The Mojave yucca, scientifically known as Yucca schidigera, is a tree shrub located in several rocky and dry locations, such as Arizona, California, the Mojave Desert, Nevada, and parts of Mexico. The Mojave yucca is a member of the fleshy-fruited, Sarcocarpa, section of the Agavaceae family. This plant species, also known as the Spanish dagger, has an intricate life cycle filled with numerous stages, from beginning as a seed that becomes germinated, to being pollinated by the yucca moth enabling reproduction, and having the ability to regenerate through sending out yucca rhizomes or sprouts. Overall, this plant species is immensely unique due to its mutualistic relationship with the yucca moths, current and past uses, phylogeny, and extraordinary longevity.
The Mojave yucca’s life cycle consists of various stages that allow it to transform from a seed or root into a magnificent tree with dagger-like leaves. This plant species begins as a seed, however seed production in a mature Mojave yucca is dependent upon the site conditions and the availability of its pollinator (USDA Forest Service, n.d.). In conjunction to seed production is pollination, where the female yucca moth, scientifically known as Tegeticula yuccasella, fertilizes the seeds of the plant (Armstrong, 2000). Once the seeds have been formed, germination then occurs, where they develop into seedlings, and begin to sprout under favorable conditions. However, most plants observed in their natural habitats have low germination rates, thus the seeds germinate “when moisture and temperature conditions are adequate” (USDA Forest Service, n.d.). The seedling grows roughly a quarter inch or one centimeter per year, during warm, but moist times of the year (USDA Forest S...
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The Choctaws thrived in the fertile sandy, red-clay soil, rolling hills, and dense forests, located in the Central Hills of the east-central region of Mississippi. The estimated population after early European contact was between 15,000 and 20,000 and was the second largest group of Native Americans in the Southeast (Blitz 1988:127).
McKenna, Verna J. "YTURRIA, FRANCISO." 08 March 2011. Handbook of Texas Online. Web. 5 May 2014.
Another interesting characteristic of chaparral plants is their ability to respond to fire and other natural disasters. Due to the dry and arid nature of the area, the sage and grasslands can easily cause brush fires. When the area is burned, the shrubs and plant life d...
Petrified Forest National Park is located in the Painted Desert in northeastern Arizona taking up 93,532.57 acres of its land. Before the national park was established, it was founded as a National Monument on December 8, 1906 when President Theodore Roosevelt signed the proclamation. Years later, the Congress passed a bill and established it as a national park on December 9, 1962. Centuries before Petrified Forest National Park was preserved as a national park, the land was preoccupied by the Paleo people. At the onset of the end of the last Ice Age, hunter-gatherers, people who lived by hunting game and only gathering edible plants, roamed the Southwest from 13,500 to 8000 B.C. Although these people enjoy meals consisting of meat and vegetables, they don’t raise livestock and grow crops. During these years of hunting and gathering, the region was cooler with a grassland environment, and people gathered wild plants for food and hunted bison and other large herd of animals. The types of bison these people hunted are now extinct. Nomads used a device called an atlatl to throw their weapons, such as spears and darts, to hunt. By 4000 B.C., during the archaic culture, the climate had changed and became similar to the one of the present. This period of hunting, gathering, and farming had lasted from 8000 to 500 B.C. In contrast to the time of the Paleo people, the climate was warmer, people extended their access to different types of food, and people began to farm and grow their crops. Due to the extinction of animals of the past, people had to expand their source of food, and they had to include many different species of plants and animals into their meals. Two hundred twenty-five million years ago, trees fell and were washe...
The Cahuilla were a Native Southern Californian tribe that occupied the Riverside County, Higher Palomar Mountain Region and East Colorado Desert. The tribe was divided into two groups or moieties know as Wildcats or Coyotes. The Cahuilla lived in small clans that varied in population, and together all the separate clans made up a larger political group called a sib ”http://www.aguacaliente.org/content/History%20&%20Culture/.” The tribe was at first considered to be very simple and savage because they were never interacted with. As the Europeans and Spanish Missionaries considered the desert an inhospitable place that was better to avoid because of its lack of food resources. Little did those European and Spanish missionaries know that the land was ripe with food, only if you knew the land and the seasons. The Cahuilla were a very interesting tribe that cared and loved their land and in return the land would provide them with an abundance of food and resources. The Cahuilla had a very simple yet intricate life that involved a seasonal migration in order to gain access to different foods. They relied on different ways of acquiring food which involved both hunting and gathering.
Native American literature from the Southeastern United States is deeply rooted in the oral traditions of the various tribes that have historically called that region home. While the tribes most integrally associated with the Southeastern U.S. in the American popular mind--the FIVE CIVILIZED TRIBES (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole)--were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) from their ancestral territories in the American South, descendents of those tribes have created compelling literary works that have kept alive their tribal identities and histories by incorporating traditional themes and narrative elements. While reflecting profound awareness of the value of the Native American past, these literary works have also revealed knowing perspectives on the meaning of the modern world in the lives of contemporary Native Americans.
