| Nature - Trees! |
UTAH JUNIPER (juniperus osteosperma) There are three main kinds here: Utah, Alligator and One-Seed, all 10-15ft tall. 
Alligator's the most obvious by its alligator-like bark (and large jaws!). And One-Seed's berry is a bit different from the Utah. Utah is by far the most common here. All have a scaly-leaf with a pea-size fruit.
ARIZONA SYCAMORE (platunus wrightii) In this area, grows right next to Oak Creek. Large up to 80ft (that's 8 stories!). Smooth large white trunk. Heavily lobed leaves that turn a golden yellow in the fall.
Swinging 'buttonballs' remain on trees until spring as seed. The sycamore of the Bible not related: a fig-type.
PINON PINE (pinus edulus) By and large the short trees are juniper; the sort-of tall ones are pinon (up to 35ft)! Needles yellow-green, two-bundled. Cone is squat and thick.
Pinon nuts collected by animals and native-americans. Resin also used for sealant and glue in turquoise jewelry. Very slow growing tree but quite drought resistent.
FREMONT COTTONWOOD (populus fremontii) Slurps up water big-time, thus always near creeks. Comes in separate male/female varieties. The female has the seeds covered in 'cotton'. Reaches up to 90ft tall.
Early pioneers knew water was near when sighting the large cottonwoods in the distance.
ARIZONA CYPRESS (cupressus arizonica) Grows just above washes and usually quite large (30-40ft). Scale-like leaves similar to juniper but dark 1" globular cones. 
Bark reddish brown; fibrous/scaly when older. Local developers like them due to comparable fast-growth. But many dead from bark-beetles.
CATCLAW ACACIA (acacia gregii) Single curved trunks with very small grey-green leaves. 
Paired thorns allow identifying the acasia mimosa which has none. Often called 'frito' due to fruit long and twisted like the chip. Honeybees love the flower (pale yellow caterpillar shaped) nectar. Can live to over 100 yrs. Native-americans used to collect seeds; ground into meal and eaten as mush or cakes.
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WHAT IS SO 'NUTTY' ABOUT PINONS IN THE THE GRAND CANYON? There's two kinds of pinon trees around here. Most in northeast Arizona have 2 needles bundled together. But the ones further west have only one needle. In the Grand Canyon, the single-needlers have snuck in, right BELOW the noses of the 2-needlers! That's just not right. Actually, for you geologists, the 'line' between the one-needle pinons (pinus monophilla) and two-needle pinons (pinus edulus) pretty closely follows the edge of the Colorado Plateau, with the 1-needle pinons showing up in the basin and range. Explain that! WHEN YOU'RE HIKING, SHOULD YOU EAT PINONS FROM THE ONE-NEEDLE PINON, OR THE TWO-NEEDLE PINON? You ARE so smart. Yes, it's true, the nutritional content is considerably different for the pinons. So if you need some quick energy, go for the one-needle pinon, which is highest in carbohydrates (how convenient in the Grand Canyon!). But if you're starving, and really need some protein and fat, the two-needle really can't be beat. It is LOADED with fat. In fact, it has so much fat, a pound of nuts is equal to a pound of butter ... and no nutritional warning either! WHO IN THE WORLD LOVES PINON NUTS THE MOST? That would be me! Surprisingly for Arizonians, the Chinese and South Koreans consume the most pinons. Next time you go to Sam's, see where their bags of 'pine nuts' come from. You guessed correctly: China! WHY ARE TEXAS PINONS SO 'SENSITIVE'? That's because they're all thin-skined! Yep ... Texas pinons just can't take much rubbing! In fact, the thickness of the pinon nut shell is how historians can tell Cabeza de Vaca wandererd across far-north Mexico .... further-south Mexican pinons are thick-shelled and need pliers or rocks to break them. Cabeza was using his teeth, and so he must of been snacking on our kind! WHY ARE OUR PINON TREES SO IN A HURRY TO GROW UP? Now there's a story. The pinons moved north from Mexico (see the rat question below). In Mexico, most of the pine trees get their water from the July monsoons, so that's when they begin to grow each year. But as our 'edulus' pinons moved northward, the weather got toasty dry. So that's why OUR pinons tend to begin growth earlier each year in May. Our smart little trees! HOW CAN WOOD RATS TELL HOW OLD A PINON TREE IS? Well, they can't. But Wood Rats collect anything and everything within a football field of the nests and then keep it! So, archeologists can quite easily head straight for the Wood Rat neighborhood in order to see 'what's been going on' for several thousand years! That includes checking to see which pinon trees were in the neighborhood. WHY IS IT DANGEROUS TO STAND NEAR A PINON TREE WITH MISTLETOE IN THE AUTUMN? That's easy. Pinon mistletoe seeds EXPLODE at up to 60 miles an hour, dumping a gooey sticky seed up to 50 feet away. Bet you didn't want to know that! WHO DESIGNED THE PINON TREE? Well, if you like the Bible, that would be God. But the pinon jay bird must have helped out. Yep. The pinon tree and the pinon jay worked it all out together. You see, each autumn, the pinon jays head for the pinon trees to find the pinon nuts. First, they check out the nut color; needs to be a nice chocolate-brown. Then they 'click' them in their beaks, to make sure they're the best. Then they go bury them! Why's that? Well, pinon jay moms and their babies need something to eat in the early spring, and just down below are all those pinon nuts. Yummy! But even better, the pinon nuts can't grow into pinon trees without being buried. Thank you pinon jay!! WHY DID HOPI AND NAVAJO COOKS LAUGH WHEN TEFLON WAS FIRST INVENTED? That's because they already had 'teflon' for hundreds of years! For example, I don't know if you have trouble making your piki bread, but it's probably because you didn't first coat your sandstone griddle with pinon sap. It makes a nice slick surface needed to quickly slap that batter on with your hand. WHY DO SMART DINNER GUESTS BRING PINON WOOD TO THE PARTY? Well, for your party fireplace, I'm not sure we ought to explain this. Way too often, dinner guests bring juniper, which burns slowly and boringly. Real party-hounds know to bring the pinon, which burns hot AND bright, making a truly SPARKLING party! WANT TO COOK 'PINON' TOMORROW EVENING? Are you in luck or what?! The book Pinon Pine - Natural and Cultural History by Ronald and Harriette Lanner (1981) is just what you're looking for. It has a whole series of 'nutty' recipes for almost any need you might have (and where most of the above information came from too!). |
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