#Saltbush

[southernimages]

Blanche Harbour

Dear Reader: There is a White-browed Babbler fossicking in the leaf litter which has accumulated under a small tree. Several more birds are perched in a nearby Lemon-flowered Gum watching me warily. Most of the Babblers I have encountered in this region seem to feed on the ground looking for insects, spiders, small lizards as well as fallen fruit and other vegetation. White-browed Babbler…

[whats-in-a-sentence]

The map opposite shows another precise template in south-west New South Wales. Along survey lines at top left, and presumably off them too, pine and grey-box clumps run west-east and north-south roughly a kilometre apart; at centre similarly spaced plains sit in trees; elsewhere thin tree lines circle saltbush and grass plains.

"Country: Future Fire, Future Farming" - Bill Gammage and Bruce Pascoe

[nonbinary-nature-lover-jeri]

Past Photo Favorites - Loggerhead Shrike on a saltbush the yellow background is from a field of Golden Crownbeard flowers. #ScenesFromMyWalk #LoggerheadShrike #Shrike #ButcherBird #Carnivore #Birds #Bird #BirdPhotography #Birding #BirdingPhotography #Saltbush #PhotoByJeriRae (at Agua Fria, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CoQwyVyrSnx/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[jillraggett]

Plant of the Day

Sunday 25 August 2024

The salt-tolerance of the native annual plant Atriplex patula (spear saltbush, common orache, spear orach, spreading orach) means it can grow grow in coastal areas and the verges of salt-treated roads, where the soil has increased salinity. This species is a wildflower in the U.K. but can be invasive in some other parts of the world.

Jill Raggett

[drhoz]

#2026 - Ectopatria aspera - Rough Saltbush Moth

Photo by Patrick Wake

Also known as Hadena aspera, Xylina provida, Xylina canescens Walker, & Xylina saxatilis.

An addition to the IDs from Cooleenup Island, since two of the previous moths turned out to be the same species, and this one didn't.

This saltbush moth is found from Western Australian to New Zealand, and migrates long distances (although probably not that long).

[piggypaisley]

It’s been a while

here’s a collection of drawings and wips from twitter

[allmyandroids]

Atriplex

[beechersnope]

🤠

[aussie-upbringing]

(via page-1-saltbush-bill-cartoon-fun-on-the-farm-invincible-1946-series.jpg (799×521))

[teratocrat]

When I first came to Ajax, when I stepped out of the red-and-yellow shuttle to plant my feet in the planet's sand, what I noticed before anything else was how pale the buildings are. On Mars, even in the warmest and most equatorial provinces, human habitation is universally black (or its best approximation), built from fulcrete and basalt and painted wood, to absorb the warmth of the sun against the bitter cold. On Ajax, far closer to its sun than Mars or even Earth, and with its 39-hour days, they must build for the opposite, towers of white or reflective silver with burrowed basements and sub-basements and sub-sub-basements underneath. The Ajactes live in cities the color of bone. The second thing I noticed, the thing that probably any other person would notice first, was the surfeit of salt in the air. I noticed this because it stung my eyes, like the threat of tears. As it happens, Ajax's oceans are significantly more saline than Earth's or Emieni's, and even its topsoil is a kind of hardpan composed of sand and dust cemented in a salt matrix. For the first several centuries of its habitiforming, it hosted an extremely carefully managed tight ecosystem of halophilic algae, bacteria and lichen painstakingly shipped from Earth and Mars, fed upon by a few species of brine shrimp. Gradually, the Hesperides introduced more species as the previous ones found their foothold: turtleweed and saltbush and cordgrasses, periwinkles and blue crabs and flamingos, suites of genetically-modified mangroves whose knees whistled in the morning and evening hours, bananas and maize and halotolerant rice. Most recently (within the last two hundred and fifty years) the Ajax Planetary Authority had grown increasingly bold and experimental: a breed of sheep brought out of cryogenic vaults on Old Earth to eat the masses of seaweed that washed ashore around the Southernmost Continent, whitetail deer both to manage the turtleweed scrubland that was covering the northern half of the Great Continent and to provide a stable meat source more robust than flamingos and periwinkles, a kind of gopher tortoise/diamondback terrapin hybrid that had proved encouragingly robust in the prairies of Mars, and even tigers to laze about in the shade of the forests that bordered saltmeadows full of bounding deer. All the Ajactes I spoke to seemed both personally invested in and extraordinarily proud of these tigers, showing me images and videos on their utility wedges, and several of the state television channels would cut away to live feeds of the animals sleeping or bathing their cubs or stalking prey.

