every shrub - the encelia, the burrobush, the creosote bush, and then herbs everywhere. we have fagonia in full-flower out here, and lots phacelias, scorpionweeds, it's just incredible the amount of variation we find in the desert and this one, one i haven't seen before but we all know it, tobacco. did you know that tobacco is an american plant and the native americans used it and they used this one. imagine - our tobacco came from a desert heritage! >>bird chirping. >>on warm spring nights, desert life emerges in force. the strangest of creatures, like the desert banded gecko, are out hunting. their skin can't avoid drying out in the heat of day, so they live underground until darkness falls. perhaps even stranger are the granite night lizards with their elongated toes, made for scaling rock. many of the oddest snakes are also nocturnal like the lyre snake. this is a rear-fanged venomous species but it's no threat to humans. the bizarre shovel-nosed snake commonly crosses roads on warm nights but it's how they travel when not on pavement that's impressive! they can lite