CACTUS ROMANIA

Elton Robert din Rippon, California ne mai onoreaza cu un articol si imagini.Pe masura ce le primesc le postez aici.Pozele sunt la galerie.Vreau sa le multumesc anticipat lui Lidia si Dag pentru colaborare.


Desert Trip 3-08 1



I heard that the desert had received a lot of rain and was in, or expected to be in, bloom like not seen in many years. I will have to say that it was nice but I have seen a lot better blooming years in the southern California deserts. In my collection of quite old and I have to think, faded slides I have a photo of the desert floor when it was vivid pink. Thirty some odd years ago the desert floor was vivid pink with sand verbena. The only place where it was not pink was the rocky mountainsides. I have not seen it pink like that since. This time there were quite a lot of flowers in bloom and it was pretty. In areas here and there were acres of Plagiobothrys nothofulvus. Common name is the popcorn flower and I can sure see why and it is so much easier to pronounce. There is no way I can wrap my tongue around that Latin name. As I said there were these plants in areas and then you could go for miles with out seeing another one. Along with the popcorn flower was a yellow flowering plant that I do not remember ever seeing before. I have been in the desert many times but this is the first time I have seen the plant. I do not know what it is and I have looked in all the wild flower books I have and I cannot find any thing that gives me a hint or even a name for it. The plant is in photo #2. It was blooming over large areas of the desert. For a couple days I would go walking and when I got back and sat around a while I would notice my shoes were covered with this yellowish stuff. The first several times they were covered I swept the stuff off. Then I discovered that if I stomped my feet it would come off anyway. If you notice it was not till photo 39 that I discovered what it was so I took a photo of my shoes, it was pollen off of these plants. The plants are no more than about 12 to 15 cm tall just tall enough so when you go walking the pollen could cover your shoes and also color the bottom of the plant legs. In places they were really thick and other places like in photo 36 where there were places you could step between the plants.


Desert trip 2



Not as common as some of the other desert flowers is one with one of my favorite colors, the wild heliotrope, Phacelia distans. These plants were in most of the desert areas where some of the plants were in more select areas or in certain kinds of soil. On the plains down by the Salton Sea there are huge areas of Agave desertii. Clumps of this Agave can be several meters across. Where the plants have been undisturbed clumps can grow against each other and in time some patches can be to ten or more meters in diameter. In times of good rains the plants can really look nice in times of drought the plants can look half dead. In photo 5 you can see that the plants look quite good, in photo 6 you can see where some plants in the clump died from years of drought. Usually plants do not die unless they have bloomed and those dead heads had not bloomed. In years of good rainfall the plants in clumps will throw many flower stalks. These can be to 5 meters tall. It is quite a sight to see acres of them in bloom. Higher up the plants are not in as large of colonies and I have seen the occasional plant with a single head that is about a meter across. Most of the Agave desertii plants are only about half that size. My uncle was from Texas and as such a good storyteller of tall stories and he always had a good come back for any thing some one would say. One year many years ago when I was young the desert was in bloom and the agaves were putting on a very good show. My Mom baited my uncle and started out telling him how Texas had every thing so large and much better than any other place. You could see him inflated with Texas pride, she said that we have something larger and better than Texas and that it is California asparagus and she pointed to the Agave flower spikes. That left his Texas pride looking like a hot air balloon with out any hot air in it. The only time I ever saw my uncle bettered and with out a come back.


Desert Trip 3



For some of the desert plants it can take a long time for the ravages of time to disappear after a long drought. Just because the desert has received some rain does not mean that the drought is over. Sure the desert may look green again or be blooming but that in no way says that any drought is over. In photo 5 you can see that the Cylindropuntia echinocarpa is showing some signs of growing new joints but it is showing more the fact that there has been a few years of drought. Again in photo #8 you can see the ravages of time and no rain with the dead and almost dead plants that are around the Ferocactus cylindraceus. While seeing the death also take notice of the life and the flowers and also the new growth on the top of the Ferocactus. That is a good sign that some of the plants have taken on some water from the rains. But while about it you should take note that the Ferocactus is not really fat from lots of water. Habitat plants are just like cultivated plants; they healthy up from the top and slowly healthy up from the top down. Notice that the upper part of the plant is larger than the lower portion of the plant. After a long drought and the plants get enough water to make a difference, the first two things the plants do is start growing at the growing point and the next thing is to prepare to bloom so as to set seed. I did not see a Ferocactus on this trip that was not in bud or had some flowers open on them. The plant in photo 9 is a bit taller than I am and still it is skinny compared to what they look like after years of normal rainfall. Notice the ocotillo in the background; they are all dressed in green leaves, which shows that there was recent rains. Photo 9 even slows that I found an ocotillo that had a branch low enough for me to show that the plant was throwing flower buds. I did find some of the plants that were in bloom but I left my 15-foot ladder home so I could not get up to the open flowers. Notice that the leaves are right above the spine. Right after even a fairly light rain the plants will grow leaves. If there is no more rain the plant will drop the leaves in a short time. While the leaves are on the plant photosynthesis takes place in them. So as not to loose water if there is no more rain the leaves will drop and the photosynthesis will take pace in the stems. This is a special adaptation Mother Nature has for only a few of her special plants.


Desert Trip 4



My computer monitor went out a couple nights ago and I had to get a new one, this new one is a high definition display, high-resolution monitor. Wow is all I can say, what it does for the photos is something else. They come out in real life and so clear that you see things you did not see before. So now I am enjoying my trip all over again and in such clarity that it makes me want to do it again. Photo 11 shows one of the first Ferocactus cylindraceus that I encountered on the trip. It had a single flower open on it. I figured if it was like in times past that I would find a flower open here and there on the Ferocactus. As the flower was open and there were buds I figured that most of the Ferocactus would be in the same flowering state. Was I wrong! Not all the cactus bloom in the springtime, Mammillaria tetrancistra blooms about mid to end of summer. If it were a spring bloomer it would cross with other Mammillarias. In the Anza Borrego Desert they would cross with Mammillaria dioica, which they grow side by side with in some areas. As the Mammillaria dioica seedpods are ripening and being eaten by birds, the Mammillaria tetrancistra are budding up or just starting to bloom. There are certain kinds of soil that you will almost always fine Mamm tetrancistra in but birds also drop their seed over large areas of the desert. So you can come upon the plants when you least expect it. I was quite surprised to find M. tetrancistra in among these rocks. In photo 12 you can see that the plant does not stand out like a sore thumb and if you are seeing many acres of rock at one time one single plant does not show up all that well. Moving in closer in photo 13 you can see green among the spines showing that the plant is in good health. I have seen that Mamm. tetrancistra can take quite a bit of drought before it dies where some other cactus would die in half the time. Photo 14 shows that not all plants die in a drought and others close by do. Here we have an indication of a healthy population of Ferocactus but also an indication that not all has been well. This is a Ferocactus cylindraceus seedling about the size of a baseball. It is nice and healthy but its sibling died from probably the drought. The seed may have fallen in some soil that had a rock platform under it and so its roots did not sustain it. Ferocactus seedlings did not have any buds or flowers but most plants that were somewhat larger had buds or were opening flowers.