Lack, Andrew, Proctor, Michael, Yeo, Peter. The Natural History of Pollination. Portland, Oregon: Timber Press, 1996.
The Aztecs would use this plant for firewood, fencing fields, roof tiles, plates, dishes, paper, thread for all types of garments like shoes, and cloth. They would make nails out of the horns of this plant and would use its juice for wine, vinegar, honey, and sugar. Document 3, shows us the “Discourses of the Elders” this was written by an unknown author in the 16th century, an Aztec noblewoman described the education of “noble boys” and “noble girls”. The adults had begun to teach the boys how to battle, hunt, shoot a blowgun, hurl stones, how to use a shield and a hand sword, they also learned to throw hand spears, netting, and snaring. Other were taught “the different crafts” such as feather work, how feathers and plumes were arrayed, mosaic work, goldsmithery, jewel cutting, metal polishing, song composition, music, the science of the heavens, the study of the sun, the moon, and the stars. Others took to the fields or the flower gardens to teach them how to sow seeds, to plant trees and flowers, work the land. Girls were taught cleaning, cooking, sprinkling, making beverages, how to spindle, different kinds of embroidery, and dyeing of rabbit
The life cycle of a pecan tree has four main components: germination, rooting, sprouting and lifespan and reproduction. The many different elements of the pecan tree life cycle contribute to the growth and development of the pecan trees we see today. The life cycle of a pecan tree has many different elements. The cycle begins with the spreading and germination of seeds. Mature pecan trees produce and drop thousands of seeds to the ground during the fall season. Dispersal of these seeds may be through the water, wind or animals but wind will end up pollinating the seeds. Pecan tree seeds lay dormant throughout the winter and will begin the growth process in the spring. The seeds require an adequate amount of warmth and rain throughout the winter and early spring months. Once the germination process has finished, the seed...
The communities of various native plants have been significantly minimized as a result of ...
The earliest indigenous cultures of Arizona most likely lived in the region as early as 25,000 B.C. A later culture, the Hohokam who lived around 500–1450 A.D. were pit dwellers and built irrigation systems. The Pueblo culture built many of the cliff dwellings that still stand. Later, the Apache and the Navajo came to the area from Canada around 1300 A.D.
Some aspects of them went extinct, some changed and some stayed just as they were thousands of years ago. The cultures of native California tribes have experienced dramatic change under the direction of Spanish, Mexican and American rule. In each instance of rule there was an effort to assimilate the native Californians until the “old ways” were forgotten. As a result, languages – Sapir-Warf theory’s “distinct worlds” – were lost forever. What we newly see is native culture as a work in progress. How well native people of California could adapt to the conditions set by those in charge determined what from their cultures remained, changed and ultimately perished. I argue that nothing could have helped the native Californians preserve their cultures
In the article, “The Great American Desert”, Edward Abbey (1977) is trying to convince the general public that the desert is not a place for humans to explore. He talks a lot about the dangers of the desert and tries to convince the readers that the desert is not worth wasting your time and going and visiting. I disagree with Abbey. Anyone who has some knowledge about the desert and takes a class or is accompanied by an expert who knows a lot about the desert should be able to venture out in the many great American deserts.
Common names for Datura are numerous, some of the most common ones being raving nightshade, thorn apple, stinkweed, Devil's apple, Jimson weed, and angel's trumpet (Heiser 1969:140 and Avery 1959:19). Datura can be found throughout Asia, Europe, and the Americas as either native or adventive plants, and some have also been found in Africa and Australia (Conklin 1976:5). The epicenter of diversity of this plant is in the New World, specifically in Andean South America and in the southwestern United States/Mexico region (Lewis 1977:423-4). This data correlates with the generally agreed upon origin of Datura, although this topic was debated for some time. Researchers now believe the plant originated and evolved in Mexico and the American Southwest, followed by adaptive radiation into new desert environments (Conklin 1976:5).
Fossil records are unable to provide information of on the center of origins of the cacao tree. The cacao tree is in the Sterculiaceae family. The first growers of the cacao pods were probably the people who entered the lowland rain forests of the Amazon Basin between 10,000 and 200 B.P. The full name of the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao. Most of the information of the cacao have been derived from the cultivated crop. The life and reproduction life cycle of Theobroma cacao is identical to a tropical rain forest tree species. Cacao grows optimally in minimal moisture and shade. Cacao is dispersed in small, medium and large areas. This is probably the result of animal dropping the seeds after eating the tasty inside of the pods. Cacao pods are very diverse in morphology. These morphological difference suggests genetic differentiation.