Bitterroot (Lewisia rediviva)

I made the esperiment, found that they became perfectly soft by boiling, but had a very bitter taste, which was naucious  to my palate, and I transferred them to the Indians who had eat them heartily— Meriwether Lewis, August 22nd, 1805 Bitterroot is a widespread plant throughout the arid western United States.  Its range includes […]

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Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans)

is furry Quaker jacket      Is trimmed with stripe of black;    A furry plume to match it      Is curling o’er his back;    New curved with every motion,      His plume curls o’er his back.                  – from The Flying Squirrel, Mary E. Burt The southern, or sometimes referred to as eastern flying squirrel, is found in extreme south eastern Ontario and southern Quebec,

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Black Iguana (Ctenosaura similis)

Everything has its shadowy side.  — Tennessee Williams, The Night of the Iguana lso known as the black spiny-tailed iguana or just spiny tailed iguana, this is a large terrestrial species of iguana that is found in Mexico and Central America.  Notably, it has been introduced to Florida, which has more than its share of exotic

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Stiff Sagebrush (Artemisia rigida)

………in [this] infernal soil nothing but that fag-end of vegetable creation, “sage-brush,” ventures to grow…When crushed, sage-brush emits an odor which isn’t exactly magnolia and equally isn’t exactly polecat–but it is a sort of compromise between the two.–letter to Jane Clemens from Samuel Clemens, 1861 Stiff sagebrush, also known as scabland sagebrush is a small

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