Occotillos

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mlv
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Occotillos

Post by mlv »

I noticed the thread about saguaro's in California and I thought about occotillos.

Ocotillos I assume are associated with the Sonoran desert (maybe Chihauhaun desert also), but I have noticed occotillo's as far north as Kingman, AZ (actually just north of Kingman), and I guess there are a few on the Nevada side of the Colorado River at the extreme southern tip of Nevada. There is also a stand in Joshua Tree National Park.

The area around Joshua Tree NP & Palm Springs is often refered to as the "Colorado Desert" (I think) a sort of transitional desert that lies between the Mohave and Sonoran.

Anyway, The farthest north I have witnessed Saguaro's are around Wikiup, on the highway between LV/Kingman & Phoenix.........yet occotillos are spread farther north up to past Kingman.

I wonder if this area from Kingman over to Bullhead City/ Laughlin / Needles is a desert transition zone also.

Any thoughts!?!?!
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Apache Devil
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Re: Occotillos

Post by Apache Devil »

I think elevation may have something to do with it. Aren't ocotillos a plant of the lower desert? I have seen them just south of Needles and north of Parker.
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reptilist
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Re: Occotillos

Post by reptilist »

We have them all over the Chihuahuan desert too, easily surpassing the 4500' elevation and maybe as much as 5000'.
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blackturtle.us
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Re: Occotillos

Post by blackturtle.us »

I recall seeing them all the time on trips to the Anza Borrego area when I lived down in San Diego before moving up here to the Death Valley area. However, I have never seen Ocotillos up here in the northern Mojave. The elevation here in the Searles Valley is mostly under 2000 feet, but there are no ocotillos (except for a few I've noticed in yards around town). Calflora.org shows that some are found in San Bernardino county, but only in the southern Mojave and Colorado Desert areas. The areas around the Turtle Mtns and Needles are specifically listed.

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yuccahead
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Re: Occotillos

Post by yuccahead »

I was walking in Patton's Iron Mtn. Camp, inside the fenced area, years ago and came across 3 large ocotillos, not 30-40 feet apart from each other. They were the only ocotillos for miles, anywhere near there, strange.
The ocotillo garden in JTNP is in the lower Pinto Basin area, don't remember ever seeing them up at the higher altitudes.
Lots of them along I-10 on the Indio grade and between Needles and Kingman.
I remember seeing them in southern New Mexico, especially in Oliver Lee State Park.
Jerry Feldner
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Re: Occotillos

Post by Jerry Feldner »

Take a look at this website;

http://books.google.com/books?id=7KFT2h ... on&f=false

This book states that Ocotillos (one "c" BTW) live from sea level to 5,000 ft elevation. I have seen them at that elevation but only in Chihuahua, México and Baja Californa.
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Apache Devil
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Re: Occotillos

Post by Apache Devil »

I sometimes wish that eastern Oregon had some interesting plants like these, but mainly it is just a sea of silvery green big sagebrush with occasional junipers and patches of aspen where water is near the surface.
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Re: Occotillos

Post by mlv »

Eastern Oregon is like much of northern Nevada and southern Idaho.......like the Great Basin Desert, the high elevation cold desert, dominated by sagebrush and juniper trees.
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Re: Occotillos

Post by HSSC »

mlv wrote:Eastern Oregon is like much of northern Nevada and southern Idaho.......like the Great Basin Desert, the high elevation cold desert, dominated by sagebrush and juniper trees.
And Pinenut trees and Rabbit Bush and.........
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