The humble blackbrush
Published by Dan Mabbutt April 20th, 2008 in Southern Utah Wildlife and Nature. Tags: No Tags.The trick is surviving the hard times.
A lot of Color Country is covered with blackbrush - Coleogyne ramosissima Torr. “Torr” means that it got it’s official botanical name from John Torrey, a New York botanist. It seems that John Fremont, who passed through these parts in 1844, collected a few specimens and sent them along to Torrey. I can mentally associate Captain John C. Fremont with blackbrush. He was a rugged individualist and a survivor too. The official portrait of Torrey looks like Ichabod Crane. (In case you’re wondering, or even if you’re not, Torrey, Utah - where blackbrush can be found in abundance - was named after a Wyoming politician.) I think I’ll continue to just call it “blackbrush”.
The name comes from the way it looks after it rains. The woody stems turn black when they’re wet - which isn’t often.
As the picture shows, blackbrush covers vast areas where not much else grows. The secret of the success of blackbrush is that it survives the hard times.
It doesn’t change much from summer to winter, but if things get really dry, it will drop it’s tiny fuzzy leaves to conserve what little life is left in the bush, go dormant and survive. It never grows very tall, just tall enough. And it never grows too close to a neighbor. Scientific studies show that if seedlings sprout too close to each other, they die. So when you look out over a blackbrush covered plain, the plants are all pretty evenly spaced.
It doesn’t waste energy on flowers in most years either. There has to be rain at just the right time to produce the small, but pretty yellow flowers. One study noted, “Establishment from seed by this species is rare, requiring two good moisture years in succession in order to reproduce.”
It doesn’t depend on bees or anything like that for pollenization. Just the wind, and there’s usually plenty of that on a few spring days in Color Country.
The seeds don’t sprout unless conditions are right. The seeds will only sprout after a “moist chilling”. That means that they sprout right after a winter snow or rain. Crafty plant!
The blackbrush has been blooming pretty nice this year in Color Country, however. But only in isolated patches. When you find one, it sure is pretty.
Your love of where you live is so very evident. And you live in a place with so very much to love. You are a good stewart of your little piece of the planet. I also love the place you’re living in; I love the desert also. Thank you for sharing the desert with those of us who can’t be there. And thank you for caring for and loving the land and the air and the water and the plants and the “critters.”
I’ve never heard it called blackbrush or Torr before, but I know the plant. What I like best about it is the way it makes the desert smell SO GOOD after a rainstorm. There’s nothing like it.
Yeah, doesn’t it!
Rain is such an event down here. Not only does the air smell so wonderful, but things look great too. The Mormon Tea looks greener. The Blackbrush has this dramatic contrast. I just stand outside and breath in great huge gulps of air after it rains.
And watching a storm blow in during the summer can be a really exciting experience. You can hear it coming over the West Temple and down the side of the canyon.
“Consider the lilies of the field . ……” I’m also thinking black bush is only part of a much larger picture . . Max
“only part of a much larger picture”
Yep! That’s why there’s always something to write about.