Here on this page you will find some tid-bits on the natural
history that surrounds Starland of the Mojave Desert.
More will be added later to this page on the recent history of Starland itself,
Geology, the Native Peoples, and Natural History.
Add something to this page, email us.
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Flamingo Heights elevation 3,463 feet The Original People
of the Mojave dessert
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INDEX & LINKS:
Weather & Climate |
We start with the curious Coyote Melon Gourd or Coyote Gourd. I believe, the ones at Starland are this particular species, the Cucurbita palmata. Lots of pictures of the Coyote Gourd (Cucurbita palmata): Click Here |
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This picture and the text just below it was taken from this site:
Southern
California Wildflowers and Other Plants |
The Remarkable Coyote MelonAn interesting native perennial gourd that grows wild along roadsides and open fields throughout southern California is the coyote melon (Cucurbita foetidissima). It is also called buffalo gourd or calabazilla. The coarse, gray-green foliage gives off a fetid "underarm" odor, hence the specific epithet of "foetidissima" (very fetid). Two related species (C. palmata and C. digitata) grow on the desert side of the mountains, and extend into Arizona and Mexico. The striped, green gourds are fibrous and unpalatable inside, but ground seeds were eaten by native Indians, and the dried gourds were used as rattles in dances. During fall when the melons are ripe and plentiful, the flat, watermelon-like seeds are often found in coyote scat. The coyote melon is well-adapted to dry, sandy soils with an immense, taproot that may extend several feet into the ground. The taproot often sends out many lateral, sprouting branches, and this vine can become an invasive weed in vegetable gardens. Scientists are experimenting with hybrid buffalo gourds as a food crop in the vast Middle East deserts. The seeds are a vital source of protein-rich oil in parched desert lands. The vines can be propagated readily and they resprout each year, thus eliminating the need for buying fresh hybrid seed each year. A similar sprawling, perennial melon along roadsides of Arizona and New Mexico is loco melon (Apodanthera undulata). Like coyote melon it grows from an immense taproot, but unlike coyote melon, its curious gourds have prominent longitudinal ribs. Another interesting "melon de coyote" (Ibervillea sonorae var. peninsularis) is endemic to the Cape Region of Baja California and several of the Gulf Islands. It is a climbing perennial with a large, tuberous taproot and bright red melons which are smaller than Cucurbita. Another species (I. insularis is endemic to the mid-peninsular Pacific coast and some of the adjacent Pacific islands. The Baja California peninsula also has several fascinating gourd species with minute, prickly fruits, including Brandegea bigelovii, Cyclanthera tamnoides, Echinopepon minimus, Sicyos peninsularis and Vaseyanthus brandegei.
Female flower of coyote melon (Cucurbita foetidissima) showing 3-lobed stigma. A pollen-laden honey bee is deep in this blossom sipping nectar. Taken from this great site... Welcome to the Home Page of Botanical Word Meanings and Name Derivations and Southern California Wildflowers by Michael L. Charters http://www.calflora.net
"My Painted Coyote Gourds"
These cone-like structures are the flower
stalks of a seldom-seen wildflower called "ground cone" (Boschniakia
strobilacea). The small flowers protruding from the purplish scales are
proof that these are not pine cones.
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| "Whatever grew there was theirs, as he said, and they
were the Aha Macav, the Mojaves, the people who live along the water." I guess this is why they were called the Mojave Indians, from the Phrase "Aha Macav"  |
Some history taken from this site:
The National Park Service
Mojave National Preserve
Jedediah Smith's Journals Across the Mojave
"They call themselves A-muc-ha-ba's (Mojave Indians) and appeared quite
friendly bringing me corn beans dried pumpkins which I paid them for in
Beads Rings vermillion."
Weather & Climate
Click here for our Current weather
Starland is a four-season retreat and campground. The elevation at Starlight Ridge is 3500ft above sea level.
Here are some general comments about Starland's climate. Note that the weather can change suddenly in the Mojave Desert. Yes, it once snowed in mid-April, one year, and was dry and hot through December, during another year. We suggest calling Starland, for the current weather and climate conditions.
Winter:
Our winters typically begins right after Thanksgiving (late November), and
last thru February. Expect windy, chilly, but sunny and mostly dry weather
during Winter. Snow falls rarely, but is delightful to see. We recommend
bringing warm clothing for outdoor hiking and adventure.
Spring:
The earth at Starland warms up in March, and gradually gets warmer into
mid-May. Expect cool nights and warm days. Occasional rain, but the wind
diminishes at this time. We recommend jackets, sweats and casual shoes for
outdoors.
Summer:
The heat of the Mojave Desert is felt sometimes gradually, sometimes
suddenly. We open the windows, and turn on the coolers from mid-May
through late September. Wear shorts or less during this time, both day and
night. Some guests enjoy sleeping naked outdoors! Expect some cloud cover
and "monsoonal rainfall" in July and August.
Fall:
October and November are the most delightful months of the year. The air is
typically warm in the days and nights, and it is calm and clear most of the
time. Jackets and light clothing recommended for outdoors.
