Letter From The Desert: Vegetative Self-Awareness

An unobtrusive plant possesses a startling intelligence.

Apparently this is my year to think about bursage. I never have before, despite decades of being surrounded by it. Here’s why:

Ambrosia dumosa, shown here in a 2011 photo by Larry Blakely, is not what one would call charismatic. It’s leafless much of the time. What leaves it does bear are not particularly remarkable unless you look up close, and why wou…