Plant Arrowweed 5 Index Bitterweed 6 Cattail Cattail 1 Typha domingensis Curltop Smartweed 2 Exotic Plants 12 Typhaceae – the Cattail Family Four-Wing Saltbush 11 Indian Rushpea 10 Emergent plants of wetlands, Jackass Clover 7 cattails can tolerate the low Seepwillow 3 oxygen content of standing Seepweed 8 Willow Baccharis 3 water 6 to 12 inches deep. Wolfberry 9 They readily colonize wet areas. Wetlands and riverside forests once graced the banks of the Rio Grande in the Paso del The tall inflorescences Norte region. They were the area’s most productive natural habitats, but today they resemble hot dogs on a stick: of the Rio Bosque male flowers on top covered are virtually gone. At Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, the environment is still changing, but with masses of yellow pollen, in a new way. Here, a diverse partnership is and brown, velvety female working to bring back meaningful examples flowers below. of the unique and valuable ecosystems once found in our river valley. Flower detail The Rio Bosque Educational Brochure Series was made possible Cattail cluster Left: Indian Rushpea by a USDA Urban Forestry Grant administered in shallow water compound leaves with by the Texas Forest Service. flowers and seedpods Text by Maria A. Trunk Edited by John Sproul Illustration by David Nakabayashi Printing generously provided by Epson El Paso. PLANTS ©2004 by the Friends of the Rio Bosque, El Paso, TX. The Rio Bosque project relies on community involvement for success. Find out how you can participate: call 915-747-8663 or visit www.cerm.utep.edu/riobosque/ Indian Rushpea / Hog Potato Hoffmanseggia glauca Fabaceae – the Pea Family This low-growing native perennial colonizes Rio Bosque disturbed alkaline soils. Attractive yellow to orange flowers produce pea-like pods Wetlands containing dark reddish-brown seeds. Park Educational programs of the Texas Forest Service are open to all people without regard to race, color, El Paso, Texas sex, disability, religion, age, or national origin. 1 10 Right: Saltcedar branch Plant communities at the Rio Bosque change from year to year, for a variety of reasons. Four-Wing Plant-community succession drives many of Some changes are due to Saltbush the changes. Pioneer species gradually alter year-to-year variation in Atriplex canescens the environment to permit new communities environmental conditions, Chenopodiaceae – the Goosefoot Family to occupy the park. The numbers and kinds of animals living at the Rio Bosque also some to human-induced Look at the fruit of this plant and you’ll see change in response to plant-community disturbance. how it gets its name: each single-seeded succession as overall habitat diversity bladder has four “wings” that help it disperse increases. Exotic Plants at the Rio Bosque in the wind. Many animals, notably Gambel’s The same disturbances that trigger a new quail, eat the seeds and take cover in the dense This brochure describes some of the plants cycle of plant-community succession also silvery foliage of these large shrubs. growing at the Rio Bosque (other than trees, create conditions that invite invasion by non- covered in a separate brochure). The ones native plants. Free from the insects and Detail of “winged” fruits you find on your visit will vary according to diseases that keep them in check in their home the season and recent environmental territories, these exotics can proliferate conditions. An updated list of plant species virtually without restraint and thereby edge in the park is available at the Visitor Center. out native species. These are some of the exotic plants found at the Rio Bosque: Saltcedar/Tamarisk Tamarix spp. Origin: Mediterranean, Middle East The Rio Grande once passed through the Tree Tobacco park. The diversion of water away from the Nicotiana glauca historic river channel in the 1930’s greatly Origin: Argentina influenced Rio Bosque’s plant communities. So did the extensive soil movement during Perennial Pepperweed construction of the park’s wetland cells and Four Wing Saltbush Lepidium latifolium branch with furry insect waterways in 1997. Seasonal fluctuation in Origin: Southern Europe galls on lower branches the supply of water to the park has a major influence on its plant communities today. Tumbleweed Salsola kali Some plants like cottonwood and four-wing Origin: Central Asia saltbush have been purposely introduced at the park. Others like saltcedar and perennial An important component of restoration work pepperweed are routinely removed. Most, at the Rio Bosque is controlling non-native however, get established on their own and plants and replacing them with the species thrive or falter depending on site-specific that evolved with and helped shape the natural Detail of branch bearing environmental conditions. habitat of the Rio Grande valley. mature “winged” fruits Tornillo sapling 12 11 Wolfberry Lycium spp. Solanaceae – the Nightshade Family Arrowweed Pluchea sericea Small, pale purple flowers give rise to Asteraceae – the Sunflower Family bright red berries in early summer. The sweet fruit is an important Thick hedges of arrowweed are found food source to many animals in the scattered through the park, their pinkish park. Most wolfberry shrubs at flower heads attracting crowds of bees and Curltop Smartweed the park have a distinct “browse butterflies. Native Americans stripped the Polygonum lapathifolium var. lapathifolium line” – the lower portions of the gray-green foliage from the Polygonaceae – the Buckwheat Family plant are kept trim and leafless straight slender stems to make by the nibbling of hungry Growing on the edge of water channels and arrow shafts and baskets. jackrabbits. wetland cells, smartweed has alternate, lance- shaped leaves and dense spikes of cream- to rose-colored flowers. Ducks eat the shiny brown seeds, and muskrats dine on the leaves, stems and roots. Right: Bitterweed branch and flowers Above: Wolfberry branch with fruit Left: Typical branch and leaves Above: Arrowweed flower cluster Left: Typical The distinctive stalk branch and and leaves of the leaves Curltop Smartweed Bitterweed Hymenoxys odorata Asteraceae – the Sunflower Family In early spring thick carpets of bright lemon- yellow flowers seem to appear out of nowhere, covering large open stretches in the north end of the park and popping up as smaller clusters in other spots. By early summer, the dream-like vision has dissolved, leaving behind only the seeds for next year’s pageant. 5 6 9 2 Left: Seepwillow plant shape Below: Willow Bacharris plant shape Seepweed Suaeda spp. Seepwillow Chenopodiaceae – the Goosefoot Baccharis salicifolia Family Willow Baccharis Baccharis salicina The fleshy leaves of seepweed Asteraceae – the Sunflower Family shrubs are soft to touch and salty to taste. Members of the genus Left: Jackass Clover These large shrubs grow in moist soils and branch and leaves Suaeda are “halophytes” – resemble willows, but unlike true willows with inflorescences tolerant of saline soils – and are they flower well into late summer. Male and found on the margins of lake female flowers are borne on separate plants. beds and river flood plains in The leaves of seepwillow are generally longer the Southwest. and broader than those of willow baccharis. Seepwillow branch and leaves with Left: Suaeda flowers leaf detail Below: Suaeda branch and leaves Jackass Clover Willow Bacharris Wislizenia refracta branch and leaves with Capparaceae – the Caper Family immature flowers This native annual grows to 4 feet tall and is topped with clusters of yellow flowers. The palmately compound leaves resemble those of true clovers (Trifolium) of the pea family, but these species are only distantly related. 3 8 7 4.