Imported
Barrel cactus* Cylindrical or barrel shaped and are usually among the largest cacti of the North American deserts. All members of this genus have prominent ribs and are fiercely armed with heavy spines. In some species, one or more central spines are curved like a fish-hook, accounting for the common name fish-hook barrel cactus.
Height: 16 inches -11 feet depending on variety.
Range: hot desert of North America from the Mojave, Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts of southern California, southern Arizona west to Texas and south into Baja, California and central Mexico
Flowering time: depends on variety.
Burro bush* A much-branched shrub that is softly gray-white. The stems are covered with dense, fine greyish white hairs. The plant has both male and female flowers on the same plant.
Colour: Green to brown
Height: 8-35 inches
Range: East of Sierra Nevada, Desert
Flowering time: Feb–Jun, Sep–Nov
Creosote bush* A much-branched shrub that is softly gray-white. The stems are covered with dense, fine greyish white hairs. The plant has both male and female flowers on the same plant.
Colour: Flower – yellow
Height: 3-5 feet can reach 10 feet.
Range: Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Deserts of western North America.
Flowering time: Year round
Native Habitat: Flat desert areas.
"Fremen in the open desert rub their hands with juice from the leaves of the creosote bush. It inhibits perspiration." [23]p. 134
Date Palms* "A line of twenty palm trees grew there", " They look at those trees and they think; 'There are one hundred of us.' That's what they think."," Those are date palms," he said. " One date palm requires forty litres of water a day. A man requires but eight litres. A palm, then, equals five men. There are twenty palms out there--one hundred men."[23]p.76. Point of interest from actual records of people crossing the sahara (hot season and equivalent) water consumption was 3-4 litres on average a day with a height of 5 litres.
"a slope humped with a wind-troubled gray-green of bushes, dusty leaves and dry claw branches"[23]p.76
Evening primrose* This bush-like, sweet-scented annual is most often a greyish green, creeping dune plant and spreading as wide as 40 inches.
Hight 2-18 inches high
Range: Mojave, Sonoran and Great Basin deserts of southern California, Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Habitat: Sandy, open desert areas, especially near dunes, below 3500 feet.
Flowers: January through May.
Grasses "a matting of low grasses, yellow-green in the shadows."[23]p.304
Incense bush* Brittle-bush (Encelia farinosa) is a medium-size shrub with oval, silver-gray leaves covered in tiny, fuzzy hairs.
The brittle-bush can be used to haft sharp points on arrows and fishing spears. The plant resin from the upper section of this shrub can be used as a sealant for pottery containers. The resin is viscous and transparent yellow.
Branches can be cooked down to ashes to produce a gummy glue that could be applied to a loose tooth for support , also apply this gummy resin to your chest to relieve pain.
Early Spanish padres enjoyed burning the resinous crystals that exude from the stems. They liked the smell and regarded this plant as a form of incense. For this reason settlers called this shrub, ‘incienso.’ Apparently, the fragrance is reminiscent of frankincense.
(there are several candidates for this plant but considering the other useful ways it could be used it seemed like a plant the Fremen would have made good use of.)
Colour: silver-gray leaves
Height: 2-4 feet, spread 2-4 feet.
Range: Sonoran Desert and in the warmer areas of the Mojave Desert.
Flowering time: late winter and early spring
Poverty Grass "poverty grass with peat-like hair cilia to intertwine, mat and fix the dunes"[23]p.570
Saguaro Cactus* The saguaro is a tree-like cactus species in the monotypic genus Carnegiea that can grow to be over 12 meters (40 feet) tall.
Hight: 15-50 feet.
Range: Sonoran Desert of extreme southeastern California, southern Arizona and adjoining northwestern Mexico.
Flowers: May and June.
"Saguaro (...) Scrawny stuff." [23]p.294
Sand verbena* Desert sand verbena are sticky, hairy creepers that have flower stalks up to 10 inches long, with stems trailing up to 3 feet. Leaves are oval with wavy edges 1/2 to 1-1/2 inches long. Sand verbena can carpet desert washes for miles after abundant winter rains.
Range: Mojave and Sonoran deserts of southeastern California, southern Nevada, western Arizona and north-west Mexico. Flowers Feb – May
Smoke Tree* Smoke-tree is a shrub or subshrub and rarely a tree, the trunk is short, crooked and intricately branched with smoky gray or silvery branches, all with spiny twigs throughout, similar to the Paloverde the green trunk, stems and branches produce food through photosynthesis
Hight: up to 27 feet
Habitat Preferences: Desert sandy washes.
Flowering Season: April to June
*"Arrakis: His Imperial Majesty's Desert Botanical Testing Station." It was an old film-book from before discovery of the spice""from man's terranic past, and many to be found now nowhere else in the universe except here on Arrakis."[23]p.83 atm the earliest mention of spice is at 202 B.G. , discovered by Tlulaxa Business man called Tuk Keedair .
