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We're in the same place as Part 3, on the eastern side of Old Ore Road, at about 1.5 road mi (2.4 km) north of its intersection with the paved park road to Rio Grande Village (Park Road 12). Looking eastward.
This is a close-up of the same community of plants shown in the previous image. And the emphasis here is really on the Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica) plants, with their erect, pale-gray stems.
Those stems are coated with an antidesiccant wax—hence their ghostly color—that in previous decades was harvested for various human uses.
Keep in mind that while many plant genera are pretty polymorphic, Euphorbia takes things to extremes. It also contains the arborescent and fancy-flowering Poinsettia (E. pulcherrima), tiny flat-growing herbs, the spiny Crown of Thorns (E. milii), and various succulents, tall or tubby, that are often mistaken for cacti.
Also present in the scene shown above is a supporting cast of yellowish-green Lechuguillas (Agave lechuguilla) and, in the background, what are probably Faxon Yuccas (Yucca faxoniana) and some species of Opuntia (Prickly Pear).
To see the other photos and descriptions in this set, visit my my Integrative Natural History of Old Ore Road album.
(Updated on November 17, 2024)
On the eastern side of Old Ore Road, at about 1.5 road mi (2.4 km) north of its intersection with the paved park road to Rio Grande Village (Park Road 12). Facing just about due eastward.
The base of Cuesta Carlota, and small alluvial fans splaying out from it, are visible at top. For a rundown on the tectonic episodes that created this landform and the Sierra del Carmen in general, see Part 1 of this series.
From my standpoint, some Big Bend botany is long overdue. And here it is: the two xerophytic species that are, to me at least, the most iconic plants of both the greater Chihuahuan Desert regime and this park in particular.
In the foreground, and in other clumps farther back, is that bane of hikers, and especially of those in shorts, the yellowish-green to gray, bayonet-leaved succulent, Lechuguilla, Agave lechuguilla. When I was younger, this and its fellow agaves were placed in the polyphyletic, catch-all Lily Family (Liliaceae). However, when that big assemblage was deconstructed some years ago on the basis of advanced genetic and cladistic analysis, this genus came to rest instead in the Asparagus Family (Asparagaceae).
As monocots, agaves have floral structures in multiples of threes and seeds that contain a single cotyledon or rudimentary leaf. The other featured plant here, however, is a eudicot. So it's a member of a separate evolutionary lineage that has its floral parts, usually, in fours or fives, and two cotyledons in each seed.
So what is that other plant—the ghostly gray item that looks like bunches of giant pipe cleaners? It's Candelilla, which has the rather eye-catching taxonomic name of Euphorbia antisyphilitica. And yes, the specific epithet does indeed indicate how it was employed as a traditional herbal remedy. It is a member of the morphologically diverse Spurge Family (Euphorbiaceae).
Its greater economic use, however, has been as a source of natural wax employed in various applications. When you examine Candelilla up close, you'll see why it's been harvested for that; its main moisture-saving adaptation, outside of its lack of large leaves, is the waxy sealant that coats the tubular stems.
To see the other photos and descriptions in this set, visit my my Integrative Natural History of Old Ore Road album.
This small plant, (the flowers are about 3 mm in diameter) was a major player in the economy of the late 19th-early-20th century here in West Texas. The tiny spots you see on the stem were the money-makers. They are made of wax, and a wax with many highly desirable characteristics. The wax is still highly prized and is the object of a lucrative smuggling trade across the Texas/Mexico border.
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Unidentified Striped Sweat Bee (Agapostemon). I dont't know if this one and 3564 are male -female of the same species or two different species. If the same species, this one would be the male with a striped abdomen. Paul's house, Ajo, Arizona, USA. 20 October 2023
www.inaturalist.org/taxa/50086-Agapostemon
Unidentified Striped Sweat Bee (Agapostemon). I don't know if this one and 3565 are male -female of the same species or two different species. Paul's house, Ajo, Arizona, USA. 20 October 2023
www.inaturalist.org/taxa/50086-Agapostemon
Paul's House on Cholla Ave., Ajo, Arizona, USA. 22 October 2023 IDed on inaturalist Range
Western. Discover Life Map.
Food
Visits flowers from several families. The Hosts section on its Discover Life species page lists known floral associations based on specimen records and images. bugguide.net/node/view/78939
Dragonflies are a preferred prey as demostrated by this female Brewer's Blackbird. In case you wonder, there is a kildeer behind. Highway Tank, Ajo, Arizona, USA. 22 October 2023
Paul's House on Cholla Ave., Ajo, Arizona, USA. 22 October 2023 IDed on inaturalist Range
Western. Discover Life Map.
Food
Visits flowers from several families. The Hosts section on its Discover Life species page lists known floral associations based on specimen records and images. bugguide.net/node/view/78939
Urbane Digger Bee (Anthophora urbana). Paul's House on Cholla Ave., Ajo, Arizona, USA. 22 October 2023 IDed on inaturalist Range
Western. Discover Life Map.
Food
Visits flowers from several families. The Hosts section on its Discover Life species page lists known floral associations based on specimen records and images. bugguide.net/node/view/78939
2024-25: Judge commended out of 3312 entries in Photocrowd 'Insect Pollinators on Flowers (in colour) ' in September 2024. Scored 24/30 in CAPA nature competition in October 2024.
Monarch on Desert Milkweed flower. Zoo, Reid Park, Tucson, Arizona, USA. 17 October 2023.
Native to the Sonoran Desert the Slipper Plant is a succulent. It is also nicknamed the little bird flower because when it blooms the green centers emerge and look like tiny green birds.
Yawartaico-candelilla flowers growing on the slopes of Cotopaxi Volcano, Ecuador
Candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica), Big Bend National Park. Click here for more images and info.
Climbing Mesa de Anguila. The light green plants with thin straight stalks are candelilla. A commercial wax has been produced by boiling the leaves and stems with dilute sulphuric acid. One species of the plant, named Euphorbia antisphilitica has been used historically in Mexico to treat syphilis.
