Glory in the Morning

 

A desiccated floral beauty in the wash caught my eye the other morning, and I asked my hiking partner what it was. "Morning glory," she said, pointing out the dry vine twisted around branches of its host. 

Suddenly, then, I began seeing it everywhere, wrapped around branches much the way Therese and I had wrapped Christmas lights around the century plant "Christmas tree" for the weekend show at the gallery.

And now, at last, I could make sense of this phone photo Therese sent me last summer, when the morning glories were all in glorious bloom in the wash.

Rabbit Brush, December, Dos Cabezas

Rabbit Brush is a common and variable species in a genus found only in western North America. Some races are light green [the leaves], others have silvery hairs. Navajo Indians obtained a yellow dye from the flower heads.  

- The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region, by Richard Spellenberg

Chrysothamnus nauseous is a member of the sunflower family (Asteraceeae). The wash is full of rabbit brush, mostly gone to seed but with a few yellow flowers remaining, and in this so-far warm late December there are still butterflies in the wash, also. Amazing to Michigan eyes! The species name give me pause, however. Would a cow who ate rabbit brush (if one did) become nauseated? I still have a lot to learn.