Arizona Jewel Flower, Streptanthus carinatus arizonicus, blooms early in the year. The photograph below was taken on Apache Hill (recently featured in the Lake Valley Mining District video) on April 14, 2020. I have also photo-graphed the species in late March at Pony Hills, southwest of Cooke’s Peak.
Why is this worth mentioning? In a new study, there is always a new study, Megan Bontrager et al. found that jewelflower species in California "appear to have diverged in their climate niches based on highly differentiated annual conditions are actually tracking very similar seasonal climate conditions”. (M. Bontrager, S.J. Worthy, N.I. Cacho, L. Leventhal, J.N. Maloof, J.R. Gremer, J. Schmitt, & S.Y. Strauss, "Herbarium specimens reveal a constrained seasonal climate niche despite diverged annual climates across a wildflower clade", Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 122 (28) e2503670122, July 1, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1073/
pnas.2503670122.) This finding may turn out to be a significant point in our understanding of how plant species evolve to live in new habitats.
The jewelflower found in our area, Streptanthus carinatus arizonicus, was not one of the 14 species included in the study but the researchers found that the characteristics cited above were common across the members of the genera they studied.