Wednesday, July 2, 2008

ABC Wednesday - X

X is for xerophytic ecosystem found in arid climates like the southwest canyon lands that we just visited on our travels. This photo was taken at Canyonlands National Park near Moab, Utah. The flora seen here on the Colorado Plateau is part of a pinyon-juniper woodlands xerophytic ecosystem. Xerophytes are plants such as succulents and nonsucculents that have adapted to extremely dry conditions including severe droughts. The predominant trees that anchor this system are Colorado Pinyon pines and Utah Juniper. The small gnarled plant at bottom center is a tough juniper that may have weathered many years already. They can live to be hundreds of years old.

Stop by Mrs. Nesbitt's Place to see the list of ABC Wednesday photo blogs.

17 comments:

Dragonstar said...

Lovely (or should I say X-ellent?!) post Raf. You always have something worth looking at. What a view you've captured here.

esnorway said...

nice x good pic

mrsnesbitt said...

I gasped when I saw the view, it was indeed awesome!

AphotoAday said...

Hey, thanks for the new word -- xerophytic...   I'll have to slip that in the next time I go to a party and the conversation slows down...

Profile Not Available said...

As usual, a beautiful shot!

Anonymous said...

Nice!! Xtra nice! Thanks for stopping by my place. Hope you have a great day!

Anonymous said...

This is a great X photo!

Rune Eide said...

I would have had problems growing so close to an edge too!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

raf: Wow, what a word you used to get your X. I never even heard of that one. What a great place to take pictures.

Shimmy Mom said...

Great picture. Moab is one of my hubby's favorite places in the world. You captured a great view.

nonizamboni said...

Great post and photo of your vacation-land! I'm learning about xerophytic today from several of us 'ABC' Wednesday photographers too.
Hope you're having a great time on vacation!

Jane Hards Photography said...

It is an excellent choice for the letter. Because of the rain here we only have succulent plants. The image is awesome, the vastness is beyond my comprehension living here in smallsville.

Louis la Vache said...

"Louis" is buried deeper than his cowbell in a work project for the next several weeks. He will stop and visit, but may not stay long enough to 'sign the guest registry'.

Unknown said...

eXcellent choice for the letter,Raf. Great shot too.

Tash said...

I thought that looked familiar! Nice post.

Small City Scenes said...

Beautif view. Someday i will get there myself. MB

Jim Klenke said...

Great picture, looks wonderful to me.