The scientific name of the ringtail is Bassariscus astutus. It’s in the Procyonidae, the same family as our local borderlands' critters the raccoons and coatis.

Down in the borderlands around you and me we can find B. repens, B. haematocarpa, B. wilcoxii and B. trifoliata. Go way west to the Kofa Mountains and you'll find B. harrisoniana. That's a bunch of cool spiny leathery leaved evergreen shrubs in southern Arizona.

Apache plume (Fallugia paradoxa) is very common around out little homestead. There are thickets of it all along the banks of the Ol’ Guajolote.

Okay, one last thing because I’m still trying to figure out the meaning of the genus name and while cruising a dichotomous key for the family –very sad- I saw the phrase “stamens in unequal pairs.” Whoa, is that it?...unequal stamens and not thorns? Oh man, I need a life.

It could be just me that thinks perhaps some thought should go into what seed is in a mix that's to be sprayed along the sides of the highways. I’m sure the argument is that at least they are native, but I want to shout, “Not native to this area you nincompoops!”

I love wolfberry plants. I once wrote a song about Lycium fremontii that I found and identified in the neighborhoods around A Mountain in Tucson. Now that’s love.

There is a funny line in Arizona Flora saying that it is “a straggling shrub” but there is no mention of the showy flowers.

Oh, and in the past it had been Salvia microphylla var. wislizenii. Arg!

There are 8 species of sumacs found in Arizona.

Let me see... I told you it’s in the Cucurbitaceae and that it’s monoecious just like the squash you grow in your garden, so flowers of different sex are found on the same plant It’s like Ozzie and Harriet…same bedroom, but separate beds.