THE GRAND CANYON ROSE: GCNP’S 1ST BOTANIST, ROSE COLLOM
Richard D. Quartaroli
February 18, 2017
Grand Canyon Hiking Guide GTS
20 Dec 1870 – 26 Dec 1956 THE “CHARLIE’S ANGELS” OF BOTANY
KATE WATTERS
KRISTIN HUISINGA
LORI MAKARICK catclaw acacia Acacia greggii Pea Family (Fabaceae/Leguminosae)
western honey mesquite Prosopis glandulosa var. torreyana (P. juliflora) Pea Family (Fabaceae/Leguminosae) Century Plant Agave utahensis Agave Family (Agavaceae)
Grand Canyon Agave phillipsiana century plant
Kaibab Utah century plant century plant Agave utahensis Agave utahensis ssp. kaibabensis ssp. utahensis Century Plant Agave utahensis Agave Family (Agavaceae) soaptree Newberry’s yucca yucca yucca Hesperoyucca eleta newberryi
Joshua-tree Yucca brevifolia banana yucca yucca baccata
Pierre Éloi Fouquier 1776-1850
French physician and professor of medicine
http://www.french-engravings.com/images/artworks/ART-14181/HQ.jpg 12 (or 11-13) •Fouquieria burragei Rose Species •Fouquieria macdougallii Nash
•Fouquieria columnaris (Kellogg) Kellogg ex •Fouquieria ochoterenae Miranda Curran – boojum tree •Fouquieria purpusii Brandegee •Fouquieria diguetii (Tiegh.) I.M.Johnst. •Fouquieria shrevei I.M.Johnst. •Fouquieria fasciculata Nash
•Fouquieria formosa Kunth •Fouquieria splendens campanulata
•Fouquieria leonilae Miranda •Fouquieria splendens Engelm. – ocotillo [List from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouquieria (except campanulata)]
boojum tree ocotillo
Images from Wikipedia Fouquieria burragei
This shrubby species grows only in southern Baja California, near the Gulf of California on the peninsula and on some of the Gulf islands. The plant has very distinctive and beautiful pale pink to white flowers. http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria diguetii
CalPhotos Photo Database http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?where-taxon=Fouquieria+diguetii Distribution for Fouquieria diguetii
http://www.wildflowersearch.com/map?897303 Fouquieria fasciculata
One of the most remarkably odd plants you will ever see anywhere, Fouquieria fasciculata has a massive, bloated trunk that tapers sharply into spiny branches. The species grows only on steep slopes and canyons in the Metztitlán area of Hidalgo west to ajdacent Querétaro. The species is easily distinguished from the other central Mexican bottle Fouquieria, F. purpusii by its rounded leaves and fine, reddish spines. Fouquieria fasciculata readily produces its sprays of small white flowers.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria formosa
This species is widely distributed in tropical dry forests from the upper Balsas Depression to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to Guatemala. It is sometimes grown as a living fence. This is the species that most resembles a conventional tree.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria leonilae
This species is remarkable for having the smallest spines of the genus. It grows in dense tropical dry forest in the central Balsas Depression in Guerrero State, and closely resembles the Bursera and Jatropha shrubs and trees that it grows with. It has deep red flowers borne at the tips of the branches.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria macdougalii
Another tree-like species, F. macdougalii is from the mainland Sonoran Desert. This photo is from northern Sinaloa, where this Fouquieria (on the right) was growing amid Bursera (the tree on the left) and the columnar cactus Stenocereus thurberi.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Distribution for Fouquieria macdougalii
http://www.wildflowersearch.com/map?Fouquieria_macdougalii Fouquieria ochoterenae
This remarkable species is endemic to a small area in southwestern Puebla state where it forms spectacular groves of huge, umbrella shaped spiny trees.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria purpusii
With its massive green trunk and spiny branches that remind me of the trail of sparks left by skyrockets, F. purpusii is a very striking element of the dry tropical forest of the Puebla-Oaxaca border region of the Valley of Tehuacán. The plant grows here and there on limestone ridges in small groves. The bark of this species is wonderfully varied from plant to plant and along the length of the trunk. The spines on young stems give way to gray corky plates amid a lovely green rind.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria shrevei
