Spotted sandmat is an open land species, preferring drier, often exposed soils. As its common name indicates, it is often found in sandy soils. It is also at home in sidewalk cracks, gravel, roadsides, gardens, and other disturbed areas with limited competition. It is known from all states except Alaska (introduced to Hawai'i). http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/chamaesyce_maculata.shtml Mon, 13 May 2013 09:24:16 -0800 Robinia neomexicana) should have been called the southwestern locust because this small tree thrives in mountains throughout the southwestern United States. It grows along with Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) as a prominent understory tree in spruce-fir, fir, and mixed conifer forests. It is often found in pure stands in forest openings and can dominate shortly after a fire because of its vigorous root sprouting.]]> http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/robinia_neomexicana.shtml Mon, 6 May 2013 12:28:02 -0800 Aedes communis, known by some as a snow pool mosquito, is an important pollinator of orchids in northern regions.]]> http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/pollinator-of-the-month/aedes_communis.shtml Fri, 3 May 2013 14:57:07 -0800 Galleta ranges from southern Wyoming and northern Nevada to southern California, northern Mexico, and southwestern Kansas. It is especially abundant in desert grasslands and rocky canyons of southern Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/pleuraphis_jamesii.shtml Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:53:13 -0800 Green comet milkweed is a species of moist to dry shaded roadsides, savanna, fields, and prairie. It tends to grow in light to moderate shade, but tolerates full sun. It is known from Montana south through Wyoming, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, east to Florida, north to New York and Massachusetts, then west to Montana. It is also known from British Columbia east to Ontario. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/asclepias_viridiflora.shtml Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:56:27 -0800 The yellow pitcher plant has simple nodding flowers and leaves modified as hollow pitchers, which function to passively trap insects, luring them with nectar, then digesting them or drowning them with fluids, later to be absorbed by the plant. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/sarracenia_flava.shtml Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:21:03 -0800 Frosted rock tripe is a lichen. It is found in North America, up to northern Canada and south to the edge of Mexico. In the United States, it occurs mostly from eastern Washington to western Montana, from southwestern Arizona to northern Colorado, and around the northern Great Lake states. http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/umbilicaria_americana.shtml Tue, 9 Apr 2013 02:44:21 -0800