Word: ocotillo
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Until a week ago this place had been hers and mine, our place,” he writes, “in those days Imperial was as beautiful as a double rainbow over the desert, rain falling and evaporating as it fell when we came down Highway 78 into Ocotillo.” He characterizes his quest as one to understand Imperial as a place divorced from his own personal memories. Somehow this absurd explanation for the origins of “Imperial” seems absolutely credible coming from Vollmann, whose previous works reveal, if nothing else...
...threat, fire. To conserve water, most desert species in the Southwest grow far apart, making it hard for fires to spread. Buffel grass grows easily in dry soil, forming a carpet of dry, flammable stalks that burns very hot after a lightning strike and can engulf cacti, yucca, ocotillo and the paloverde trees. "None of the native plants have fire adaptation. If they burn, they die," says Tom Van Devender, a senior research scientist at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. "If there is recurring fire, you get a conversion from desert to savannah grassland...
...impact their home makes on the desert. "Given the rate the desert is being gobbled up by people like us, my feeling is we need to put some back," she says, standing on her porch and pointing to the plants in her yard. "I put in native plants only--ocotillo, Arizona rosewood, desert willow, prickly pear. I start them with a little water, but soon they will survive on their...