SCUTELLARIA MEXICANA - PAPERBAG BUSH

The plant community which encompasses several miles around Keys View in Joshua Tree National Park could be considered Pinyon Juniper Woodland. However, often observable of areas where desert and mountain overlap, are a mix of adjacent biomes. Constituents of Creosote Bush Scrub and Joshua Tree Woodland intermingle nearby. This multi habitat section of the Little San Bernardino Mountains hosts Scutellaria Mexicana, commonly Paperpag Bush.

Scutellaria Mexicana is discearnable from other shrubs with a gray green, spikey stature, and spherical, flakey shells which enclose its fruits. Paperbag Bush is noted to succeed in soils of gravely granite. Its full endemic range spans other parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and sections of Mexico.

The average S. Mexicana specimen is a small shrub, usually not exceeding 3 feet in height. Ideal conditions can produce larger organisms. Its drought decidious leaves detached expose the taxonomically valuable branching pattern of opposite right angles sprouting from larger main stems. April through June will render violet flowers. followed thereafter by fruits which develop inside the papery shell, and are thought to assist with the seeds windborne dispersal.