"a rare native root plant that grew above the 2,500 meter level in the northern temperate zone.""A tuber two meters long yielded half a litre of water." [23]p.569
"in with deeper plantings, ephemerals (chenopods, pigweeds, and amaranth to begin), then scotch broom, low lupine, vine eucalyptus (...), dwarf tamarisk, shore pine, then the true desert growths: candelilla, saguaro, and bis-naga, the barrel cactus. Where it would grow, they introduced camel sage, onion grass, gobi feather grass, wild alfalfa, burrow bush, sand verbena, evening primrose, incense bush, smoke tree, creosote bush. " [23]p.570
"the crucial test: date palms, cotton, melons, coffee, medicinals, more than 200 selected food plant types to test and adapt."[23]p.570
Native
"was explaining to the Duke that native Arrakeen plants had no thorns."[23]p.162
Unknown
Bat aslo known as CIelago or Chiroptera.
"the voice of the cielago"[23]p.323 Name for bats on Arakis. a Chakobsa word.
"recognized a tiny bat. The bat turned its head and Hawat saw its blue-within-blue eyes." [23]p.251"were brown-winged bats" [23]p.258 likly the same spieces that the fremen with hawat had as this was seen in fremen controled environment.
Desert hawk* Red-tailed Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk , these two seem the best fit for a "desert hawk"
Eagle "That's likely an eagle (...)Many creatures have adapted to this place."[23]p.138 spotted on spice harvesting observation trip by the duke , past the shield wall.
Kangaroo mouse* A kangaroo mouse is native to the deserts of the southwestern United States, The name "kangaroo mouse" refers to the species' jumping ability, as well as its habit of bipedal movement. Kangaroo mice live in sandy desert ecosystems, and forage for seeds and vegetation. The dark kangaroo mouse is also known to feed occasionally on insects and carrion. The mouse rarely drinks water, instead deriving it from the foods it eats. The pale kangaroo mouse burrows only in fine sand, while the dark kangaroo mouse prefers fine, gravelly soils but may also burrow in sand or sandy soil. Kangaroo mice are nocturnal, and are most active in the two hours following sunset.
An extraordinary fact about some heteromyid species, such as the kangaroo mouse, is that they can spend several extended periods of time, even lifetimes, without consuming water. This is due to their efficient kidneys and ability to extract sufficient water from food and is essential in their survival in desert areas "."Mice!" he hissed."[23]p.311
"the little mouse, the mouse that jumps? (...)We call that one Muad'Dib," [23]p.354" Muad'Dib is wise in the ways of the desert. Muad'Dib creates his own water. Muad'Dib hides from the sun and travels in the cool night. Muad'Dib is fruitful and multiplies over the land. Muad'Dib we call 'instructor-of-boys.'"[23]p.355
Kit fox* The kit fox is a fox species that inhabits arid and semi-arid regions of the southwestern United States and northern and cen tral Mexico. These foxes are the smallest of the four species of Vulpes occurring in North America and are among the smallest of the vulpines worldwide
Size 2.5K
Kulon " the domesticated desert ass, the kulon (...) the beasts were fitted with modified stillsuits."[23]p.568
Hawk , Desert "a line of hawks along the rim of the fissure (...) staring down at the open water. Great Mother! (...) They can sense water even at that distance!"
"Desert hawks, carrion-eaters in this land as were most wild creatures" [23]p.315
Insects "tiny spill of sand, an insect brrr,"[23]p.310
*"Arrakis: His Imperial Majesty's Desert Botanical Testing Station." It was an old film-book from before discovery of the spice""from man's terranic past--and many to be found now nowhere else in the universe except here on Arrakis."[23]p.83 atm the earliest mention of spice is at 202 B.G. , discovered by Tlulaxa Busness man called Tuk Keedair .
"All of our birds, of course, are carrion-eaters, and many exist without water, having become blood-drinkers."[23]p.162
"the progress of an insect across their stilltent roof"[23]p.228
"Noise of small animals.Birds.A fall of dislodged sand and faint creature sounds within it."[23]p.240 quote taken when they are at the location they were taken to by idaho to be safe when he left to find Kynes
"They turned then to the necessary animal life, burrowing creatures to open the soil and aerate it: kit fox, kangaroo mouse, desert hare, sand terrapin . . . and the predators to keep them in check: desert hawk, dwarf owl, eagle and desert owl; and insects to fill the niches these couldn't reach: scorpion, centipede, trapdoor spider, the biting wasp and the wormfly . . . and the desert bat to keep watch on these.[23]p.570
"the edge of the Shield Wall. (...) Beneath them, the broken ground began to drop away in tumbled creases toward a barren rock plain and a knife-edged shelf. Beyond the shelf, fingernail crescents of dunes marched toward the horizon (...) This latitude's life-zone has mostly what we call minor water stealers--adapted to raiding each other for moisture, gobbling up the trace-dew. Some parts of the desert teem with life."[23]p.136
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