In some areas of Death Valley National Park, Geraea canescens can cover the valley floor or small hills. Hairy desert-sunflower and desert gold are used as common names.
Perhaps I should have waited until my birthday to post something from this genus. Geraea is derived from the Greek geraios, meaning “old”, while canescens is from the Latin canescere, meaning “to become grey or white”. The Jepson eFlora account for Geraea canescens notes the generic name is specifically in reference to the white hairs of the involucre, perhaps best shown in this photograph by Keir Morse. However, most parts of these plants are covered in white hairs, including the fruits.
Native to southwest USA and northwest Mexico, Geraea canescens grows in sandy desert soils. It is typically associated with Larrea tridentata, or creosote bush, as shown in the fourth photograph. For additional photographs, see CalPhoto: Geraea canescens.
In news about BPotD, maybe we’ve made some progress on the image issue? I’ve had to seek help from others in the university to tackle it, but I think we’ve taken some steps. I’m testing it out by making an image-heavy posting.
Photos are loading much quicker. Looks like they are not particularly inhibited by the creosote bushes.
Nope. Geraea photo is excruciatingly slow to load. Why is this happening now? It used to be so quick.
See comments below. I’m not worried about slow to load at the moment. I can make things faster again once we’ve sussed out the fail to fully load / takes 20 minutes to load issue.
Most have failed for me as well, though the Prunus mume was prompt and beautiful too.
I meant the plants are not inhibited, not the photos. 🙂 poor phrasing.
Ha, well, I did have to look away near the time of taking that 4th photo. About 90 degrees to my right was someone camping (this is permitted) who was waking up with the sunrise and doing what most people do in the morning after waking up. Good thing those creosote bushes were there.
Ha! Daniel, maybe I missed this info somewhere, but what time of year was your trip in the midst of this amazing blooming population of Geraea?
Approximately February 21 to March 2 last year. However, I don’t think it will look like this for this year. Though Death Valley received / is receiving some rain, it has come later in the season–likely not early enough for good Geraea germination, but still good for finding a diversity of species. I should be traveling through there for a couple days this year, maybe March 11&12.
At first I thought you meant the photos. lol 🙂
I did get the one image quickly yesterday. The multiple images today are straining to burst into bloom… Sure glad you are back online and as informative and cheerful as in the past.
I’m not so worried if it is slow to load, because I’ve dropped a lot of the server tweaks that make things faster in an effort to identify (or rather, eliminate) the image problem. I can reinstate those once I am comfortable the image loading has resolved. For now, my concern is that images never load or break while loading.
My confusion is why, when I click on the link in the email, the first section displayed on the site is a request to subscribe. I’m already subscribed, as I was informed when I sighed and tried it again, think I needed to do it once more. Not so, so why have that there?
What device are you using to access the site? A mobile phone, perhaps? I have it on my to-do list to fix the order of things that show up on mobile.
Flipping the sidebar to the right seems to fix the mobile display issue where the content in the sidebar appeared at the top. I prefer the sidebar on the left, but we’ll do this as a temporary fix.
Everything is working wonderfully for me on my computer… I have a MAC… It is so nice to have you back.. Now that you are I realize how much I missed seeing all the beauty you share.. THANK YOU…
The photos loaded quickly and look great on my Mac. Thanks for posting the photos of a desert wildflower and its environment. I dearly love desert flowers and I grew up on a ranch surrounded by creosote bushes.
Also glad to have you back and see the desert flowers. Grew up in Nevada but now call central Ontario home – 10k from Algonquin Park. When I first saw photo (which took a few seconds to download) I thought Arnica-ish. Are they related, or just asteracaea?
Yes glad to have you back! The photos downloaded ok. A bit slow but not really a problem. Grey hairs? Wait until you get to my age! lol
I like the link to Kier’s work: he’s practically a god when it comes to photographing ID-important (and just darn pretty) details of CA natives.
Oh, and your photos are very lovely, too, Daniel…so happy BPotD is back!
Love the multiple images including the great references.
Load wasn’t slow for me and I was in Fire Fox browser.
Photos still haven’t loaded on my iPad. Thanks for your persistence in seeking solutions!
They were really slow on my iPad as well at home, but they did eventually load.
I am so glad you are back!! I didn’t realize how much I had missed your photos! These of Geraea take my breath away.
Gorgeous photos! Seeing these images is a bright spot in the day. It is nice to see vibrant color and plants when all around is endless white snow and ice.
Thank you for sharing them. I love your commentary about the Botanical name and your upcoming birthday too- that made me laugh! I can relate. 🙂
I agree with everyone- so nice to have you back! Such a burst of sunshine for those of us under loads of snow and gray skies. Thanks!
My pictures come up right away! I have a fast connection and all your new postings have shown up, immediately. Sure glad to have you back! One of my daily high points!!
Yes, much better, and the photos are great! Thank you.
Everything loads quickly but without any photo of Geraea. I use a Mac.
Loading fine on my computer. BTW, when is your birthday?
Can’t really hide it, since it is mentioned in the comment sections of some older entries. April 3.
Thank you so much for reviving the daily plant photos. They’re great, and I love learning something every day.
I’m so glad to have your photos back. I enjoy both the beauty & the learning. No problems at all with loading.. Thank you.
Desert Gold is certainly the perfect name for those beauties.
Everything loaded quickly for me…Mac mini and Firefox.
Sooo glad you’re back.
The photos are very beautiful. I don’t mind waiting for them to load! When I take a “botany break” its nice to enjoy the anticipation a little longer.
I love the image-heavy posting. Great idea! 🙂
It is wonderful seeing so many views, both close and from afar, of this beautiful desert flower, which we wouldn’t otherwise see here in the Northwest!
I am trying to identify a plant in my Anaheim, California, work garden that was started by seed. It’s about 18 inches now and grows about four feet high and has woody stems by the end of the year. I don’t think it is geraea canescens but may be related to it. Can anyone help?
Hmm, looks more like a Bidens at first glance to me. Would you consider posting this to the Plant ID forums we maintain? That area will get a lot more eyeballs than this older BPotD entry: http://forums.botanicalgarden.ubc.ca/forums/plants-identification.38/ (but it is more work on your part to post, since you have to register, etc. )
Thank you Daniel, I will post to the Plant ID forum.