Wildflowers on Our Hillside:
Typically, if the winter brings rainfall and cloudy weather for several
days, the flowers on our hillsides benefit greatly. Spring wildflowers
appear mid-March through early May. Joshua Trees and other members of the
Yucca family, bloom unpredictably. The native cactus blooms throughout
summer. Our rosemary bush blooms year-round, as long as there is warm
sunlight shining on it!
The cucurbits, as they are called, number 750 species worldwide; most species are vines. The flowers vary from barely noticeable to large and conspicuous. The fruits range from small and dry to large and tasty; the latter include cucumbers, squash, and melons. Gourds are hard-shelled squash that are used after they dry.
Two genera of bees (Peponapis and Xenoglossa) are tightly associated with this plant family. Squash or gourd bees are more effective pollinators of cucurbits than most other bees. They seem to be holding their own under competition from introduced honeybees (which collect the pollen but are inefficient pollinators of these flowers), probably because squash bees are active earlier in the morning.
Cucurbita digitata
English names: coyote gourd, finger-leafed gourd
Spanish names: calabacilla (little squash), chichicayote, meloncillo (little
melon), melón de coyote (coyote melon), calabaza amarga (bitter squash)
The large, underground tuberous root produces several to many herbaceous stems as long as several yards (meters) in the summer. The stems typically lie flat on the open ground; occasionally they climb into surrounding vegetation with their tendrils. The palmately-divided leaves with very narrow lobes are widely spaced on the stems. (Cucurbita palmata is similar but has broader lobes; the 2 species intergrade in the western Sonoran Desert.) Vase-shaped, bright yellow flowers about 2 inches (5.1 cm) across open before dawn, and wilt by late morning. After pollination, female flowers develop 3-inch (7.5 cm) spheroid gourds, green with yellowish stripes when young, and maturing to straw-colored.
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This species occurs from the lowest and driest desert elevations into desert grasslands, from southeastern California to southern New Mexico and into northwestern Sonora.
The fruit pulp contains toxic and extremely bitter chemicals that humans use to make soap; clothing laundered in it reportedly repels body lice. Humans eat the nutritious seeds which contain up to 35% protein and 50% fat. Coyotes, porcupines, and some other animals can eat the seeds even when tainted by the pulp. Javelina dig up and eat the bitter tuberous roots, which they can sniff out even when there is no vine above ground. People have used the gourds as containers since prehistoric times.
The modifier “coyote” is in the name of a number of Southwestern plants. Most often it identifies wild relatives of domesticated plants. In the mythology of the O’odham and other native cultures, Coyote (a spirit who often appears in the form of the animal of the same name) is, among his other attributes, a trickster and all-around rascal who makes a great deal of mischief. One of the things he does is ruin useful objects by defecating on them. That’s how the world got coyote gourds, coyote tobacco, and coyote passion flower, among others. The actual animal coyote marks its territory by defecating on conspicuous landmarks.
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Cucurbita foetidissima (buffalo gourd) is a related species from higher elevations. It has a similar growth habit, but the leaves are large gray-furry triangles and have a rank odor when bruised. The starches from the very large root are edible after processing, and it is being developed as a potential feed crop. The seeds are a potential commercial source of oil.
Coyote gourd has a cool-season counterpart in Marah gilensis. It sprouts in early spring after winter rains and dies back to the huge root by the onset of the dry foresummer. During its brief season it produces a few very large seeds in each of its small, dry prickly fruits. Little else is known about the ecology of this plant.
Tumamoc globe-berry (Tumamoca macdougalii) provided an opportunity for the U.S. Endangered Species Act to work as it was intended. This diminutive plant, with a fist-sized underground tuber and wispy vines that grow and bear small red fruits during the summer rainy season, was thought to be very rare. When a population was discovered in the path of the Central Arizona Project canal during the environmental impact study, the species was quickly listed as Endangered in 1986. The Endangered Species Act funded surveys and ecological studies on the plant over the next several years. The studies revealed the Tumamoc globe-berry to be both common and widespread; it was rarely encountered simply because it’s difficult to see among the shrubs it climbs in, and few people had previously looked for it. The species was delisted in 1993.
Fauna of the Desert Mojave:
*Wind
Scorpion A curios harmless little eight legged creature of the arachnid
family without a venomous bite, but a piercing bite
non-the-less, if provoked... it rarely bites, if ever.
A female wind scorpion (Galeodes
sp.), endowed with startling speed,
the wind scorpion, also known as the sun spider or camel spider, is equipped
with jaws larger in proportion to its body size than almost any other animal
on Earth. Though rarely longer than two inches (five centimeters), wind
scorpions are capable of easily snapping a grasshopper in half. Some 1,100
species of wind scorpions, known to science as solifugids, inhabit the
desert regions of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
More at the National Geographic site: Click Here
Two
Mohave braves dressed in loincloths; full- length, standing, western
Arizona. Photographed by Timothy O'Sullivan, 1871. American Indian Select
List number 136.
Another
great site: 
Commonly
called "coyote ear" because the shape of the leaves resemble the pointed
ears of coyote, this plant produces gourds during some seasons which were
used for a variety of purposes. These gourds are called "coyote melons".
