After the stop at the Monastery, we went to Native Seeds/SEARCH. It was a small but interesting facility with the chief function of storing seed. One plant that caught my eye was Gossypium thurberi, wild desert cotton.
The small flowers were delicate and lovely with their fuchsia pink spots. I did some investigation and I found that this species only makes a few fibers in its seed capsules, so it will never be grown for textile purposes. Its leaves are said to turn bright red in late autumn. It seems like a lovely ornamental that will deal with a lot of drought.
We also saw Zea mexicana, teosinte. As you may know, this is the forebear of modern corn. The seeds look more like pebbles than corn kernels, but this plant certainly has shaped the world more than most.
The plant is like a miniature corn plant that hints at its potential. In the axils of the leaves are a few silks, with now sign of the ears of corn seen on its progeny. I like the use of tiles for plant labels. It's very appropriate to the surroundings. Yes, I realize that I moved mexicana from subspecies to species level. I'm only going with the name that USDA now uses for the plant.
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