Desert Trip 5



Desert thunderstorms do not cover all the desert areas at the same time. The fact is that a storm can be pounding where you are and it is sunny and dry a mile away. Some areas may get some rain in drought years and others will not get a drop. As I wandered the desert areas I saw that some of the areas were green and the plants were healthy but in other places many of the plants were dead. Over a lot of the lower desert areas even the Opuntia basilaris clumps were dead, those that still had a bit of live in them were eaten to the ground by the desert critters trying to get water. In photo 15 you can see some near dead pads close to the ground also some of the pads have been eaten. I have to suppose that it is then that some rains came along and the critters (usually jackrabbits) went to eating some thing different. As you can see there are now several new pads on this Opuntia basilaris that have not even been nibbled. Top it all off the plant has quite a few buds coming on. There are from one to 8 buds on the different pads. I have to wonder if the plant was trying to make up for lost time during the drought. Besides the wild flowers blooming and the Ferocactus putting on a show a few of the cholla were starting to bloom. Photo 16 shows the flower on a Cylindropuntia echinocarpa open. The plants in this one area were showing new growth and this one had a flower on it. In other areas the C. echinocarpa were showing no new growth or were just starting to shoot new growth.

In photo 17 there are several things to pay attention to. The Ocotillos are all dressed out in green leaves showing that it had rained quite recently. The Cylindropuntia echinocarpa are looking quite healthy and notice the Ferocactus cylindraceus has a cap of new spines on top. To me that indicates that the plans received rain last summer, which helped the plants to grow and healthy up. Most of the nurse plants for the Ferocactus that are small have died in the drought and so the Feros are having to make it on their own or die. Notice the long spines on the new growth at the top of the plant. Young Feros that have a nurse plant for shade usually do not have spines even half that long. The long spines is the plants way of trying to shade it self. The last thing I want to point out is the discoloration at the bottom of the Fero and the Cylindropuntia. This is normal growth seen on plants in habitat. Many people have asked me why their plants are turning dark at the base as if it should not happen. If it happens for Mother Nature then it sure can happen in cultivated plants also.

Photos 18 and 18.5 show the sweethearts of the desert, these are Cylindropuntia bigelovii. This is the cuddly ‘Teddy Bear’ cholla. Regardless how cuddly and inviting they may look they are the one plants that you do not want to mess with at all. If you once have tangled with these ‘teddy bears’ you will never forget the encounter. They are also known as the ‘jumping cactus or the jumping cholla. Some articles I have seen claim that the plants never bloom but this is wrong. In the photos you can see the seedpods on the end of some joints. As a way of not having to depend on seeds for plant growth the plants at certain times of the year drop joints. It is the way the plant propagates its self. The joints can blow around and do so easily on those spine tips, if they lodge in soil they will root and make a new plant. It is because of this dropping of the joints that they are usually in forests of plants. The same thing can also be seen in another Opuntia family member, Tephrocactus articulatus. When that plant drops its joints it alarms collectors that are not familiar with the propagating ways of the plants. With C. bigelovii just a small puff of air can dislodge the joints. If some one is walking close by and causes a bit of a stir in the air the joints come down. The people will swear that the joints jumped at them. With a stiff wind the joints will fly off side ways making it look like the joints are jumping off the plant. The spines have minute barbs on them and a sheath also. The barbs hold on and they are playing for keeps, as you pull the spines out of your self the sheath stays in you. The only safe way to remove a joint from your body is with tongs or pliers. Pull straight away from your body do not flick the joint as it will only roll leaving spines in you all the way, lodging somewhere else on you. For a lot of people the sheaths will form pimple like sores that last from a few days to sometimes weeks. Remember this ‘teddy bear’ may look cuddly but they are bad news if you tangle with them.


Desert Trip 6



It always amazes me where some plants can grow, the area shown in photo 19 is one area where I figured not much would be growing but the desert shows it grows plants where it wants to. The rocks in this area of several hundred acres are almost as close as shingles on a roof. In much of the area you see very little soil and walking is quite easy as it is all close and quite smooth rocks. When I see small plants growing in an area like this I know that the desert is not in all that bad of a situation. I read or listen to speakers at area cactus clubs, some of these articles and speakers talk as the desert is in its final death throws. The thing is that it is a desert and times of drought have come and gone for eons if time. After all it is a DESERT! What makes it that way is the absents of very much rainfall and a rainfall that is hit and miss. If it got thirty to sixty inches of rainfall each year it would not be a desert but forests and meadows with rolling grassy hills covered in a different kind of wild flowers. I dare say that man would be ruining it and making it in to farm lands like some areas that are ruined already. When I see small plants like the Ferocactus and the small ocotillo growing in such rocky area I know that the desert is still quite healthy. I have to ask; does that Mammillaria tetrancistra look like it is on its deathbed? Not to me and when I see the green leafy plants that are growing close by I have to think the desert is healthy like always, that is in a lot of places where man has not ruined it. I see that a seed was washed under a rock and the seedling started growing and it is still growing even if it has to lay down to get our from under that rock. In this area were quite a few Ferocactus that were large enough to not be called a seedling any more but still were not the full-grown. Some had only one of two buds on them and others were large enough to have a ring of buds and even several flowers open. It could be the first year the Ferocactus in photo 22 has had a ring of buds. There are about 16 buds on this plant where the older and larger plants had 30 to 40 buds and flowers.

When I left the are of the smooth rocks I went on to an area of mostly decomposed granite. Here there were indications that it had rained only a day or so before I got there. The ocotillos were not dressed in their leaves but in a few days they would be all leafed out as they were just starting to leave out. Their flower spikes were just starting to grow also where others that were completely leafed out had flowers ready to open. These are really grand ocotillos as they are over 20 feet tall.


Desert Trip 7



Every now and then while wandering the desert sands and rocks you will come on an area where the plants are just a bit above the average. In an area of light colored decomposing granite I came across some really nice plants. In looking at the plants I think that what makes the plants stand out a bit more is the fact that they did not seem to have the dark spines and coloration at the bottom. Of if they did it did not stand out like on plants from other areas. It also could be that these plants are young enough that they have not had the time to turn really dark at the base of the plants. In photo 24 we have this cute couple resting against the rock and holding spines. Notice that even growing that close together the outer flower petals are quite different in color. Some people would say it is because the one’s flower buds are more mature. The problem with that is that even the smallest bud has a lot more red in it than any buds on the larger plant. The plant in photo 25 is getting ready to bloom for the first time, it is not very large and there was no indication it had bloomed before. Also note that there is new ruby red growth at the base of the youngest spines. This is another plant with quite a lot of red on the outer flower petals. I found quite a few clumps of Echinocereus engelmannii that were dead from the long drought. Thinking about it I figured many of the dead ones were in areas of quite shallow soil. Some were in the really rocky areas and many were on the top of high ground, in the lower areas a few feet away the plants were still holding on to life. Here in the decomposing granite the plants were in very good condition. The plant in photo 26 looks like it had not seen a drought, as it is quite healthy. I just love the wonderful horn colored spines on this plant.

