Hollis

LATEST ARTICLES ( 442 )

• Wishing Happiness to All!

  

  Are you wondering about "my families" in this year's botanical greetings? Nothing aberrant here, it's just that there is no all-encompassing Fern Family. Instea... Read more

  Posted on 25 December 2024 OUTDOORS

• Osage Orange—God's Gift to the Prairie Farmer

  

  "this curious fruit, which, when first discovered lying neglected beneath the tree, led the voyagers to fear and report it as a poison" wrote Thomas Nuttall... Read more

  Posted on 08 December 2024 OUTDOORS

• Does Dog Exist? A Tail of Philosophy, AI, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

  

  Dog?In a scan of The Atlantic homepage recently, I came across Are You a Platonist or an Aristotelian? I was especially intrigued by the subtitle: "Your answer... Read more

  Posted on 04 November 2024 OUTDOORS

• Tree Following: Killer Cottonwood in Utah

  

  On a hot afternoon several weeks ago, I pulled into Hittle Bottom Campground on the Colorado River in southern Utah. After parking in the only site with shade, ... Read more

  Posted on 08 October 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Trees: Black Walnut

  

  Black Walnut with spring leaves—its "yearly trick of looking new" (Philip Larkin, The Trees). Union Grove State Park, South Dakota.Walnuts from a previous... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Trees—why a Mulberry is Not a Blackberry Even Though It Looks Like...

  

  Geek alert! (ʘ‿ʘ)╯(photo modified from Flickr).Continuing my exploration of the South Dakota sylva, this month's featured tree is the mulberry. Supposedly... Read more

  Posted on 14 August 2024 OUTDOORS

• Missouri River, South Dakota's Great Divide

  

  "What does the Missouri mean to you?" I was asked.South Dakota is one of those roughly rectangular states in the heartland of the USA. Read more

  Posted on 05 August 2024 OUTDOORS

• Tree-following: Basswood in South Dakota (barely)

  

  From Trees as Good Citizens (Pack 1922)."The man who loves trees should be able to identify them at a glance. ... he should make himself familiar with the... Read more

  Posted on 14 July 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota's Ancient Rock is Hiding Under the Covers (mostly)

  

  "ruins of some ancient city built of marble and porphyry" (Joseph Nicollet, 1843).South Dakota east of the Missouri River is nearly flat, and covered in corn,... Read more

  Posted on 24 June 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Tree-Following: Le Chêne à Gros Acorn

  

  "An Oak, whose leaves are as large, and which bears such large fruits, is well suited to attract the attention of lovers of foreign cultures, and to find a plac... Read more

  Posted on 10 June 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota's Leguminous Trees (& a Vine)

  

  A legume is a fruit type specific to the pea family. When dry, it splits on two sides to release seeds.Continuing my journey through the South Dakota sylva, thi... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Maples—Sugar, Silver, & a Trickster

  

  Sugar Maple in Sica Hollow, northeasternmost South Dakota.For April's tree-following report I'm sticking with my strategy of following (learning about) South... Read more

  Posted on 14 April 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Tree-Following—Prairie Crabapple

  

  Pyrus ioensis. 1913, Curtis's Botanical Magazine. Source.This month's tree-following report features another tree from South Dakota, part of my effort to learn... Read more

  Posted on 14 March 2024 OUTDOORS

• Fruits of the Rose Family—a Cornucopia!

  

  How many Rosaceous fruits are in this painting? Answer at end of post. (Still Life with Fruit by Severin Roesen, 1852; Smithsonian Open Access)The Rosaceae is... Read more

  Posted on 25 February 2024 OUTDOORS

• South Dakota Tree-Following—Plains Cottonwood

  

  "A circle of cottonwood-leaf toy tipis made by Indian children of Plains tribes ... These they made in numbers and placed them in circles like the camp circle o... Read more

  Posted on 13 February 2024 OUTDOORS

• Scaling a Dome of Broken Glass

  

  View south from top of Obsidian Dome; Glass Creek Dome mid photo, Sierra Nevada on skyline.After touring the Mono Craters, accompanied by the spirit of... Read more

  Posted on 31 January 2024 OUTDOORS

• Visiting the Mono Craters with Israel Russell

  

  Do you see wreaths of vapor? Or the lurid light of molten lava? (D. Mayer photo)Last September I toured the Mono Basin in the company of the great pioneering... Read more

  Posted on 12 January 2024 OUTDOORS

• Tree-Following in South Dakota—Black Hills Spruce

  

  Black Hills Spruce in the Cathedral Spires high in the Black Hills (State of South Dakota photo).It's time for a January tree-following report but I've given... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2024 OUTDOORS

• Merry Red & Green to All!

  

  Red Baneberry, Actaea rubra, Wyoming.How did red and green become our Christmas colors? Maybe you're thinking, as I did, "From holly, of course!" But recently... Read more

  Posted on 25 December 2023 OUTDOORS

• Junipers in December & Views from Above

  

  Trail 1 dusted with snow.Once again we ventured northeast of Laramie to visit the two three Rocky Mountain Junipers we're following (I added the Fallen One... Read more

  Posted on 09 December 2023 OUTDOORS