Plants ~ Starlight stills

Stills from Blackfoot, ID 

You can kind of see the milky way. 

Orange coming from a faint light from a house far away.

Caught either a shooting star, or a satellite.

Hope to capture a picture like this one. 

Monument Valley Plants

Monument Valley is home to very few but beautiful plant life. Because of the sparsity of the desert there is not much vegetation. The few plants that are able to survive in this dry environment are the Purple Sage, the Cliffrose, the Rabbitbush, the Mojave Yucca, and the Brittlebush.

Purple Sage

The purple sage thrives in the desert environment because of its lack of need of water. Also, for it to grow it has to endure full sunlight which Monument valley is known for. The purple sage was able to adapt to the harsh conditions of Monument Valley due to its size and thin layer of wax on the leaves.  Also, the little hairs on the leaves allow the purple sage to reflect sunlight and reduce the movement of air on its surface. This leads to less transpiration.

The Rabbitbush

The flowers are umbrella shaped and leaves look like sharp blades. It has narrow, yellow-green leaves and flexible twigs which are covered with felt-like hairs. The hairs on the twigs helped the plant adapt to the environment because it reduces transpiration and water loss.  Rabbitbrush is great for this environment because it favors the sun and does not need a lot of moisture to stay alive. 

Mojave Yucca

The flowers on it are a purplish-white and are bell shaped. They bloom mostly in the springtime while the other plants bloom most of the year. The Mojave Yucca was able to adapt to Monument valley because of its wax coating, heat reflectors, and its drought resisters.  The plant has a wax coating to trap moisture and reducing water loss so the plant can live longer. The Mojave Yucca has fine hairs all over it to also trap moisture but also reflects sunlight which helps the plant not dry out. Finally, when it does rain in the desert the plant soaks up the water and uses it over time to survive. 

(looks like Joshua Trees, can be found in Nevada, California)

Brittlebush

 It has long oval silver-grey leaves that are somewhat fuzzy. In late winter and early spring little yellow flowers appear on the Brittlebush's long stalks.It is able to survive in this environment because it has little hairs all over it and the plant is able to store water. The little hairs serves as a blanket to protect the Brittlebush from the heat and cold because it is very sensitive to the cold. Also ,the little hairs are sharp which prevent predators from eating the bush.