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Plants

Desert USA - Desert Wildflower Watch
www.desertusa.com/wildflo/az.html

Photo reports from all over the Southwest provide up-to–the-minute details about what’s in flower and where. This wildflower watch covers five states and has individual sections for each. Anyone can submit flower photos and the story that goes along with their photos. For the lower elevation southwestern deserts it reports the February through May flower season.

Wildflowers of Tucson
www.fireflyforest.com/flowers

Desert flowers listed by color for easy identification. This site also gives you local Tucson locations for wildflowers that are currently in bloom. If you want the total USDA list of plants in Arizona, they offer a complete Arizona Plants Checklist in the form of a simple text file. Get ready, though; the list is at least 100 pages long. T. Beth Kinsey, a student in Tucson, is responsible for this stunning website as well as her personal nature blog, Firefly Forest Blog.

Naturesongs - Doug Van Gausig
www.naturesongs.com/vvplants

The very best identification site for Verde Valley and Sedona flora. Doug’s photo catalog of plants leads to in-depth descriptions and useful info for virtually every plant in our area. Use it to identify the plants, flowers, or cacti you encounter during your explorations of the Red Rocks. During my 15 year stint as a Jeep tour guide and new guide information trainer, I referred to Doug’s site frequently and introduced many other guides and visitors to his website as well. The photos are taken locally and enlarge to a helpful identification size. His website’s information and presentation are neatly arranged, beautifully illustrated, and thorough. Doug, thanks from all of us.

Article Citation Database: AGRICOLA – National Agriculture Library
http://agricola.nal.usda.gov

Arizona Native Plant Society
Box 41206, Sun Station, Tucson, AZ 85717
www.aznps.org/index.html

Native plant and seed sources, exotic species, invasive species links, and the long-awaited Arizona Rare Plant Field Guide are just a few of the offerings this dedicated group has assembled on their website

Southwest School of Botanical Medicine – Michael Moore
www.swsbm.com/homepage/

If I had only one source for plant identification, harvesting, and medicinal uses, Michael Moore’s website would be it. 1,000’s of plant photos, the rare Eclectic Archives from the turn of the century, detailed info on medicinal plant preparation, classic texts on herbology and herb growing, and much, much more. He has added video clips filmed in the wild of medicinal plants that he uses for teaching purposes; though the clips are without sound and the quality is a little shaky, they’re still quite useful. If you’re a serious student and want one of the best plant and herbal medicine courses available anywhere you can enroll in his Botanical Medicine school in Bisbee, Arizona for a 19 week residency. This is his school’s 28th year and I personally know graduates who rave about the quality, depth of study focus, and profound value provided by the course. Oh, and don’t forget his crazy, crazy humor…

Center for International Ethnomedicinal Education and Research
www.cieer.org/directory.html

A super resource for natural healers, shamans in training, or plant people. CIEER is a non-profit organization that links together many other ethnobotanical resources. Their impeccably cool website is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of healing plants, natural medicine, biodiversity, and traditional cultures. Nicely organized with only a few dead links.

Desert USA – Desert Plants and Wildflowers
www.desertusa.com/flora.html

As always, Desert USA presents an excellent introductory guide to desert plants.

Native American Ethnobotany: University of Michigan - Dearborn
http://herb.umd.umich.edu

A huge database of plant-derived foods, drugs, dyes, and fibers of the Native American peoples. Now that the Medicinal Plants of North America Database

Plants Database: Natural Resources Conservation Services (USDA)
www.plants.usda.gov/index.html

Type in any plant name, common or scientific, and receive links to photos, a plant distribution map, Taxonomic accounts, and a handy plant classification chart all on one well-organized page. This site lives deep in the heart of the USDA’s databases. A real jewel.

Smithsonian Institution: Botanical Databases
http://botany.si.edu/index.htm

Totally unique, searchable databases of the Smithsonian kind. This institution has an enormous amount of info for the layman or the professional researcher. Follow this link to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and its Botany Department. Once there you can branch out into many other focused databases. Being a landscaper and flagstone patio designer in my spare time I truly admire the Botany & Horticulture Library. It was established in 1965-1966 and eventually added The Horticulture Branch Library in 1984 as a research support resource for the Horticulture Services Division, which is responsible for the management of the gardens, grounds, greenhouses, and interior plantscaping at the Smithsonian Institution. Dream on...

Todd’s Desert Hiking Guide
www.toddshikingguide.com/FloraFauna/FloraFauna.htm

Once again Todd leads the pack. His website is a gift to all those who discover it. His flora and fauna section delves into plants of the Southwest with particular acuity, providing excellent photos and useful descriptions. As you scroll through this veritable compendium of all the things you’re likely to see on your hikes and tours around Sedona, think of all the hours he has spent in the field, having fun, and collecting this knowledge. Jealous?

Wildflower Field Guide
www.desertusa.com/wildflo/FieldGuide/fieldguide.html

Find that flower! Flower photos cataloged by color so it’s super-easy to identify that yellow flower you saw on your hike. No, it’s not the Yellow Sidearoadum (an old Sedona Jeep guide joke: Sidearoadum = Side-of-the-road ‘em), however with this guide you’ll soon know exactly what flower it is.

Winter Sun Trading
Downtown
107 N. San Francisco St., Flagstaff, AZ 86001
928.774.1501
www.wintersun.com

Phyllis Hogan owns and operates this downtown Flagstaff store that specializes in wildcrafted herbal tinctures and extracts. Many of the plants her company uses to produce its products are gathered throughout the Colorado Plateau’s high desert. In addition, the store carries Native American arts and crafts. In 1993, Self magazine recommended her store as one of the top 10 herb shops in the Untied States. I've known Phyllis through a mutual friend for many years. She is dedicated to the plant world and to helping people use its power for healing. She has deep links to the Navajo reservation and has studied with many Medicine People there, including the late Sam Boone, the respected Navajo medicine man. She is a personal friend of master herbalist Michael Moore and has an extensive knowledge that goes beyond traditional scholarship and deep into nature.