IN SEARCH OF THE DESERT FIVE SPOT
Edition: Special Limited Edition
Publisher: INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR BIOSOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND HUMAN HEALTH
Published: 2006
Place of publication: United States
Language: eng
Format: Hardbound
Number of pages: 30
Copyright date: 2006
Subjects: CALIFORNIA DESERT FIVE SPOT; COACHELLA VALLEY, CALIFORNIA; CALIFORNIA DESERTS; Eremalche rotundifolia
Genres: CALIFORNIA WILD FLOWERS; PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES AND TEXT
Work titles: TEXT AND 15 FULL PAGE COLOR PLATES
First sentence: Looking back, it seems to me now, that for as long as I can remember, the desert challenged both my imagination and my understanding. This in all probability was due to my education and to my miseducation. As a lad visions of arid wastelands and exotic wilderness habitats where no stream of life existed cradled images and formless recollections without memory.
Description: The authors undertook studies in various California Deserts - the Mojave High Desert, Colorado Low Desert, Death Valley, Anza Borego examining the flowering and growth of the DESERT FIVE SPOT from tiny, short lived plants to others, mature, with well grown stems, leaves, buds, and full flowers. Attention was paid to the life span of the plant once the buds unfurled. Observations were also made on number of buds on a given plant, coloration of leaves, and rate of demise. Examination of the flowers was made daily at the noon hour, which appears to be the best hour for the complete opening of the flower. General biologic notes were kept on the quality of the soil in which the plants were growing - gravels, bajadas, etc and on the exposure to desert temperatures at a given location. The text presents 15 PLATES IN COLOR illustrating the life of this beautiful desert wildflower.
Notes: Locations where Eremalche rotundifolia (DESERT FIVE SPOT) were studied included Coachella Valley and Death Valley south of Shoshone. San Andreas Fault in the area of Willis Palms was also another site at which the flowers were studied from first growth to demise. At Thousand Palms Oasis water rises to the surface of the desert and spreads out from the cracks along washes and trenches that support, in season, both wildflowers and wild life.
Table of contents: title: PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES; title: THE DESERT ENVIRONMENT; title: ADAPTATION: HORNED LIZARDS (Coachella Valley);  RAVENS IN DEATH VALLEY (Stovepipe Wells); title: DESERT FIVE SPOT; FIRST BUDS; title: FIRST UNFURLING OF THE FLOWER; title: NEW FLOWERS; title: DESERT FIVE SPOT IN DEATH VALLEY LOCATION; title: FLOWERS FULLY OPENED; title: ELEGANCE (Flower and Desert); title: BEAUTY (Flower and Desert Sand); title: JOY; title: GHOST; title: DEMISE; title: WASH (Along San Andreas Fault); title: SAN JACINTO MOUNTAIN; title: ZABRISKIE POINT DEATH VALLEY AT SUNRISE (Facing Page 1); title: Frontispiece: STONE TRAIL MARKER IN THE DESERT