While wandering around the desert I have seen Mammillaria tetrancistra and dioica seedpods lying around where a bird has dropped them but I have never seen any seedpods of Ferocactus lying around. While the seedpods are still very much attached to the plants and just ripening the ants will bore a hole in them and extract the seeds. They do not eat the seed but eat what is on the outside of the seed and the pulp in side of the seedpod. They do not do that in the pod but haul the seeds and all back to the nest. You have to really look hard and long to find a seedpod that has not been raided. I have never seen a whole and dry seedpod full of seed on any Ferocactus in the desert. The gathering of Ferocactus cylindraceus in photo 27 must have been where an anthill was 50 to 75 or so years ago. There was no indication that there was a parent plant in the middle of the group. One year the conditions were right and a bunch of seed germinated and there is this wonderful meeting of plants. As far as the plants are concerned setting seed is about the most important thing they have to do. So the plants seem to out do themselves in producing flowers. The younger plants will put out a ring of flowers but the older plants will have a double or even a triple ring of buds. The flowers do not all open at the same time as the plants try to make sure they blooming while another plants are also so there is cross-pollination. The flowers are wonderful greenish yellow and the petals look like they are sculpted from wax or some other shinny material. The beauty of the flowers lasts only a short time so the only way to keep it is in photos.


Desert Trip 8



I was hoping to find a Ferocactus cylindraceus with a full ring of flowers open on the top; the plant in photo 29 is as close as I came on this trip. It has 12 flowers open and I have to think if I had been there two days later it would have had a full ring open. It is always nice to get a shot of a plant with a full halo of flowers open on it. An indication of the health of the desert is if there are any seedling or small plants of the larger desert plants growing. Not all of the small plants are off in the shade of a rock or of a nurse bush. Some of the seed seems to get lost right at the base of the parent plant. I always like to think that the ant carrying the seed either got hungry and cleaned the seed or lost its grip on it there by loosing it. Photo 30 is not just showing the base of a large barrel and that it is kind of grungy but it is also showing the seedling Ferocactus. The plant is all of about the size of a tennis ball with out the spines add the spines and it is about the size of a soft ball. One place that I camped was just down a way from some Washingtonia filifera or California fan palms. If you paid attention while driving west on the road you could just see the tops of the trees. That is if you know what they are other wise they just kind of blend in with the desert rocks and other plants. Photo 31 is not from the main road but from about, …. well a short way away from the trees. I decided to wander up to the trees since they did not look all that far away. There is one thing to remember and that is, things in the desert are much farther away than what it looks. When friends from England come over I remind them of that fact. One time I took a couple of them for a walk that lasted till about noon. I then asked if they wanted to go for a hike. They decided to stay in camp so I told them that distances in the desert are very deceptive and not to go wandering off too far if they decide to go walk about. Well he said that it did not look far and so went walk about and got a good lesson on distances in the desert, as he did not know he was so far from camp. He has not forgotten that experience. Since I could see just the tops of the tree it was not all that far. I hiked for a while before I took photo 31. I then hiked some more and wondered if I was ever going to get to the trees. When I could see the trees quite well I took photo 32 from only 5 minutes away. Well, that 5 minutes took another 15 to 20 minutes to finally get to the trees. The hike took about an hour and a half. I will have to admit that I took about ten minutes watching a coyote trying to make a living.

Washingtonia filifera can grow to 80 feet tall in cultivation in the desert they only grow to about 60 feet, according to several books that is. If you look at the hillside behind the palm trees in photo 31 you can see some Ferocactus on the hillside. These Ferocactus are 4 to 5 feet tall and the ocotillos are, I guess to about 18 feet tall. For perspective the leaves of the palms are to 5 feet wide. The rock in front of the clump of trees in the center of the photo is about 25 to 28 feet wide. This is a nice stand of trees even though a strong wind blew some over in the past year or two. That is according to some one that camps there every year. The nice thing is that no jackass has gone in and set them on fire.

When I was a kid in Escondido where were some of the trees planted along a road a 1/3 of a mile or so behind our house. One night some jackasses took and shot flaming arrows into the trees and burned most of them. I have seen other areas where the trees have been burned usually it is just the dead leaves that burn but sometimes it will also kill a lot of the live leaves also. It can take a palm tree many years to recover. My GPS showed that there were at least 5 groves of the trees in the area. I declined the temptation to hike to any more of them.


Desert Trip 9



Isn’t he cute? He is hiding beside a clump of adults. Every time I look at that photo (#35) I picture a shy kid trying to hide behind its mother’s skirts I did not measure how tall the small tree is but you can see that he is a bit taller than I am. As I was standing on a rock I was a few feet above the base of the tree and so I would have to say that it is about eight or nine feet tall. It is quite a nice looking tree. The area is not all messed up by so many people coming and going like Palm Canyon is nowadays. At least the area still looks wild and is wild as can be seen by the leaves lying around. Going on down toward camp I ran into a forest of Cylindropuntia echinocarpa (photos 37 & 3. These plants were not messing around, as they are not short like so many in many other areas. These kings of the area were to seven feet tall. Not as nasty to tangle with as the teddy bear but just the same you do not want to run into one of these either. Some desert birds make nests in these cactus and also the teddy bear cactus and I have to wonder how they manage to not get hung up on the spines. They seem to be able to land on the joints and not get caught on them. They built their nests, which takes many trips and many times of landing on the spines. They come and go after the eggs hatch feeding the little ones and they must land on the spines several thousand times still never getting caught. I have never seen a baby bird caught in the spines either. There is one thing about a nest here and that is no predators in their right minds are going to go after the eggs or young birds. Jackrabbits have been known to take refuge in a clump of these plants or the teddy bear plants and ignore a hungry coyote that is going round and round the plants but not daring to enter because of the joints laying all around. Smart jackrabbit!

Going on down the hill to the wash area there you come across the Smoke Tree, Dalea spinosa. Other people got there before me, as there were no smokes left on the tree. These small trees are called smoke trees because to the early pioneers going west the plants looked like smoke lying close to the ground. I have seen some areas where I thought there was fog hanging just above the ground the trees were so thick. In trying to get the names of the desert plants correct I have spent a lot of time trying to figure if some of the books on desert plants have the correct name on a plant. Photo 40 shows one such plant. It is easy to see it is a lupine but which one. The book called Deserts that shows the plants and animals of the deserts of North America lists and shows Coulter’s Lupine (Lupinus sparsiflorus). The text says that the flowers are pale blue or blue-lilac in color. As you can see in the photo the flower is not blue be it pale or even bluish lilac colored. The habitat of the plant as given in the book is S. California and N. Baja California, S. Nevada and to SW. New Mexico. I know that I am colorblind but to me this flower is not blue but what I have to call pinkish purple. In the book California Desert Wildflowers is listed Lupinus arizonicus and it is under reddish flowers. Apparently it grows in the same area as the pale blue flowered lupine. On my trip I did not see any blue lupines pale blue or not.