[fiftysevenacademics]

While I'm obsessing on my plants, I thought I'd share these native plants that I grew from seed I collected on a hike.

The reason this is interesting is because I collected the seeds on the day Goncharov began. Before my wife and I left for our hike, I checked Tumblr quickly and saw the original post, thought Ok, that's weird. We had a lovely little hike, picnic, and drive. Got home late afternoon, and my dash was blowing up. I thought, what the hell is this about those sneakers? Or is there really some Scorcese movie I've never heard of (possible because I really can't stand his films). Figured it out real quickly and had a blast the next few days.

Anyhow, the seeds I collected that day grew really well! In the first picture you see a really healthy Atriplex lentiformis, or big saltbush, in the foreground. Behind it, the feathery one is Artemisia californica, California (or coastal) sagebrush, probably my #1 favorite native plant. In front of that are the white flowers of Eriogonum fasciculatum, California buckwheat.

So whenever I see how my efforts to restore a native ecosystem in my yard are progressing, I also remember the single funniest, most glorious thing I've ever encountered on the Internet.

[typhlonectes]

i saw your post about native north american plants for birds in the winter. i’m from southern california so scrubland/chaparral. my neighborhood isn’t very friendly towards small ground animals but a two minute walk takes you to an undeveloped canyon. i’m aware most birds migrate further south for the winter but i’d like to know if you have any recommendations for plants and small trees that would be beneficial for them. my neighborhood does have some trees in communal spaces and some of those trees do have seedpods but i’d always like to help. i’ve seen neighbors who have bird feeders but do not currently have the resources to maintain one of them. do you have any recommendations for native flora? thank you very much for your time

Question about bird friendly native plants for Southern California...

For reference here's the original post:

And here are some resources for helping out wildlife in your own space with California Native Plants:

Pollinator Plants for California: 17-045_02_XercesSoc_Pollinator-Plants_California_web-3page.pdf

A list from Better Homes & Gardens: 15 Top Native Plants of Southern California (bhg.com)

Resources from the California Native Plant Society: Getting Started - California Native Plant Society (cnps.org)

From an Orange County Register article:

"Bird-friendly plants include California coffeeberry, a shrub with dark, red berries this time of year; California wild grapes that yield small, edible clusters in the fall, and toyon, also known as Christmas berry or California holly, with bright, red berries that generally ripen by mid-December.

Tree of Life Nursery recommends other natives for songbirds including manzanita, fourwing saltbush, coyote brush, barberry, California lilac, buckwheat, brittlebush, chaparral honeysuckle, laurel sumac, hollyleaf cherry, oak trees, lemonade berry, currants, gooseberries, wild rose, wild blackberry, and elderberry..."

Good luck!

[hezzabeth]

Next story part of Saying Farewell to Armageddon

A forest had engulfed Baker Street. A romantic, sunlit forest with twisting trees covered in puffy, bright yellow blossoms bursting from upturned cobblestones. Dotted among them were smaller, dark trees heavy with bunches of magenta berries. Two of the feral children had already attacked the berries, their lips a deep purple.

Dityaa stopped helping Revati with the popcorn cart and started skipping towards the children. Revati sneezed loudly as the pollen hit her nose. She hated to admit it, but it was all rather pretty.

A few feet away, Brigadeiro was working outside the greenhouse along with the school students and Dusk. Mrs. Gupta was glaring at them with firm disapproval. “Does that fool have any idea how much water plants use?” She grumbled to Revati, who was pushing the cart towards everyone.

“I told you, Mrs. Gupta, these are all drought-resistant native Australian plants,” Brigadeiro replied as he stooped over an upturned cobblestone, spraying the mud below. There was a faint rustling sound, and a bush burst from the earth. The bush had peculiar finger-like mint-green leaves. Seconds later, it was covered in hot pink fleshy fruit.

“They look like your hair,” Revati remarked, faintly startled by the entire thing. “Here, try one,” Brigadeiro replied, picking a piece of fruit and handing it to Revati.

“I was only gone for less than an hour,” Revati pointed out.

“I know, if I had more time, I would have been able to turn that old fountain into a herb garden,” Brigadeiro said with a small shrug.

A fresh, salty-sweet flavor hit Revati’s tongue, and she swallowed loudly, staring at the fruit with astonishment. “It’s so unusual,” she said after a second of shocked silence.

