obvious. As far as growing next to the road, that would all be datura. Devil's claw needs plenty of water. Although it can handle the heat, it needs much more water than is required by datura. (There are two plants which have the common name Devil's claw and the one shown in the video is not the one that is sometimes used as an arthritis treatment.)
DEVIL'S CLAW INFO: http://www.dvplants.com/PLANTS/CLAW/index.html
DATURA INFO: http://www.dvplants.com/PLANTS/DATURA/index.html
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby wildrose » Wed Dec 04, 2013 10:12 am

Love that video! Those seed pods are quite unusual! I noticed that the plant is also known as unicorn plant and that it only seems to grow in the vicinity of springs. That makes sense since you indicate that it needs a lot of water. Interesting posts!
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby dustdevil » Sat Jan 04, 2014 10:48 am

Cartoons always show saguaro cactus in desert scenes, but there aren't any saguaros in Death Valley. They're all in Arizona or Mexico. The first time I visited Death Valley I was very disappointed by their absence! My cartoon-created preconceptions of what the desert was like were shattered by reality!
:cry2: :cry3: :cry5: :laugh:
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Cartoon version:
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby sandman » Thu Jan 16, 2014 9:34 am

Instead of saguaros we have Joshua trees, but the Joshua trees aren't everywhere. They only grow at certain elevations. The one plant that grows in both the Mojave and the Sonoran deserts is creosote. I'm probably wrong on that, but I do know that creosote grows all over the place!
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Re: Death Valley Flora

Postby wildrose » Fri Jan 31, 2014 9:33 am

I hear there is the possibility of rain this weekend and that 395 is already closed up by Bishop due to show. Hopefully significant precipitation falls down here in the next couple days. If so, maybe there's still hope for a springtime flower show!
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