You may be wondering, what type of plants thrive around mountain lions?
I searched through the web, but I couldn’t find anything.
So, keep in mind that the article you are about to read is nothing more than a hypothesis about the plants.
The Desert
Now, many cougars live in deserts, but what plants live there too?
I’m sure you’re wondering, “Of course, there are tons of cacti!”
Well, that may be true, but other plants also live there.
There are three main categories. Succulents, including cactus; bushes, trees, and grasses; and many different flowers also thrive there.
A tree-like cactus species, the saguaro is one of the cacti in the genus Carnegiea.
It can get even taller than 36 feet tall!
It lives in the Sonoran Desert, the state of Sonora in Mexico, and it is also in certain areas of California.
Fun fact: The flower of the saguaro cactus is the state flower of Arizona!
Another type of cactus is the cardon or elephant cactus.
The biggest one was recorded at just over 19 meters tall! It is the biggest species of cactus.
Many of this species still exist, but in Sonora, many have been cut down and removed so that farmers had room for their crops. 1
It loves to live in places like northwestern Mexico.
Finally, we have the prickly pear cactus, whose fruit is edible and tastes very sweet.
It grows near parts of Southern California, and other parts of the desert southwest.
A type of wildflower, called the desert lupine, is in the pea family and has small pea-shaped flowers.
When mountain lions choose to settle in these areas, they have to watch out for those cacti and other spiky plants!
Forests
These are all species that can be found in Colorado and other forests.
Pines are evergreen, lasting all year, with some getting up to 80 meters tall in some cases!
They live in lots of places around the US and other countries.
Juniper trees are also evergreen, found near pine trees and other plants.
To conclude forests, we have oak brush, which is a deciduous large bush or tree that likes to live in hilly areas and smaller mountains of western North America.
It can also be called scrub oak or white oak. 2
Mountains
As our concluding topic, we have mountains that have shrubs and flowers.
An alpine forget-me-not is one type of wildflower that grows in the mountains.
Forget-me-not is a perennial that is native to the northwest United States and it is also in some provinces of Canada. 3
A Rocky Mountain lupine is a juniper native to the western US and Canada.
Concluding
If you have some of the plants growing wild, keep an eye out for deer. If you see lots of deer, you might get lucky enough to spot a mountain lion!
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachycereus_pringlei
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quercus_gambelii
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myosotis