late summer / early fall desert wildflowers

Scientific Name: Senna covesii

English Name: desert senna,rattlebox senna

Synonyms: Cassia covesii

Spanish Names:ejotillohojasén,daisillo,ojosón, oyasón, rosamaría

The color of this flower is an incredibly bright yellow,making it very difficult to photograph

it in sunlight. I was able to capture the color on a soft, cloudy, rainy day on September 5th, 2009.

"This species is a small subshrub with fuzzy gray-green leaves. S. covesii has four or six leaflets. Foliage is shed during dry seasons. Rains trigger short spikes of yellow caesalpinoid flowers, mostly in spring and late summer."

"The caterpillar of the Cloudless Sulfur (Phoebis sennae) and Sleepy Sulfur (Eurema nicippe) butterflies can be found feeding on the leaves and and the adult butterflies are often encountered flying nearby."

after the rains

13 years later, the desert park by my home is recovering from the drought with a full complement of green seedlings.

Since the rains came later in the Fall and now early in the new year, there might be a different mix of wildflowers this spring - can't wait to find out.

I love it when the ferns start to surface - ferns in the desert? I have yet to become familiar with them but here is a photo of one and if you recognize it let me know...

Thanks to Lorena, I now know that the plant is Astrolepis cochisensis ssp. arizonica. She has an excellent website - Southern Arizona Rare Plants .