The First Flower!

At last a flowering plant and decent fruit already as well....
This post will need a quick taxonomy edit by Steve but it looks to me to be a mustard although the leaves are missing the typical lobes. Whatever it may be (new or previously collected) sure is nice to see something flowering in the greenhouse in the middle of winter!

Flower and Buds

Developing Fruit

Leaves

Looking more like a Cholla by the day

Carrots growing like a weed and will hopefully be the next to flower!

Liverworts have come to life all over the trays from what seemed like lifeless dirt. 

The moss covers some trays like a green shag carpet...It's amazing what water can bring to life in the desert soils

Some plants have gone from seedlings to looking more like the real thing,spring flowers may be just around the corner in the greenhouse!

Identification Part 2

Steve Jones was by the greenhouse this weekend and was able to give another batch of seedlings their proper names! Here's what we found with descriptions by Steve.

Gilia sp., most likely G. flavocincta (lesser yellowthroat gilia)  

Lotus sp.  I suspect L. humistratus,  L. salsuginosus, or hopefully L. strigosus, which we don't have on the checklist yet.

Another one for the Bean family TBD

Opuntia or Cylindropuntia (jointed cacti - prickly pear or cholla), way too early to tell which

 The wiry blue-green leaves are a Mexican poppy (Eschscholzia californica ssp. mexicana); the wide leaves with it are hairy bowlesia (Bowlesia incana)

 Think this might be canyon bursage, Ambrosia ambrosioides. 

 Encelia farinosa, brittlebush.

 Claytonia perfoliata, miner's lettuce 

Most likely Stylocline micropoides. 

Columnar cactus - could be anything from a fishhook cactus to a saguaro

The rest are yet to be ID'd but are certainly different from we have seen thus far. Stay tuned for more nomenclature as told by Steve!

   

Time to mow the brome!

With germination rates rising it was time  to cut back some of the most abundant and already collected species to make room for the new! Red Brome had some trays completely filled and needed serious mowing. Fiddleneck, Filaree and Encelia were among the other species to be removed because they were simply getting too large. Once the forests were cleared Steve and I could see new seedlings yet to be identified and also two cacti seedlings that had popped up!

 Proof for the doubters that Cacti have leaves!

The first mushrooms to emerge, anyone have a guess to their ID? 

 A new curly grass emerging in a few of the sites trays.

Mexican Poppy in the Marcus landslide trays.


Coming soon, Steve's identification part 2!

The numbers are rising!

After less than four weeks our plant numbers are still rising and the trays are really starting to fill up!

Can you spot the carrots below? We now have seven total and germination continues!

Fiddlenecks are growing large and this ones happily covered in dew after a good rain from the greenhouse.

Identification part 1

The plants are still rather small and all only just over 2 weeks old or younger but already our great botanist Steve Jones has identified quiet a few!

The first one shown is still yet to be collected on the preserve, that makes 323 for our species count! tentatively of course :)

!Wild Carrot (Daucus pusillus)

Filaree (Erodium cicutarium)

Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus)

Hairy Bowlesia (Bowlesia incana)

Pygmy Weed (Crassula connata)

In order to spot these little guys (which happen to cover a large majority of the trays) you have get your eyes right on top of them as their leaves are only millimeters in length and their stems are hardly a centimeter!

Arizona fiesta flower (Pholistoma auritum var arizonicum)

 Phacelia (Phacelia distans)

Fiddle neck (Amsinckia menziesii)

Germination begins 11/4/2012

Only 2 days and already the soil is producing little seedlings galore! It is just always spring in a greenhouse.

First day wetting the soil! 11/2/2012

After all the hard work collecting and hauling samples from a total of 24 soil sites, finally the seeds have a chance to get wet and start their growing! ( Thanks to Steve, Melanie, Dan Gruber, Bernie, Joyce and Matt Crewse) 

Friday morning with the help of Steve and Bernie,  a thin layer of each sample was spread out between two trays over a well draining custom soil mix. The soils will now be kept in the optimal 80 degree greenhouse with a water regime of twice a day for five minutes. Once seedlings are better established and germination rate slows, water can be cut back to avoid damping off. Follow along and we will keep you posted on all the new plants germinating!

  

Bernie measured out the sterile soil into each tray, completing 156 individual trays in all!

Steve carefully spreads the seed bank soil on top of Bernie's layer and they are ready to be watered at last.

What a colorful display of the Preserves soil!