For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington, D.C. 20402—Price $1.25
Stock Number 2405-0292

preface

This book is a simple account of the natural history of SaguaroNational Monument. It is intended to help you understand therelationships between land, climate, plants, wild animals, and manin the environment of a hot desert. While it includes brief profilesof many representative species, it is not intended to serve as aguide to the monument. It does indicate where the several distinctivenatural communities exist, and when and where to lookfor certain plants and animals. For identification purposes, youwill need field guides.

The present edition is my revision of the 1957 book by NattDodge, then naturalist for the Southwest Region of the NationalPark Service. The first five and the last two chapters are essentiallynew; the central chapters on plants and animals remain largely aswritten in the first edition.

The authors wish to thank former and present members ofthe monument staff for their help and companionship, in both fieldand office. We are particularly grateful to Chief Naturalist HaroldT. Coss, Jr., who devoted much time and effort to obtaining manyof the photographs and, with Park Biologist Warren F. Steenbergh,gave the manuscript a thorough scrutiny. The cooperation andhospitality of Superintendent Harold R. Jones have created thebest possible climate for work on the revised edition. NationalPark Service geologist Robert H. Rose contributed in very greatmeasure to the geological content. Finally, our thanks go to themany students of desert life on whose knowledge this book hasbeen built, and to monument visitors who ask questions—for theirconcern gives hope for better relations between man and nature.

—N.S.

contents

The Desert Scene, 1

The Sonoran Desert and the Monument, 3

Climate: The Vital Factor, 9

Rocks: Foundation and Soilmakers, 13

Plant and Animal Zones, 19

Desert Plants, 23

Succulents, 25

The Saguaro—Monarch of the Monument, 27

Other Common Cactuses, 33

Non-Succulents, 36

Perennials, 36

Ephemerals, 42

Major Plant Communities of Saguaro, 49

...