Postcard from Tucson

The University of Arizona sits on over 400 acres in central Tucson. It is a beautiful campus, with incredible architecture and educational facilities like few others here in the US. I often go there for walks and to do some reading and writing, and lately, some photography.

With so much space and so many places to wander, I constantly find new things and new nooks and crannies to explore. This last weekend was no exception. With camera in hand, looking for interesting architectural features, I came across this beautiful flower that I had never seen before. It is called a “Mexican Bird.” And it is not the only unique plant of its kind on campus.

Thanks to the work of Professor Emeritus Warren Jones and others, the UA Campus is the home of hundreds of species of trees and shrubs, from arid climates on all continents.  The University of Arizona Campus Arboretum was established for the purposes of preservation, education, and enhancing this extensive collection…and they do an excellent job.

According to their Website…”The University of Arizona holds a truly unique collection of plants from arid and semi-arid climates around the world. Many campus trees are the largest specimens in Arizona and have been designated as Great Trees of Arizona. There are 5 trees on the National Register of Big Trees.”

The reason I was able to identify this flower so quickly was that there are small plaques in front of plants, trees, and cactus all over campus.

Now that spring is in full swing, many of the plants and trees on campus are showing their blooms, although the cactus seem to be a little slow this year. The plant life that inhabits the Sonoran Desert is like no other in the world. What is enjoyable is discovering new flowers like this one, even though I have been here now for 2.5 years.