Desert Trip 10



In another spot, were more of the desert lupines but in this area they were even a bit darker in color than the one in the other spot. Since they are so pretty I could not help but to take another photo of them. The same for some of the other desert flowers. Notice that the popcorn flower has a different name this time. The reason is that there are two different plants that are called popcorn flower. They more or less grow in the same places also. So which one it is I do not know. So it is safe to stay with the popcorn flower as the name of the plant. You also have both Latin names so if you feel so inclined you could go to the desert and see if both are blooming at the same time and try and figure out which one is which. The Creosote Bush was really putting on a show. I do not remember them ever showing off this much before. The one in the photo is in all stages of the flowering game. You have buds, flowers, and seedpods. The seedpods are those white hairy critters, when ripe the seedpods open out into a star shaped pod. Each section has one seed in it. The flower petals are twisted like the blades of a fan. When the temperature reaches just a certain heat level and all the flowers are open, all the fans or flowers turn on and start spinning; it helps to cool the plant till all the flowers have opened and the seeds are set in the pods. It also keeps the honeybees at bay so they do not collect the nectar and so you do not get creosote-flavored honey. That shows how smart Mother Nature is.* In studies they have found that the bushes will slowly make a ring and they slowly grow out wards, it is estimated that some of the plants can be as much as 3,000 years old.

Again the plant that was always trying to hide my shoes, by covering them in pollen, grew all over the place. In this place you can see that there is a bit of difference in the plant flowers. They are not as yellow and the flowers open more than the other ones. Several people emailed in with ideas as to the family name of the plants. Several people said that they are in the Onagrceae family, that is the evening primrose family. I have one problem with this idea in my mind, that is I thought evening primroses opened in the evening. These flowers are open first thing in the morning and are open all day. I do not know if they closed at night as they were open when I would first get up in the mornings.


Desert trip 11



It is good to see plants in the desert especially ones that are a bit on the rare side of every day things you see. So when I come on a three headed Mammillaria tetrancistra that is fat and growing well, I am there for bound by duty to take a photo of the plant. Actually the three-headed plant at one time was a four-headed plant but as four heads is not as pleasing to the eye as is three or five heads one gave in and it became a three-headed plant. Notice how the thin hooked central spines add character to the plant. It is like they are breaking up the starburst of the radial spines with an off character line here and there. They will just for the fun of it grow up or down and toss in sideways also and you get some great character. That is pleasing to the eye!! That is enough on photo 48 so it is on to 49, now five heads is suppose to be pleasing to the eye but I do think these girls could have clumped them selves a lot better. That way it would have been a lot prettier of a clump. I will have to give them something though for trying. Notice that four of the heads are growing and have some buds but head # 5 is not doing much at all. That is the head at he far right. I do not remember now if the head was damaged on the top or if it just has started to grow as it did have several red spines. About the time I was inspecting head five I was distracted by the clump of Echinocereus in photo 50, as it seemed to be such a nice compact clump. From that distance there were no long spines showing and I had to go inspect it to see what was going on with it. Could it be a different Echinocereus other than an engelmannii? If so it would be way out of place. OOPS!!! As I got closer I saw that it was not an Echinocereus of any kind but a Mammillaria and a Mammillaria dioica at that! I have seen thousands of Mammillaria dioica in the desert before but I have never seen a clump with that many heads before. To put it plain and simple I was blown away by the size of the clump. There are five or six heads with flowers open on them as can be seen in photos 51 and 52. This is another sign of how plants are spread by birds as this is the only Mammillaria dioica in the whole area that I saw and I spent another three or four hours searching the area. At a higher elevation and twenty miles away at their habitat there are thousands of the plants but not coming close to this size of a clump. If this plant can grow so well in this area then how come there are not many more in the area. I guess only one seed got dropped and so only the one plant is in the area. I covered several hundred acres and there was not another Mammillaria dioica to be seen. At the higher elevation location of Mamm. dioica I saw a couple of crested plants that had a span as large or larger than this plant but that was because of one crested head. This plant must really like the growing conditions down here to be so large. I did not count the heads as I thought I would run across more of the plants in the area, WRONG!! I would have to say that there are somewhere around seventy heads on the plant.. The plant is about 30 x 35 cm. Its nurse plant, the Cylindropuntia echinocarpa, has seen better days but it has grown about a dozen new joints. As I took GPS readings I will have to stop in and see how the plants are doing if I get down that way again and I do hope to in time.

Desert Trip 12



Most of the time while wandering through the area where Ferocactus cylindraceus grows you will notice that most of the plants are only to about 3.5 feet tall. But every so often there is one that is tall enough to make me feel short. This plant is one that has stood tall and straight for a long time. I would guess a long long time. The plant is right at 6 feet tall. I stood on a rock to try and look the plant in the eye so to say. Since the tip of the plant was tipped toward the south I could see that there was a ring of buds but no flower open. This plant was standing off and away from any other Ferocactus in the area. I think it wanted to see if that Mammillaria tetrancistra seed could and would move that rock. They talk about the mighty oak but here is a mighty Mammillaria tetrancistra, it not only cracked the rock but also has slowly spread the rock halves apart. Moving farther on I came upon a whole bunch of small Ferocactus cylindraceus holding this old large plant up. They were not just on one side propping it up but all the way around the large plant. One is also a two-headed plant. If I remember correctly there were eleven small plants around the large one. There was only one open space at the bottom of the large plant for one more small plant and that is seen in photo 58. I have seen plants with several props but all the way around like this I have not seen before. Up on the hill is this group of five sentinels and one novice. The novice is hiding in the rocks to the right of the rest of the Feros just below the Cylindropuntia echinocarpa. Notice the tops of the ocotillo branches behind the three tallest Feros. It is as if they are doing a snake dance. That ocotillo is a good-sized plant on the far side of the hill. This side of the hill is a gentle up slope but the far side is a steep drop off.


Desert Trip 13



Photo 63 shows how we can get along if we only try. I would have to say that three seed ended up here at the same time, as the plants are the same size and look to be the same age. The thing to see in this photo besides the three wonderful plants is the difference in the flowering of the plants. Note that the one in the front has several flowers open while the one on the right has one open and one trying to open while the one on the left has yet to open a flower. Why since they are there together do they not all have the same number of flowers open? My theory is that the plant in front is on the south side and so is getting more sunlight and early spring warmth as no other plant is shading it. The one on the right is second in blooming as it gets more of the afternoon sunshine and warmth where the plant on the left is shaded in the warmest time of the day. It may get the morning sunlight but it is shaded by both of the other plants in the warmest time of day as a result it is a bit behind the others in blooming. If you do not think this has much to do with it I have to say that I have been in the area in the springtime and have seen day time temperatures go from 78 degrees F. to freezing within one hour of sunset. It takes the plants some time to thaw out after a night of below freezing temperatures. So the plants that thaw out the quickest are a bit a head of the other ones that are cool longer. It takes several hours for the temperatures to climb enough to warm things up come morning. By the time the temperatures get warm the plant on the left is in being shaded by the plant in the front. And later on in the day most if it is shaded by both plants. For you worry warts that worry if your plants get to looking a bit grungy at the bottom check out these plants. You see it happens in nature so do not get up set if your plants get a bit grungy looking at the bottom.

