| I have tiny green scale-like leaves and long narrow clusters of tiny pink blossoms. Birds and mammals use my branches for nesting and cover. Honeybees drink my nectar. I am known as a phreatophyte* or a well plant because I have deep roots that drink a lot of water from the sandy soil. Where I grow, the soil is salty. Not only can I tolerate salt, but my leaf scales concentrate salt from soil and deposit the salt on the leaf surface. Each fall my leaves turn golden orange then fall to the ground. As my leaves decompose, the soil becomes saltier. My ancestors came from southern Europe or the Mediterranean region. *phreatophyte is pronounced ‘free-at-oh-fight” |
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| I come from China, but now I make my home in the Southwest too. My huge compound leaves grow on stout twigs, and the oily glands on my leaves have a disagreeable odor. Clusters of my small yellow-green flowers bear fruits with dry creamy-pink wings. I am a survivor that can grow in very difficult conditions, such as near sea level or in very high mountains. I send up suckers from my roots, which form a thick grove of trees. My name comes from my height that reaches to the sky. |
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| I am a native of Eurasia and was brought to New Mexico to prevent soil erosion, though I am also used in landscaping. Sandy soil suits me fine. In the bosque, I sometimes grow in thick clumps of small trees, and I often have sharp thorns. The top of my lance-shaped leaf is dark blue-green and covered with tiny, soft, star-shaped hairs. So many soft hairs cover the bottom leaf surface that it is silvery white. These hairs help keep moisture in my leaves in the hot sun. Bees collect nectar from my tubular, silvery-yellow, lovely-smelling flowers. My fleshy olive-like fruit is eaten by mice, rock squirrels, grosbeaks, towhees and robins who in turn help spread my seed. Because my fruit stays on my branches long after leaves have fallen, it provides food for wildlife in the winter. |
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