“Enchylaena tomentosa, otherwise known as Ruby Saltbush; they used to grow wild all over the deserts of Australia,” Brigadeiro said as Revati devoured the rest of the berry.

“Australia? Is that one of the smaller Saturn moons?” Revati asked, and Brigadeiro chuckled.

“No, it’s an ancient old Earth country,” Brigadeiro said. As far as Revati knew, nobody had stepped foot on old Earth in almost a thousand years.

“Don’t laugh at me, you thought a dog was a shoe!” Revati snapped back, tossing the rest of the fruit onto the earth. The bush rustled, and a branch grabbed the bright pink berry, shoving it into the dirt.

“Is it supposed to do that?” Revati asked, faintly horrified.

“Oh yes, it’s just reabsorbing its nutrients! All plants are modified to be self-sustaining,” Brigadeiro said cheerfully, and he reached into his jumpsuit pocket once again. This time he pulled out a tiny, slim plastic box. He held it up to his eye, and it made a clicking sound.

“What’s that?” Revati asked suspiciously.

“Oh this is just my seed vault! I did my master's thesis project on native Australian plants,” he said as he showed Revati the inside of his vault. The inside of the box was filled with tiny balls of clear goo, each with a speck inside.

“Why are you doing this? These seeds would be worth a fortune on the black market,” Revati asked, and Brigadeiro shrugged.

Here's the corrected version of your text:

"The least I can do after you saved my life is to build a self-sustaining garden for your community," he said, plucking one of the gel balls out before closing the ball with a snap. "Besides, it’s fun! Gardening has always been my passion," he added as he walked to the old fountain.

Juniper and Aurora were busy filling the fountain with volcanic Martian dirt. "You agreed to help him on this project? I thought you hated him," Revati whispered to Aurora.

"Shhh! I don’t hate him! I just don’t want you getting into a mess! I’m willing to like anyone who makes us more food," Aurora hissed.

"Miss Juniper! Will you say our prayer before the planting?" Bridgadeiro asked, and Juniper rolled her eyes.

"Fine, O Goup, Divine Goddess of Fertility and Wellness. Bringer of cosmic balance and nurturer of all that grows. We seek Your bountiful grace and nurturing embrace. To foster life’s richness wherever it flows.

In Your lush gardens, where seeds turn to flowers, Grant us the strength to cultivate with care, To nurture each bud and blossom with love, And rejoice in the abundance we share.

May Your fertile essence inspire our lands, With a symphony of life, vibrant and bright, Guiding our steps in the dance of creation, Under Your watchful, life-giving light. Amen." Juniper finished.

"Amen! That was lovely! You could be a high priestess," Bridgadeiro smiled.

"No thanks," Juniper replied as Bridgadeiro pushed the gel ball into the soil. Bridgadeiro then pulled out the bottle of serum, which was now half empty. "Two pumps," Bridgadeiro smiled, pumping the soil. A vine-like plant with sharp leaves sprang out of the fountain, seconds later covered in heavy greenish-yellow vegetables. "Bush banana, very high in protein, but it tastes best cooked," Bridgadeiro smiled, gesturing to the plant.

Bridgadeiro reached for his seed vault again, and Revati grabbed his hand. "No, you've given us more than enough! Stop wasting your serum," she said firmly.

"What the hell is that doing here?" Nanni's voice suddenly screamed. Nanni was standing next to the popcorn cart, pointing at the broken android.

"We found it in the maze, right after I sucked a bunch of black sand out of Queen Victoria’s bosom," remarked Dityaa. Dityaa was sitting on the ground, fashioning a flower crown out of several yellow flower-covered twigs.

"Actually, I found it first. She warned me that something called 'the spider' is coming," Revati explained. Nanni was trembling, shaking her head from side to side.

"You need to burn that thing! The only good thing that came from it was your sister!" Nanni said, and Dityaa glanced up, looking faintly confused.

"I came from that? Didn’t I grow in Anna’s body like Sissy?" Dityaa asked curiously, and Nanni pursed her lips together.

"No, you grew in that maternity droid… lots of babies did before the war," Nanni said evasively.

"I did! Then we should save it, we should dress it up and put it on display," Dityaa smiled. Dityaa slowly got up and then tenderly placed the flower crown on the android's head. "Your mother can't see this! Go make a fire right now," hissed Nanni, ripping the crown off.

"It's made out of solid metal! I can't make a fire hot enough to burn it," Revati pointed out.