Photos 72 and 101 are of Cylindropuntia ramosissima a plant you do not want to trip and fall into. The plants common name is pencil cholla so named because of the diameter of the joints. In the early morning or late afternoon as the sun light shines through the plants they can look like they are on fire with yellow flames or are plants made of shimmering gold. They can be quite a sight to see. In places the plants are quite thick and just a few yards away there will not be a single plant to be seen. I wandered on one side of the road and only saw one or two plants but when I went across the road there was a forest of the plants. If you are wanting to go from point A to point B you will have to zig zag back and forth to get around and miss the plants.

The terrain of the desert can change from sand to sand and rock or a bolder field to something else in only a few steps. While wandering around I came across a field of what looked like golf balls in sandy camouflage. Most were round and about the size of golf balls. Going on a way farther there was an area where the balls were fusing into larger objects or they had not squeezed them selves down to golf balls yet. These areas can be only a few square yards in size or cover acres of area. If you look close enough you can see that the small C. ramosissima was growing in the area of the golf ball rocks. Walk on a little way and it was back to the regular sand and desert rock.


Desert trip 14



Oh yes, I remember when it was now; It was the year that we took the high school biology class to the desert. A couple boys figured that the teachers and adults were lieing to them about the spines on all cactus plants. They found Opuntia basilaris over a hill and away from where they could be seen and took out a pocketknife and cut out a couple of nice sized bites of cactus. This was in the state park so they were making sure they were not seen, they did not have to be seen for all of us to know what happened. They were scraping their tongues and picking at their lips for the entire time we were in the desert. Yes it was that year that the Abronia villosa or sand verbena was so thick. I think it was the thickest I have ever seen it. I have seen a few times like this year where there was a good showing of the beautiful flowers but never like that year. Somewhere I have a slide I took of the desert floor looking like it had been just carpeted with solid pink carpet. That year there was no breaks in the flowers like is seen in photo 70. I have never gotten down and really looked at the plants and so I did this year. I always thought that the plants were like so many plants where they threw up a number of stems and at the top of the stem were a cluster of flowers. Well that is not quite right, as you can see in the photos, the cluster of flowers is correct but the plant is more of a trailing vine that throws up short stalks with clusters of flowers on them. If you look close at several of the photos you can see grains of sand on the leaves, this is because the plant stems and leaves are covered in fine hair and it is kind of sticky. I have noticed that a lot of the desert noncactus plants have hairs on the leaves and stems. I have to wonder if this is the plants way of slowing down the many desert creatures that feed on them. If you look closely you can see the hairs on the stem of the plant in photo 70. The flower heads are made of a cluster of small trumpet shaped flowers. The color varies very little from plant to plant but some are just a bit darker than others. The flower clusters can measure to about 7 cm in diameter. The flower stalks can be to 25 cm tall and the stems can trail to about a meter long.

For me this plant has the prettiest of all the desert wild flowers even beating out a lot of cactus flowers. When I refer to wild flowers I am talking about the plants that come up after a good rain. I can not call them annuals as some times they do not grow for years. The Abronia villosa or desert sand verbena is just plain a beautiful flower!


Desert Trip 15



In the desert you can see the erosion that takes place over eons of time. We see it as it is right now and not as it was 10,000 years ago. It will for sure look much different 10,000 years in the future but we will not be here to see it. In our minds we think that what we see today has always been, that is not the way it is at all. Photos 80, 84, 85, 86, and 90 show just how true this really is. Remember that in the desert that what looks quite close can be far off. In photo 80 is an interesting rock formation. I decided to stroll up to it. That nice stroll turned out to be about a two-hour hike. True I did check out things on the way so it was not a forced march to the rocks. I did find out that it was not a hop, skip and a jump away. By the time I took photo 84 I was wondering if some one was moving the rocks away as I was trying to get to them. I was able to see that they had some height to them by looking at the ocotillo plants growing here and there on them. Getting closer I could see that the rocks were at one time the bed of a lake or sea as they are in layers. Over the eons of time the silt sand and small rocks were laid down in layers and then somewhere along the ages the bed was pushed up. It is standing at about a 45-degree angle from how they were laid down eons ago. This one section of the old lake [sea] bed was not all as this formation is probably over a mile wide. If you could straighten it up like it was eons ago it is hard to say how deep the layers would be. What we see of the present Grand Canyon is over a mile deep. I have to think that this formation was all of that and probably more. As this rock is a bit harder than the rest of the sand and rock around it, it has not eroded as quickly. Being exposed, as it is this allows us to see some of the underlying rock of the desert. Even this will pass in time. Add to the wind, rain, heat and cold and the fact that plants get a roothold here and there, this rock is slowly being worn away. Mother Nature watches over her subjects and erosion takes place but then man comes along and the process seems to go more in high gear. Man cannot come and look and leave well enough alone but they have to climb, and push parts off that look like they may want to roll or slide to the floor below. The worst thing I think that happens is the carving of names or initials in the rock. I to not care to nor want to see who was there and when, I hate it when their names and initials mar the grandeur of what ever it is. Fools names………..

In photo 90 you can see the results of time in the shards of rock that have chipped off the main rock and now are waiting to be ground up or washed away by the actions of nature. Visible in the photo are some pebbles that were trapped eons ago, and are now waiting the rain, wind, cold or heat that will release them. And they will again become free to move where nature dictates. Will they turn to dust this time or will they again be trapped in rock to show up again eons in the future


Desert Trip 16



I think it would be very interesting to see what the world looked like eons ago when some of the seabeds were being laid down. As this rock has no seashells in it, that is obvious, may be it was an inland lake. It could be that in another few thousand years as more of the rock comes in view that seashells will appear. I do not know how much of these rocks have been eroded away by time already. These rocks could be what is left of a hard core of a much higher mountain as just a little way from these rocks are more higher hills that are about 2000 feet taller. As can be seen in photo 91 the rock has some softer areas that have already been washed away. That makes it easier to see the layering that happened eons ago and may be over eons of time. This belt of rock that is probably about a mile or more wide is about 200 feet high at the highest point for this one section. For more of it go be uncovered there is going to have to be a lot of desert floor washed away first. In photo 92 you can see that there are desert hills higher than the hard-core rock I was inspecting. Also the softer rock has been washed away leaving this and other holes. This one, in photo 92, is large enough for a person to lay down in and keep cool on a hot day. This rock and its holes is the top of a hard area that has been uncovered since the long wall of rock although it is a part of it. It is about 50 or 60 feet from the rock in photo 91. This rock seems to be softer than the main wall as it is full of holes and has more sand in it than the main wall of rock. This is quite evident in photo 93. Also seen is a band of gravel that washed in at one time. It is only about 2 inches thick at the thickest. In photo 94 there is a band with some gravel in it that is about 6 inches thick. That band has a lot less gravel in it. With the different bands I have to wonder if material was washing in from different areas as storms raged in different areas. Lets say there is a large valley with mountain ranges on each side of it. If a big storm rages on one mountain range it will wash material into the valley that will settle and become part of the valley floor. Some time later a big storm floods the range on the other side of the valley and the material from that range also becomes part of the valley floor. As the mountain ranges are different the layers of material will also be different on the valley floor.

