Oak-Pine Woodland
The thinning and final disappearance of saguaros along the trailside, although mesquite and ocotillos seem almost as numerous as on the floor of the desert, indicate that you are entering a slightly cooler, wetter environment. An occasional MEXICAN BLUE OAK or ARIZONA ROSEWOOD appears among the mesquites along the washes. The grasses that increasingly cover the ground as you climb include HAIRY, SIDEOATS, and SPRUCETOP GRAMA; CURLY MESQUITEGRASS; TANGLEHEAD; TEXAS BLUESTEM; and WOLFTAIL. Mingling with them are TURPENTINE-BUSH and shrubby SNAKEWEED.
A spectacular inhabitant of the grassland transition and open oak woodlands you are now entering is the AMOLE, or SHINDAGGER, whose rapidly growing blossom stalks attract attention from May to as late as August. The plants themselves, which grow crowded together in patches, consist of rosettes of succulent leaves superficially resembling bunches of flattened, green bananas. The stiff, needle-sharp leaf tips can inflict painful jabs on man and beast. During its lifetime, the plant stores food in its short, thick stem. Finally, after several years, it sends up an unbranched flower stalk that grows to 5 feet. The light-yellow flowers mature to brown, capsule-like fruits, after which the plant dies. The short stems or crowns, containing saponin, were used by Indians as soap. They also roasted the young bud stalks of some species by covering them with heated stones in pits.
Two noticeable plants of the lily family which sometimes dominate gravelly slopes of the grassland-oak woodland belt are the SOTOL and BEARGRASS, or sacahuista. The former grows from a compact crown as a dense, rather symmetrical cluster of long, thin ribbonlike leaves, usually grayed at the tips and armed along the margins with curved thorns. In early summer many small, cream-colored blossoms develop along the upper extremity of single fast-growing flower stalks 8 to 10 feet high. The bud stalks formerly were harvested and roasted by Indians. In Mexico a potent alcoholic drink, sotol, is distilled from the fermented juice of the pounded crowns. Sacahuista resembles huge, sprawling clusters of coarse grass. Flower stalks are short, producing conspicuous, open, loose sprays of small, tan-to-brownish flowers in May and June. Indians used the tender bud stalks for food and obtained fiber from the long, slender leaves, weaving them into baskets and mats.
Mexican blue oak foliage.
Uncommon in the monument, but worthy of mention, are ARIZONA SYCAMORE and ARIZONA CYPRESS. The latter is restricted to the east flank of the Rincon Mountains, steep slopes, and deep canyons, where it grows with the SILVERLEAF, PALMER, EMORY, and NETLEAF OAKS; mesic shrubs; poison oak; and CALIFORNIA BUCKTHORN. Arizona sycamore grows along lower-canyon watercourses such as Chiminea and Rincon Creeks, which drain the rugged south flank of Mica Mountain and the west flank of Rincon Peak, respectively.
As you continue to climb, the open, grassy, shrub-dotted slopes change in places to sprawling thickets, called chaparral. These are made up of manzanita and skunkbush, SILKTASSEL, evergreen oaks, and underbrush of smaller shrubs. Among the common oaks are ARIZONA WHITE OAK and, on drier sites of the Tanque Verde range, SHRUB LIVE OAK. The oaks furnish protective cover, browse, and acorns for deer and other mammals and birds, and are of great value in retarding soil erosion on steep gravelly slopes.
Turpentine-bush, a member of the sunflower family.
POINTLEAF MANZANITA is especially abundant on the lower eastern flanks of the Rincon Mountains in the Happy Valley area. Early in spring the waxy, urn-shaped blossoms, the leathery, glossy, evergreen leaves, and the typical grotesquely crooked, red-barked limbs, make manzanita one of the most attractive shrubs of the chaparral.
Although SKUNKBUSH is a close relative of poison ivy and sumac, its aromatic foliage is harmless. Growing in compact thickets, skunkbush provides food and cover for birds and other small animals. Inconspicuous yellow flowers appear from March to June, and are followed by berrylike fruits which are dull red when mature.
As you follow the trail higher, occasional MEXICAN PINYON PINES and ALLIGATOR JUNIPERS appear. Gradually these evergreens become more abundant, mingling with the oaks to form a pigmy oak-pine-juniper forest. Clumps of MOUNTAIN-MAHOGANY are noticeable, their feathery seed “tails” gleaming in the sunshine.
Pinyons are among the commonest and most widespread trees of the middle elevations throughout the Southwest. The Mexican pinyon, which is the species growing abundantly in the Tanque Verde-Rincon upland, may be recognized by the fact that its foliage is in clusters of three needles to the bundle. Its cones require nearly 2 years to mature and contain hard-shelled seeds or nuts which are a source of food for many birds and mammals. These pines are usually shrubby, rarely more than 15 to 25 feet high, with horizontal, twisted, low-growing limbs. Intermingled with the pinyons are alligator junipers, often mistakenly called cedars. Those in the monument are conspicuous because their platy bark forms an attractive pattern resembling the squarish-scaled skin of alligators. The berrylike cones are soft and mealy, and are eaten by many kinds of wild animals.
Although the oak-pine woodland supports a heavy stand of shrubby trees over much of the terrain, there are numerous open glades and grassy hillsides. In addition to some of the aforementioned grasses, BLUEGRASS, BULLGRASS, and PLAINS LIVEGRASS provide ground cover in this belt. Following summer showers, many flowering herbs brighten the open slopes. Yellow to orange petals of PUCCOON, and the white to lavender-and-rose blossoms of MOCK-PENNYROYAL and HOUSTONIA are among those seen along the trailside.