Lions, Tigers, and Bears! Oh My!

We've been told by people familiar with the Southwest that everything here bites, stings, or pricks. The prick part is definitely true of the tree that scratched up Jim last week. (If you missed that post you can access it here.) We went back this week to take pictures of it in hopes of finding out what kind of tree it is. Turns out it's a Cat's Claw tree, Senegalia or Acacia Greggii, which is technically a large bush that can grow 6 to 25' tall, depending on the water source it taps in to. Take a look at the thorns of this thing. No wonder Jim's arms and face looked like that!

The points of the thorns break off easily and imbed in the skin which causes profuse bleeding, as evidenced by Jim's picture in the last post. They will come out when the scab pulls off. We've been told to watch for infection since everything in the desert is covered with dust that contains bacteria. So far he seems to be fine.

To survive in the desert the roots of the Cat's Claw can be as much as 18', (yes, that's 18 feet), deep and the tree can live up to 120 years. Bees and butterflies are attracted to its sweet nectar when it's in bloom and birds love its seeds. This makes it a popular plant in urban gardens, but you wouldn't want to plant it too close to walkways for obvious reasons. Native Americans used to make flour by grinding the seed pods. The wood is extremely hard and tight-grained, making it useful for cabinets and fencing. 

Cat's Claw is only one of quite a few varieties of trees, shrubs and vines native to the southwestern US that have thorns. Add that to the numerous variety of things that sting (scorpions come to mind), bite (tarantulas and rattle snakes for instance), and prick (cactus, cholla or jumping cactus sounds particularly nasty, and thorny trees/shrubs), the desert doesn't seem like a very friendly place. Kind of makes lions, tigers, and bears sound tame by comparison. Oh my!

--Sammy