The holes are important for desert creatures, as they use them to sleep in or as a dinning room. In the heat of summer they can take refuge from the heat or they can hide from hawks there in. Photo 95 is just a continuation of photo 94 showing the erosion. I was thinking while there that in event of a thunderstorm I could sit in that large hole and stay quite dry while enjoying the storm. To the right of the hole you can see part of the harder core of the main part of the rock wall.


Desert Trip 17



Wandering around the desert at times you have to go around some plants as they have these things called spines on them and you do give your self enough room so as not to get fouled up in them. There plants you are drawn to because of something interesting about the plant. The Brittle bush is not all that interesting after you have seen several. The flowers are pretty and they add a bright golden and green splash of color to the drab landscape. Every so often through you see a plant that invited a second look Encelia farinosa, the brittle bush, in most of the area are not all that large of a plant. Most of them were from 1 to 3 feet wide and a couple feet tall. This one was about 3 feet tall but it was just over 6 feet wide. It was by far the largest of the plants I came across and quite impressive! After the inspection I went on my way inspecting the holes in the rocks. I like to peek into holes in the rocks to see if there is any one home. Most of the time there is no one there but you can see if the hole is being used by some desert critter. This one was being used as a dinning room. I have to think it is a seedeater that is using the hole as a dinning room, as the leaves of the plant have dried up and fallen off of the plant stem. As the leaves are there and so are all of even the smallest stems they were not being used as food. All signs of the flower heads or seedpods were missing through. To get the branches to the hole in the rock was a climb of about 3 feet. I think it would be fun to see the critter trying to get some of them up the rock and in the hole. There were no tell-tail signs as to what it was but probably a small desert squirrel or a desert rat. Either one would stuff their cheek pouches full and head underground and store it for later. One time I saw a movement and there was the smallest squirrel I have ever seen, I am sure it was full-grown by the way it was scooting around looking for food. I have seen small holes not much larger than a quarter here and there and always wondered what made them. There is no mound of dirt around them like most ground squirrels made so I never knew what made a hole like that and that small. The movement I saw was a squirrel coming out of one of the holes. He was no larger than my thumb and his tail was a bit shorter than his body. He was looking for something to eat as he got something and went back down the hole.

The next hole in the rock proved to be bare, I think is was also used as a dinning room or as a rest and cooling off area but as the wind blows through it there was nothing in it. It made a good window to frame a section of the rock wall all tilted up in the air. Looking away from the rock I could just see the van down on the road. It is that white speck in the center of the photo, it may not look far but it is another hour and half walk back. It was time to head back and get a drink and a snack. As you walk it is good to keep an eye on where you are going and what may be around. I found several Mammillaria tetrancistra on the way back including this doubled headed one keeping that rock company. Here again you can see how nice and plump the plant is after the rains.


Desert Trip 18



After leaving the rock area it took about an hour and half to get back to the van. When I got to with in about 15 feet of the van I saw this horn toad soaking up some rays while on the side of that rock. I would think that if he wanted to really get warm he would have been all the way on the top of he rock. Looking at him you can see that part of his back is being shaded from the sunrays. I have to think he was happy just sunning his head. He did not try to run away when I went to pick him up. He just seemed to be happy in my hand as there was no move to run away either. If you look at the desert pavement around the rock he is on you will see that he would blend in perfect with it. I would have to say that the horned lizards adapt to the color of the desert pavement where they live. This one blended in perfect with the light gray decomposed granite of the wash he lived in. Go about 30 feet to either side and he would have to be a different color to blend in. A bit farther south I was wandering around a pile of dark gray boulders and almost stepped over a horned lizard as he blended in so well with the rock he was on. In a wash in the San Pasqual Valley out of Escondido California there use to be horned lizards that were the longest ones I have seen. They were in a side valley that came down from the hills and the sand was quite fine and a light yellow gray. The horned lizards there blended in really well with the sand. I would be hiking along and not see the critter till he took off like a rocket. When it stopped running it again almost disappeared its color was so close to that of the sand. I say that they use to be there because the overflow of the San Diego zoo had been put in the area and so that wonderful place is all messed up now. Southeast of Placerville California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains at Grizzly Flats where my mother use to live the decomposed granite is a dark reddish orange. There lives a horned lizard that is only about 1.5 inches long. You guessed it; they are the color of the granite where they live. I have a book on desert wildlife and they name about half dozen horned lizards but none are this color. I think he is the desert horned lizard and they can be colored different to blend in where they live.

When I set the lizard down again back on the rock he took off and ran about 16 to 18 inches and stopped. It was really neat how he blended in so well to the gravel. I went on to the van and sat and got a drink ate an apple. In a few minutes he has climbed on a rock of granite. He blended in with that rock but I guess it was not as warm as the one he had been on as he only stayed on that rock a few minutes before he climbed off it. He then went back to the rock he had been on before I picked him up, it is darker and maybe quite a bit warmer.


Desert Trip 19



If you spend enough time in the desert you will discover that all the critters that live there all the time are quite camouflaged and blend in very well. That is especially true of those that are hunted as food by the hunters of the desert. A lot of the desert critters are not seen till they move if you get to close. I was looking for some rock crystals when a movement caught my attention. Looking closely I saw this bird only a few feet away. When it knew that I saw it and was about to take its photo it flew a few feet farther away. The way it was acting I knew she must have a nest close by. I took several steps toward her and she flew about 15 feet farther away. I stopped following her and checked out the bushes close by. There was nothing I could see in the way of a nest. She then put on the broken wing act and that told me that she did have a nest close by. In the desert, ground nesters are very good at hiding the nest. Also notice the coloring on the bird’s back it matches the color of the rocks in the area so when they are on the nest they are not seen till they move.

When I was a kid we lived on 20 acres of flat land in Escondido CA and at that time we had a lot of killdeer nesting on the place. [Today it is wall-to-wall houses---what a shame!] Every spring they would give that broken wing act but they hid their nests so well that very seldom did we find them. I knew that this bird was not going to show me where her nest was. I went back to looking for rocks and still kept an eye on her. She was too smart to fall for that ‘man trick’. I had to come up with a different tactic if I wanted to find her nest. The van was parked about 50 feet away and so I went over there and sat in the van. No good! So I then went to the back of the van and opened the door and sat back there peeking through the crack of the door. She flew in a semicircle and landed in a bare area and then in short movements headed back toward the bushes. Then she just disappeared under a small scraggly creosote bush. No wonder I did not find the nest I was looking around the large bushes that afforded a lot more cover but she chose a half dead creosote bush not even knee high to nest beneath. I did not mark the bush the first time and so I showed my self and she took off a little way from the bush and I looked around and decided I need to really pay attention as to what bush it is really under. So it was open the van door again and watch her. She did the same semicircle flight and landed in about the same place and from there slowly made her way back to the nest again. This time I marked the bush and spot in my mind and made sure the camera was ready for a close shot. I changed lenses and took the one shot of the nest and the egg there in. I went back to looking for rocks and a while later checked the nest again and she had added some paper and turned the egg.

