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Thanks to Mark Siegwarth, the executive director of Boyce Thompson Arboretum, I decided to pay a visit to the arboretum this afternoon.
Siegwarth gave a lecture Friday evening at Bullion Plaza for this month’s First Friday lecture series. He shared some fun, lesser known facts about the arboretum, as well as some stunning photos. He also pointed out plants of significance to keep an eye out for on the trail. Several of them intrigued me. I decided I would make the trip out, and see if I could pinpoint some of these plants by walking the trail myself.
Here is what I came up with:
(All photos by Jenn Walker Property of Globe Miami Times.)
Pulque Agave Agave Salmiana
Hopbrush Dodonaea Viscosa
This evergreen, drought-tolerant, flowering plant is pantropical! It is found throughout tropical and warm regions of the world: from California, Arizona, and Florida to South America, Africa, Southern Asia, Australia, and the Hawaiian Islands. Needless to say, this shrub is extremely resilient. (Sometimes it grows into a tree!)
Wollemi Pine Wollemia nobilis
Until the early ‘90s, this rare plant was identified only by fossil records. It was thought to be extinct! Then, in 1994, a field officer for the National Parks and Wildlife Service discovered the Wollemi Pine in Wollemi National Park, in New South Wales, Australia. Though it is informally known as the Wollemi Pine, it is in fact a conifer, not a pine tree.
So, next time you take a trip to the arboretum, see if you can spot these plants along the trail for yourself!
Of course, I couldn’t resist throwing in a few other photos:
Jenn Walker began writing for Globe Miami Times in 2012 and has been a contributor ever since. Her work has also appeared in Submerge Magazine, Sacramento Press, Sacramento News & Review and California Health Report. She currently teaches Honors English at High Desert Middle School and mentors Globe School District’s robotics team.
