href="@public@vhost@g@gutenberg@html@files@49192@[email protected]#fn_1" id="fr_1" tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">[1], hummingbirds and bumblebees love ocotillo nectar. Like the palo verde, the ocotillo drops its leaves to conserve moisture while its green bark carries on a minimum of food manufacture. Within a few days of a good rain it sprouts a whole new set of leaves, only to shed them again as soon as the soil dries. The plant may develop and shed a half dozen sets of leaves in a single growing season.

10 SAGUARO SKELETON. The Salado built roofs and fashioned tools from the wooden ribs of saguaro skeletons, such as those in various states of decomposition up the draw above you. Skeletons also supplied wood for household fires in an area with few other fuel sources.

11 CANE CHOLLA. Flower buds of many types of cholla are edible; Pima Indians, modern desert farmers living near Phoenix, steam them as vegetables. The curve-bill thrasher builds its untidy nest in this cholla.

12 JOJOBA (ho-HO-ba). Moisture is retained in these large leaves by a thick wax coating. The jojoba’s large oily nuts, slightly resembling a peanut in size and shape, can be eaten raw or parched; early settlers used them as a coffee substitute, giving the shrub the name “coffeeberry.” The plant is an important browse for white-tail and mule deer.

Jojoba leaves and fruit

13 SAGUARO. These magnificent giants are indicator plants of the Sonoran Desert. Saguaros produce a beautiful white blossom which has been designated the Arizona State Flower. Its bright red fruit is edible.

Saguaros grow as high as 50 feet and more, and may live as long as 200 years. After a good rain, large saguaros may weigh several tons. Their roots are shallow—not more than three feet deep—which allows rapid absorption of ground-surface moisture. The pleated skin expands, accordion-like, as the inner pulp swells with absorbed water.

The Gila woodpecker is responsible for many of the holes you see riddling mature saguaros; the bird will excavate a half-dozen or more potential nests every year. Other birds use the woodpecker holes, particularly the elf owl, a six-inch midget which can live only where the saguaro and the woodpecker provide it with a home.

Saguaro blossoms.

The Annex.

14 THE ANNEX. Look above you, at the base of the cliff; do you see a five-foot manmade wall? Once there was a Salado village in the shallow recess above; it was contemporary with the Lower Ruin just around the corner and probably housed its population overflow. There were about a dozen rooms in the Annex, traceable from tiny fragments of walls and plaster room outlines. Because the recess is so shallow and offers little shelter, the Annex was destroyed by weather long ago. What you see from the trail here is all there is to see.

15 TEDDYBEAR CHOLLA. Imagine the misery this cactus gave the scantily-clad Salados as they moved about gathering wild food and hunting deer and other creatures. The teddybear’s joints break off very easily and stick to a victim at the slightest contact, even seeming to