Later at camp a couple friends identified the kind of bird she was as a horned lark. I bet that once the chicks hatch they can run like the wind, like a killdeer chick can.

Ii multumim dmnului Robert pentru articol si pentru poze.Cei mai multi dintre noi putem deocamdata doar sa visam la a merge prina stfel de locuri, asa ca astfdel de reportaje sunt cu atat mai binevenite si mai importante pentru intregirea informatiilor noastre cactusistice.
Thank you, Mr. Robert!!

Multumim Lidia pentru traducere!

Excursie in desert 3-08

1

Auzisem ca in desert plouase mult si era, sau se astepta sa fie in floare, asa cum nu mai fusese vazut de multi ani. Trebuie sa spun ca era frumos, dar ca vazusem in alti ani infloriri mult mai bogate in deserturile din sudul Californiei. In colectia mea de imagini, destul de vechi si decolorate, am o fotografie a desertului in care suprafata solului era de un roz viu. Cu treizeci si ceva de ani in urma, suprafata desertului era de un roz aprins, amestecat cu verbina. Doar povarnisurile stancoase nu erau roz. N-am mai vazut desertul asa de colorat in roz de atunci. De aceasta data erau intr-adevar multe flori inflorite si era frumos. Erau din loc in loc suprafete intinse(acri) de Plagiobothrys nothofulvus. Numele popular este floricica de porumb, pot desigur sa-mi dau seama de ce, si este mult mai usor de pronuntat. Nu mi-as putea invarti limba sa pronunt acel nume latin. Asa cum spuneam, erau zone acoperite cu aceste plante si apoi puteai merge mile intregi si nu intalneai vreuna. Alaturi de floricica de porumb era o planta ce facea flori galbene, pe care nu-mi amintesc sa o fi vazut inainte. Am fost in desert de multe ori, dar era prima oara cand intalneam aceasta planta. Nu stiu ce planta este si am cautat in toate cartile cu flori salbatice pe care le am, dar n-am gasit nimic care sa-mi dea vreo sugestie, sau un nume pentru aceasta planta. Planta e in fotografia cu numarul 2. Era in floare pe arii intinse din desert. Am continuat sa merg cateva zile, apoi, cand m-am intors si am stat un pic, am observat ca pantofii mei erau acoperiti cu ceva galbui. Primele cateva dati, cand pantofii imi erau acoperiti, ii stergeam. Apoi am descoperit ca batand din picioare, acel ceva cadea oricum. Dupa cum se poate remarca, abia la fotografia 39 mi-am dat seama ce era si mi-am fotografiat pantofii, era vorba de polenul acestor plante. Plantele au intre 12 si 15 cm inaltime, asa incat atunci cand mergi, polenul iti poate acoperi incaltamintea si totodata sa coloreze si partea de jos a plantei. Existau zone in care plantele erau foarte dese si alte locuri, ca in poza 36, in care puteai pasi printre plante.

2

O floare mai putin uzuala decat alte flori ale desertului este heliotropul salbatic, Phacelia distans, ce are una din culorile mele preferate. Acestea se gasesc in multe zone ale desertului, in timp ce alte plante erau doar in zone distincte, sau in anumite tipuri de sol. In campiile din apropiere de Marea Salton exista zone foarte largi cu Agave desertii. Palcuri cu aceste agave se pot intinde pe suprafete de mai multi metri. Acolo unde plantele nu sunt deranjate, aceste grupuri , crescand, se pot uni si ocupa suprafete de 10 m sau chiar mai mult in diametru. In sezoanele cu ploi bune plantele pot arata frumos, iar in sezoanele de seceta pot arata pe jumatate moarte. In imaginea 5 se poate vedea ca plantele arata destul de bine, pe cand in imaginea 6 se poate observa ca unele plante din grup au murit dupa ani de seceta. De obicei plantele nu mor decat daca au inflorit si acele capete moarte nu au inflorit. In anii cu ploi abundente, palcurile cu plante formeaza multe tije florale. Acestea pot avea pana la 5 m inaltime. E o priveliste extraordinara sa le vezi inflorite pe intinderi de mai multi acri. La inaltimi mai mari plantele nu se mai dezvolta in colonii atat de largi si am intalnit chiar exemplare singulare de cam un metru diametru. Cele mai multe Agave desertii au marimea de pana la jumatate de metru. Unchiul meu era din Texas si era un foarte bun povestitor, foarte atent si avand raspuns la orice i-ar fi spus cei care il ascultau. Intr-an an, acum multi ani in urma, pe cand eram tanar si desertul era in floare, agavele inflorite aratau spectaculos. Mama l-a incantat pe unchiul meu spunandu-i ca in Texas totul e atat de mare si toate sunt mai bune decat in orice alt loc. Vazindu-l plin de mandrie texana i-a spus apoi ca noi avem ceva mai mare si mai grozav decat Texasul, si acesta este asparagusul californian, aratandu-i tijele florilor de agave. Aceasta a facut ca mandria lui de texan sa arate ca un balon cu aer cald ce ramasese far pic de aer cald in el. A fost singura data cand l-am vazut pe unchiul meu depasit si fara replica.

3

Pentru unele dintre plantele din desert poate trece mult timp pentru a dispare ravagiile datorate unei lungi perioade de uscaciune. Chiar daca desertul a primit ceva ploaie, nu inseamna ca s-a incheiat seceta. Desigur, desertul poate sa arate din nou verde, sau sa fie in floare, dar asta nu indica nicidecum ca seceta a luat sfarsit. In imaginea 5 se pot observa la Cylindropuntia echinocarpa niste semne de crestere a unor lastari noi, dar e mai vizibil faptul ca planta a suferit cativa ani de seceta. Din nou, in fotografia cu nr 8 se pot constata, la plantele moarte sau aproape moarte din jurul unui Ferocactus cylindraceus, distrugerile cauzate de o lunga perioada fara ploaie. Alaturi de pieirea unor plante, veti remarca ca Ferocactus este plin de viata, inflorit si cu o crestere recenta in partea superioara. Acesta e un semn ca unele plante au beneficiat de ceva apa, in urma ploilor. Dar veti baga de seama totodata ca Ferocactus nu e chiar „dolofan”, ca dupa multa apa. Plantele in habitat sunt precum cele cultivate; se insanatosesc incepand cu partea de sus, incet, pornind din varf spre partea inferioara. Observati ca partea superioara a plantei este mai mare decat partea inferioara. Dupa o seceta indelungata, cand plantele primesc suficienta apa cat sa se simta diferenta, primele doua lucruri pe care le face planta sunt, sa inceapa sa creasca la punctul de crestere si apoi sa se pregateasca de inflorire pentru a produce seminte. N-am vazut nici un ferocactus in aceasta calatorie care sa nu aiba boboci, sau sa fie inflorit. Planta din fotografia 9 este un pic mai inalta decat mine si inca este subtiata comparativ cu felul in care ar trebui sa arate dupa ani cu precipitatii normale. Uitati-va la ochotillo din spate; au toti frunze verzi, ceea ce indica ploi recente. In fotografia 9 se vede ca am reusit sa gasesc un ochotillo ce avea o ramura suficient de joasa asa incat sa pot arata ca planta avea boboci in formare. Am intalnit si exemplare care aveau flori, dar mi-am lasat acasa scara, asa ca n-am putut sa ma inalt la florile deschise. Constatati ca frunzele sunt chiar deasupra spinilor. Chiar si dupa o ploaie mai usoara plantele vor face frunze. Daca nu va mai urma ploaie, plantei ii vor cadea frunzele in scurt timp. Cat exista frunze, fotosinteza se produce in ele. Pentru a nu se pierde apa, cand va fi o perioada fara ploi, frunzele vor cadea, iar fotosinteza va avea loc in tulpina. Aceasta este o adaptare aparte pe care natura a creat-o doar pentru cateva dintre plantele sale speciale.