With its widly upward-arching stems, this small shrubby species cuts a strange figure on the Coahuila gypsum flats that are its only known habitat. Fouquieria shrevei has very spiny branches and extremely distinctive orange stems.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria splendens ssp. Splendens OCOTILLO
The ocotillo is the most widely known species of the genus because it has a very wide range in northern Mexico and the southwestern US. The ocotillo is famed for leafing out in response to even slight rainfall.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Fouquieria splendens ssp. Campanulata This is the southern subspecies of OCOTILLO (southern subspecies) ocotillo. It is entirely restricted to Mexico, where it can be found as far south as Hidalgo state. This subspecies tends to be more spreading and less erect than ssp. Splendens and is often covered with Tillandsia. This photo is from Guanajuato where the plants were growing on sheer limestone cliffs. In some places, such as this Guanajuato hillside, F. splendens ssp. campanulata forms dense, spiny stands.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html Distribution for Fouquieria splendens
http://www.wildflowersearch.com/map?502645 Fouquieria columnaris BOOJUM TREE
Endemic to the Sonoran Desert of the Baja California Peninsula and a tiny part of Sonora, the cirio or Boojum tree creates one of the most remarkable biological landscapes on earth. It has two kinds of stems: massive succulent trunks filled with water storing tissue, and skinny lateral branches clothed with spines and small leaves during the brief biannual rains.
http://www.explorelifeonearth.org/fouquieria.html They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; Fit the Eighth - The Vanishing They pursued it with forks and hope; They threatened its life with a railway-share; They charmed it with smiles and soap. They shuddered to think that the chase might fail, And the Beaver, excited at last, Went bounding along on the tip of its tail, For the daylight was nearly past. "There is Thingumbob shouting!" the Bellman said, "He is shouting like mad, only hark! He is waving his hands, he is wagging his head, He has certainly found a Snark!" They gazed in delight, while the Butcher exclaimed "He was always a desperate wag!" They beheld him--their Baker--their hero unnamed-- On the top of a neighboring crag. Erect and sublime, for one moment of time. In the next, that wild figure they saw (As if stung by a spasm) plunge into a chasm, While they waited and listened in awe. "It's a Snark!" was the sound that first came to their ears, And seemed almost too good to be true. Then followed a torrent of laughter and cheers: “BOOJUM” Then the ominous words "It's a Boo-" The Hunting of the Snark Then, silence. Some fancied they heard in the air A weary and wandering sigh (An Agony in 8 Fits) Then sounded like "-jum!" but the others declare 1876, by Lewis Carroll It was only a breeze that went by. (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson; They hunted till darkness came on, but they found 1832-1898) Not a button, or feather, or mark, By which they could tell that they stood on the ground Where the Baker had met with the Snark. In the midst of the word he was trying to say, Alice’s Adventures in In the midst of his laughter and glee, Wonderland (1865) He had softly and suddenly vanished away--- For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see. “BOOJUM”
Its common name was coined by the plant explorer Godfrey Sykes, who found it in 1922 and said "It must be a boojum!" http://www.sdnhm.org/oceanoasis/fieldguide/fouq-col.html
This contemptible hocotillo is an incomparable remedy in driving away with astonishing speed swellings caused by falls, bumps, or crushing. By peeling some hocotillo twigs, roasting the remainder for a short time in hot ashes,…then [pressing] out the juice on a cloth and [binding] the swollen leg with it. ca. 1760 Silver Butte Mine (Collom property), North Peak, Payson District (Green Valley District), Mazatzal Mts, Gila Co., Arizona, USA
“I wondered if there was any way in which I could cooperate with you. I am not “scientific,” nor professional, nor do I claim a complete knowledge of plants in the Grand Canyon Park.”
