(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Creosote and the End of Civilization [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-03-02
Creosote bush is a remarkable plant (See: btarboretum.org/...) in the Zygophyllaceae, or caltrop family, which also includes Goat Head Burr and Lignum-vitae. In Ben Ehrenreich’s recent book, Desert Notebooks: A Road Map for the End of Time, he states that one Creosote (Larrea tridentata) dune in the Mojave Desert has been dated at 11,700 years old (See: www.pbssocal.org/...). This is over twice as old as the oldest known Bristlecone Pine (Pinus longaeva) and at least twice as old as a possibly older non-clonal tree, a Patagonian cypress (Fitzroya cupressoides) (See: www.conservation.org/...). A clonal group of Quaking Aspens my be even older, as much as 16,000 years (See: en.wikipedia.org/...).
Creosote bushes should not be dismissed, even though there is no National Park or Forest around the oldest Creosote dune. They also harbor a mystery. How did they get to the Southwest US around 12,000 years ago or earlier? The genus Larrea apparently originated in the deserts of Southern South America and the desert on the Península Valdés, south of Buenos Aires looks remarkably like the Jornada del Muerto, with Mesquite, Creosote and woody Snakeweed, all of which have representatives on the Jornada. Photos taken by one of my graduate students on the Península Valdés, were in fact difficult to separate from photos made of the Jornada, unless Guanacos were present! Apparently something happened during the Pleistocene that brought exchanges between the deserts, with Creosote and Mesquite going north, and Snakeweed possibly going south. Some authorities think that the seeds were possibly carried by migrating birds (See: palmdesert.ucr.edu/...'s,would%20have%20needed%20to%20travel.)
In any case, Creosote is a signature shrub of the North American Deserts, being found in large numbers in the Mojave, Sonoran (including the Colorado) and Chihuahuan Deserts. It was once thought that the spacing of Creosote in the driest deserts was due to the production of of an allelopathic chemical, but one of my students in the arachnology class I taught, could not find such a chemical during his doctoral research (for another professor) and I’ve always doubted its existence because in relatively wet deserts Creosote seems to have not such effect on nearby plants (See: dryheatblog.wordpress.com/...). However, the property is often cited as valid. I suspect that the spacing in the Gran Desierto (which Creosote shares with Bursage — also spaced) is due to Creosote’s ability to sequester water and nutrients better than most other plants.
The scent of wet Creosote after a rain is a distinct characteristic of most North American deserts and one that I certainly miss.
Creosote seems almost indestructible and I have only seen one mass death. It was along the Camino del Diablo, where a heavy rainstorm (possibly caused by a Pacific hurricane) left an area submerged for a prolonged period. Creosote can be easily killed by digging them up. However, even atomic bombs can’t seem to kill them unless they are within the blast area, as 20 of 21 plants studied that were apparently dead because of radiation, resprouted after desert rains (See: www.pbssocal.org/...).
Creosote has been in North America for at least 12,000 years and can survive nearly anything you can throw at it, except for excess water, possibly too little water (see below), digging it up, and perhaps a few herbicides (although chemical control is often not of economic value anyway. See:www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/...). However, studies in the Sonoran Desert indicate that even Creosote may decline with severe drought (See: www.nps.gov/…). Still, I think that it will be a very long time before Creosote goes extinct and that it may well be one of the life forms that outlast civilization and possibly the human species!
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/3/2/2304037/-Creosote-and-the-End-of-Civilization?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
