Hollis
MY BLOGS
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In the Company of Plants and Rocks
http://plantsandrocks.blogspot.com/
Natural history blog focusing on botany, ecology and geology ... from the field as much as possible!
LATEST ARTICLES ( 431 )
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Lamoille Canyon—V, U, and Much More
A "glacier cañon" in the Ruby Mountains (2021, but in the style of 1868).Lamoille Canyon, in the Ruby Mountains of northeast Nevada, is a geotripper's dream. Read more
Posted on 17 January 2022 OUTDOORS -
Tree Following 2022: Looking for a Tree, I Find Two
Balsam poplar?Just before Christmas, I set out to find a tree to follow in 2022, specifically a balsam poplar. A few grow along one of my favorite nearby... Read more
Posted on 10 January 2022 OUTDOORS -
Two Trees and a Rock on a Trail
First, the Weather Report.It's time for a final report about the trees I followed this year. But they haven't changed since last month, and it's cold and... Read more
Posted on 11 December 2021 OUTDOORS -
Late Season Early Morning Beauty
Prickly poppy, Argemone sp.When I visited northeast Nevada in October, the days were mild, the nights cold, and the light low and warm. Read more
Posted on 30 November 2021 OUTDOORS -
A Glimpse of the Underworld, High in the Ruby Mts
Trailer Park Rock, part of the Harrison Pass pluton.Plutons are large bodies of rock, specifically igneous rock and therefore once molten. Like their namesake,... Read more
Posted on 14 November 2021 OUTDOORS -
Treefollowing: Wordless Wednesday (nearly)
Flash the maple is thick with dried samaras.Spike the hawthorn still sports a bit of red and green.~🍂~Though the beech is goldenI cannot stand beside itmute, bu... Read more
Posted on 10 November 2021 OUTDOORS -
Finding Petrophytum & Sereno Watson's Ghost
Petrophytum caespitosum mat on limestone. Dark spots are shadows cast by flower clusters.In a narrow rocky canyon on the east side of the Ruby Mountains, I was... Read more
Posted on 29 October 2021 OUTDOORS -
Crystalline Beauty Amid the Garbage and the Flowers
On my recent geotrip in eastern Nevada, I often stopped at road cuts—those man-made features so beloved by geologists. A cut removes weathered rock,... Read more
Posted on 19 October 2021 OUTDOORS -
Tree Following & Other News from the Yard
I asked my young trees, "What does the future hold?" But all I heard was wind in the leaves.From a distance, it looked like Flash the maple and Spike the... Read more
Posted on 12 October 2021 OUTDOORS -
Reassembling Western Nevada
Lone Mountain, a thick stack of Lower Paleozoic sediments deposited on the continental shelf of Laurentia. North of US Hwy 50, c. 15 mi west of Eureka.This... Read more
Posted on 27 September 2021 OUTDOORS -
Mysterious Stones of the Laramie Mountains
A story of granite, grus, and tors.If you wander the summit of the Laramie Mountains as dusk falls, chances are you will spot mysterious creatures silhouetted... Read more
Posted on 20 September 2021 OUTDOORS -
Green and Red; Stipules and Suckers
In the foreground is skinny Spike, the hawthorn. Behind is Flash, the maple (red canopy).Since my last report, there has been only a little change in the trees... Read more
Posted on 14 September 2021 OUTDOORS -
Where on Earth Did Western Nevada Go?
Does the Siberian craton include part of Nevada? (source; text added).Nevada geologists claim that their state is diverse. I think they're right. Read more
Posted on 07 September 2021 OUTDOORS -
The Snowy Range, 2 Billion Years in the Making
Medicine Bow Mountains and the Snowy Range rise above the Laramie Plains.In the early 1980s, author John McPhee was gathering information for a book, Rising fro... Read more
Posted on 26 August 2021 OUTDOORS -
Frank Tweedy's Traveling Plants: WY to NYC & Back
Frank Tweedy. Union College Special Collections (used with permission); date unknown.Readers of this blog may remember Frank Tweedy of the US Geological... Read more
Posted on 17 August 2021 OUTDOORS -
Tree-following: Red and Green
Both trees I'm following this year are red and green, but in different ways. Last month, Flash the maple was covered in green leaves and red samaras. The samara... Read more
Posted on 14 August 2021 OUTDOORS -
A "Peculiar" Miner's Candle
Miner's candle; southern Laramie Mountains, Wyoming.In 1869, botanist Benjamin Hayes Smith of Denver, Colorado Territory, collected a plant with a tall... Read more
Posted on 17 July 2021 OUTDOORS -
Christmas in July and a Surprise!
Hotwings Maple indeed!Flash, the maple, is looking very Christmasy, with a canopy of green leaves and red samaras (aka keys or whirlybirds).The big surprise is... Read more
Posted on 13 July 2021 OUTDOORS -
Two Great Basin Shrubs—each Showy in Its Own Way
Mountain mahogany in flower, field assistant for scale; Kingston Canyon, Nevada.Like the Great Basin itself, many of its shrubs strike people as drab. Read more
Posted on 19 June 2021 OUTDOORS -
Tree-following: First the Good News
When I returned from my trip, I found that in just two weeks, Flash, the maple, had gone from no leaves to all leafed out, and its flower buds were opening!But... Read more
Posted on 14 June 2021 OUTDOORS