"You have no idea! This thing killed over a dozen people! It destroyed ripped their hands off!" Nanni grimaced, kicking it.

"Really? It seemed more interested in saving us," Revati said dubiously.

"It's an empty shell, you can't trust emptiness! It could be filled with anything," Nanny said firmly, and Aurora cleared her throat slightly.

"Mistress?" She asked.

"Hmm," Revati replied.

"We could take the android to the blacksmith forge; they would be able to melt metal," Aurora said with a small shrug.

"The blacksmith forge, the one in the medieval faire? I'm not in the mood to have rancid urine thrown all over me," Revati shuddered.

"They use it to brush their teeth," Dityaa said helpfully.

"I know a back way of getting in, I use it when I visit my girlfriend," Aurora admitted, blushing bright red.

"Girlfriend?" Revati cried with surprise.

"Yes, she's the daughter of the guy who plays the castle's beekeeper," Aurora admitted with a small shy smile.

"Is that where our honey comes from?" Revati asked, and Aurora nodded meekly.

"Well, you are a lady full of surprises!" Revati said, and Aurora looked pleased.

"I always meet her at noon; we have plenty of time to get the android there," Aurora said. Revati glanced up at the sky. "It’s hard to tell what time it is; the trees are blocking the sun," Revati grimaced with annoyance. "It's 10:32 AM circus Martian time," Bridgadeiro said helpfully, flipping over his wrist. A glowing clock had been tattooed onto his skin. Revati flinched, and Bridgadeiro smiled reassuringly.

"Don’t worry! It’s just a standard tattoo clock; it doesn’t think for itself," Bridgadeiro said reassuringly, and Revati sighed with relief.

"Can I come too? I’m dying to see the inside of Medieval faire!" Dityaa remarked.

"Only if you go clean yourself up; you’re starting to smell like a blocked drain," Revati firmly replied.

"I smell like vanilla and fresh flowers!" Dityaa shrieked back before storming off in the direction of their home.

"Medieval Faire. Before the tornado, Revati only ever visited Medieval Faire once a week. Revati would slip her hand into her father's, and together they would head down to trade carrots. Father had at one point asked if they wanted any tomatoes, and Lady Morganna shrieked it was "new world poison." Out of all the actors, the residents of Medieval Faire were the most authentic.

[nonbinary-nature-lover-jeri]

Past Photo Favorites - Loggerhead Shrike on a saltbush the yellow background is from a field of Golden Crownbeard flowers. “It is nicknamed the butcherbird after its carnivorous tendencies, as it consumes prey such as amphibians, insects, lizards, small mammals and small birds, and some prey end up displayed and stored at a site, for example in a tree. Due to its small size and weak talons, this predatory bird relies on impaling its prey upon thorns or barbed wire for facilitated consumption. The numbers of loggerhead shrike have significantly decreased in recent years, especially in Midwestern, New England and Mid-Atlantic areas.” - Wikipedia #ScenesFromMyWalk #LoggerheadShrike #Shrike #ButcherBird #Carnivore #NewBirdForMe #Birds #Bird #BirdPhotography #Birding #BirdingPhotography #Saltbush #PhotoByJeriRae (at Agua Fria, New Mexico) https://www.instagram.com/p/CnAijIaPkyH/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[rabbitcruiser]

Buck Canyon Overlook, Canyonlands National Park (No. 4)

Canyonlands National Park contains a wide variety of plant life, including 11 cactus species, 20 moss species, liverworts, grasses and wildflowers. Varieties of trees include netleaf hackberry, Russian olive, Utah juniper, pinyon pine, tamarisk and Fremont's cottonwood. Shrubs include Mormon tea, blackbrush, four-wing saltbush and cliffrose.

Cryptobiotic soil is the foundation of life in Canyonlands, providing nitrogen fixation and moisture for plant seeds. One footprint can destroy decades of growth.

​Source: Wikipedia

[drhoz]

#2025 - Ectopatria clavigera - Club-bearing Saltbush Moth

AKA Namangana clavigera & Diplonephra clavigera.

There's quite a lot of salt-loving vegetation on Cooleenup Island. Quite a lot more in fact, since the opening of the Dawesville Cut changed the hydrology of the Peel Inlet, and among other things, killed every Swamp Paperbark on the island. Kitchen Lake behind the field station, for example, is all dead trees surrounded by salt-flat vegetation now.

The moth in question is a Western Australia endemic, but there are 19 species in the genus, most of whom are also called Saltbush Moths, so I can take a wide guess what their prefered habitat is.