AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Desert Plants, Volume 16, Number 2 (December 2000)

by John F. Wiens




Institution: University of Arizona
Department: Department of Botany, Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
Year: 2015
Record ID: 2058294
Full text PDF: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/554340


Abstract

Ragged Top is a small desert peak in north-central Pima County, in the Santa Cruz River watershed in the northeastern Sonoran Desert. There are 398 plant taxa in 66 families, on Ragged Top and in the immediate watershed. Ragged Top's rugged topography and its geographic position in relationship to other biotic communities in the region have made it a habitat for a remarkable palette of plants. One species, Pisonia capitata (Nyctaginaceae), was an addition to the flora of the United States, and another, Bouteloua diversispicula (Poaceae), was a confirmation of a single, questionable United States collection from 1867. This is a study of the vascular plants and the vegetational composition on the mountain and surrounding desert.