American Persimmon

Plants > Trees & Shrubs

The American Persimmon (Diospyros virginiana), celebrated by early naturalists as the Sugar Plum of the forest, is a beloved native fruit-bearing hardwood tree belonging to the ancient ebony family (Ebenaceae). Famous for its distinctive, charcoal-grey bark broken...

Sweet Birch

Plants > Trees & Shrubs

The Sweet Birch (Betula lenta), also celebrated as the Black Birch or Cherry Birch, is an aristocratic native hardwood tree renowned for its smooth, cherry-like satin bark and delightfully aromatic twigs that smell and taste intensely of sweet wintergreen. A...

Pygmy Short-horned Lizard

Reptiles > Lizards

The Pygmy Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma douglassii) is a miniature, pancake-flat reptile that reigns as the smallest and most cold-hardy horned lizard on Earth. Endemic to the chilly sagebrush plateaus of the Columbia River Basin and Great Basin, this charismatic...

Ornate Tree Lizard

Reptiles > Lizards

The Ornate Tree Lizard (Urosaurus ornatus) is a small, extraordinarily agile climbing reptile widespread across the sun-drenched canyonlands and riparian cottonwood forests of the American Southwest. Famous for its master-class bark camouflage and adult males’...

Longnose Sucker

Fish > Suckerfishes & Loaches

The Longnose Sucker (Catostomus catostomus) is an ultra cold-hardy, northern freshwater fish renowned as the only species in the sucker family (Catostomidae) native to both North America and the Asian continent. Thriving in icy, glacier-fed streams across the Arctic...