Other articles by Peter Gierlach:

Create an animal oasis Go native to beat the drought Hopbush a dependable, evergreen native plant Desert broom sweeps across town

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A long time ago, south of Tucson near the Mission San Xavier del Bac, a branch of the Santa Cruz River ran north parallel to the main channel.

The western branch of that split river emptied back into the main channel at Sentinel Peak, better known today as "A" Mountain.

The Santa Cruz River is the reason Tucson exists. It provided water for indigenous people as well as the Hispanic and Anglo settlers who ultimately took their place. Tucson thrived with two river channels flowing into and through it.

Though degradation of the Santa Cruz reportedly started back in the 1880s, both the main river and the west branch supported a riparian forest of cottonwoods, ash, willows and a mesquite bosque well into the 1940s. These days, the riparian trees have long disappeared from both channels of the river as it approaches Tucson. But not far from Downtown, a small mesquite bosque still stands along the west branch of the Santa Cruz River.

It's a relic of another time.

About a year and a half ago, I was walking along the west branch between Ajo Way and Silverlake Road with University of Arizona botanist Kathryn Mauz while she developed a current plant list.

We saw desert seepweed and five species of saltbush. When we got into the channel itself, I saw a favorite vine clambering over the branches of a graythorn — a snapdragon vine. I couldn't help but be excited about a vine that I had always associated with canyons and uplands growing vigorously along the old west branch.

The scientific name for snapdragon vine is Maurandya antirrhiniflora. The genus is in honor of a woman botanist named Catherine Maurandy of the late 1800s. That scary-sounding epithet simply means that it has flowers like a snapdragon. It helps to know that the genus of snapdragon is Antirrhinum, which is from Greek and means "like a nose or snout." It alludes to the flower's dragonlike appearance.

Maurandya is a delicate twining vine with small, triangular-shaped leaves, and it does have beautiful little flowers similar to snapdragons. Some vines will have pinkish to red flowers while others have purple flowers.

In the wild, I like the way it climbs on plants. I've seen it climbing up an ocotillo. Once, I saw it twining over a prickly pear cactus on a canyon slope. That's the way I would use it in a landscape. It isn't boisterous or showy. It would look wonderful twining up into a favorite mesquite with the small, exquisite flowers hanging from slender stems.

On hikes out in the desert and up into the hills, you'll find snapdragon vine between 1,500 and 6,000 feet. I've seen it in wonderful places, but I'll never forget the time I saw it a mile from Downtown Tucson, growing along the west branch of the Santa Cruz River.