Nevills, Clover, & Kolb, 1938
1938: A big year Tillotson, Clover, & Nevills, 1938 for botany in Grand Canyon
Clover, Jotter, & Nevills, 1938 Mary Morris Vaux Walcott (Mrs. Charles D. Walcott, wife of former Secy. of the Smithsonian Institution) collecting wild flowers in Canada, 1920s. [photographer unknown; photo courtesy of Smithsonian Institution]
1938: A big year for botany in Grand Canyon
“At lunch with Mrs. Walcott.” “And I must tell you that Mrs. Walcott sent me this winter, a set of her books. Words fail me in express- ing my appreciation of having for my very own, her indescribably beautiful paintings.” “The Audubon of Botany”
Dudleya collomiae, aka Gila County Liveforever (Dudleya saxosa ssp. Collomiae) Found at about 3500 ft in the Seven Springs area north of Cave Creek.
Mohave, Yavapai, Gila, Maricopa, Pima
Kingdom Plantae – Plants Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass Rosidae Order Rosales Family Crassulaceae – Stonecrop family Genus Dudleya Britton & Rose – dudleya Species Dudleya collomiae Rose ex Morton – Gila County liveforever Kingdom Plantae – Plants Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Galium collomiae J.T. Howell Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Fossil Hill Creek bedstraw Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass Asteridae Order Rubiales Family Rubiaceae – Madder family Genus Galium L. – bedstraw Species Galium collomiae J.T. Howell – Fossil Hill Creek bedstraw Maricopa, Pima Mentzelia collomiae C.M. Christy Sunset Crater blazingstar
Kingdom Plantae – Plants Coconino Subkingdom Tracheobionta – Vascular plants Superdivision Spermatophyta – Seed plants Division Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants Class Magnoliopsida – Dicotyledons Subclass Dilleniidae Order Violales Family Loasaceae – Loasa family Genus Mentzelia L. – blazingstar Species Mentzelia collomiae C.M. Christy – Sunset Crater blazingstar Ethyl, Louis, and Donny Lou Schellbach, 1940 McKee Collection NAU.PH.95.48.1456
ROSE @ GCNP:
826 records
1938 – 1947 (10 YRS) 1949 – 1953 (5 YRS)
Scientific name: Agave phillipsiana
Common name: Grand Canyon agave, Phillips agave
Range: A few locations in the Grand Canyon and central Arizona
Form: Large, open rosettes; solitary or forming clumps
Habitat: Sandy or gravelly terraces, often near rivers and streams
Flowers: Greenish-yellow; 32 to 45 heads, in an elongated cluster, on a stalk 9 to 18 feet high Grand Canyon Agave
Agave phillipsiana Hodgson
Deer Creek
Rose Collom first botanist to collect, but Phantom/ erroneously Haunted identified it as Canyon Agave deserti Grand Canyon Agave Known Distribution
Deer/Tapeats Creeks
Modred Abyss
Phantom/Haunted
Clear Creek
20 Dec 1870 26 Dec 1956 Museum Collection 10,000 herbarium specimens, including the Rose Collom, Walter Cottam and Merkle collections ROSE @ GCNP:
826 records
1938 – 1947 (10 YRS) Rose Collom 1949 – 1953 (5 YRS) Collections at: Grand Canyon National Park & Desert Botanical Garden
Photo courtesy Wendy Hodgson Rose Collom 2012 Inductee Inducted March 15, 2013
When one lives year after year apart from the world, miles from neighbors, towns, and railways, flowers become companions, and one not always enjoys them, but learns from them.
Our Arizona wild flowers are unique, beautiful and hardy, and courageous.
They often grow, bloom and bear their fruit under most discouraging conditions.
One watches for them and greets them as old and faithful friends, and surely from them one can derive strength and courage and faith. THANK YOU TO:
GRAND CANYON DESERT BOTANICAL NATIONAL PARK GARDEN: MUSEUM & LIBRARY: WENDY HODGSON; BETH BRAND; COLLEEN HYDE; & JANE COLE KIM BESOM; MICHAEL QUINN; SUSAN EUBANK; & BETTY UPCHURCH
…and especially to the ROSE of GRAND CANYON