4

Mi se defectase monitorul computerului in urma cu cateva seri si a trebuit sa iau altul nou, acesta nou fiind cu afisaj de inalta rezolutie. Sunt uluit cat de diferit arata pozele cu ajutorul lui. Acestea prind viata si sunt atat de clare incat poti vedea lucruri pe care nu le observai inainte. Astfel ma pot delecta din nou de calatoria mea si claritatea imaginilor ma imbie sa fac excursia iar. In fotografia 11 apare primul Ferocactus cylindraceus pe care l-am intalnit in calatorie. Avea doar o floare deschisa. Ma gandeam daca va fi ca in alte dati cand gaseam ici colo cate o floare deschisa pe Ferocactus. Fiindca acel ferocactus avea o floare deschisa si avea boboci, mi-am inchipuit ca cei mai multi ferocactusi vor fi in aceeasi stare de inflorire. Dar ma inselam. Nu toti cactusii imbobocesc in perioada primaverii. Mammillaria tetrancistra infloreste de la mijlocul catre sfarsitul verii. Daca ar inflori primavara s-ar intersecta cu alte mammillarii. In zona desertului Anza Borrego s-ar intersecta cu Mammillaria dioica, alaturi de care creste in anumite zone. In timp ce fructele Mammillariei dioica se coc si sunt mancate de catre pasari, Mammillaria tetrancistra face boboci sau infloreste. Mammillaria tetrancistra se intalneste aproape intotdeauna in anumite tipuri de soluri, dar si pasarile le raspandesc semintele pe arii intinse in desert. Asa ca puteai intalni plante unde te asteptai mai putin. Am fost surprins sa gasesc Mammillaria tetrancistra printre acele roci. In imaginea 12 se poate vedea ca planta nu iese in evidenta, si printre intinderi mari cu pietre o singura planta nu e prea vizibila. Apropiindu-ne, in fotografia 13 se poate intrezari verde printre spini, indicand ca planta este sanatoasa. Am remarcat ca Mammillaria tetrancistra poate suferi o perioada mai mare de seceta inainte de a muri, in timp ce alti cactusi mor in jumatate din acea perioada. Imaginea 14 ne arata ca unele plante rezista la uscaciune, in timp ce altele din apropiere mor. Constatam ca exista ferocactusi sanatosi dar ne indica totodata ca nu totul a decurs bine. Acesta este un Ferocactus cylindraceus tanar de marimea unei mingi de baseball. Este frumos si sanatos, in timp ce fratele lui a murit probabil de uscaciune. Samanta lui se poate sa fi cazut intr-un sol ce avea o platforma de piatra dedesubt asa incat nu a putut dezvolta radacini care sa-l sustina. Puii de ferocactus nu au boboci sau flori, dar cele mai multe exemplare, care erau ceva mai mari, aveau boboci sau erau in floare.

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Furtunile in desert nu acopera toate zonele simultan. In realitate, poate sa toarne in locul in care esti, dar la cateva mile distanta sa fie insorit si uscat. Unele suprafete pot primi ceva ploaie in ani secetosi, pe cand altele sa nu primeasca un strop. Hoinarind prin desert am intalnit zone verzi, cu plante sanatoase, dar in alte locuri multe din plante murisera. Pe multe din suprafetele de inaltime mica din desert, chiar si grupurile de Opuntia basilaris erau moarte, iar cele care inca mai supravietuiau erau roase pana la pamant de creaturile desertului in incercarea de a obtine apa. In imaginea 15 se vad niste ramuri aproape moarte ale opuntiei, iar aproape de sol unele din ramuri au fost mancate. Presupun ca a fost un moment in care au venit ploile si creaturile (de obicei iepuri) au plecat sa manance altceva. Remarcati ca sunt acum multe frunze noi pe aceasta Opuntia basilaris care n-au fost atinse. In partea de sus a plantei au aparut destul de multi boboci. Sunt de la unul pana la 8 boboci pe fiecare frunza. Ma intreb daca planta incearca sa recupereze timpul pierdut datorita secetei. Alaturi de florile salbatice inflorite si de spectacolul ferocactusului, cateva cholla porneau sa infloreasca. Fotografia 16 ne prezinta floarea deschisa a unei Cylindropuntia echinocarpa. Plantele din zona aveau cresteri recente, iar aceasta avea si o floare. In alte regiuni Cylindropuntia echinocarpa nu prezentau cresteri noi sau abia incepeau sa creasca.

In imaginea 17 sunt mai multe lucruri carora trebuie sa le dati atentie. Ocotillo au toti frunze verzi, ceea ce indica ploi destul de recente. Cylindropuntia echinocarpa arata destul de sanatoasa si observati ca Ferocactus cylindraceus are o cununa de spini noi deasupra. Aceasta inseamna ca au fost ploi vara trecuta, ceea ce a ajutat plantele sa creasca si sa se insanatoseasca. Multe dintre plantele care protejau ferocactusii mici au murit in urma secetei, asa ca ferocactusii trebuie sa se descurce singuri pentru a nu muri. Remarcati spinii lungi aparuti in partea de sus a plantei la cresterea recenta. Ferocactusii tineri care beneficiaza de o planta ce le ofera umbra nu au spini atat de lungi, nici macar pe jumatate. Spinii lungi aparuti sunt metoda plantei de a-si produce singura umbra. Ultimul lucru la care tin sa va atrag atentia este decolorarea partii de jos a ferocactusului si a cilindropuntiei. Acest lucru este normal la plantele crescute in habitat. Multi pameni m-au intrebat de ce plantele lor isi inchid culoarea in partea de jos, ca si cum ar fi anormal si n-ar trebui sa se intample. Daca are loc in natura, atunci cu siguranta se poate intampla si la plantele cultivate.

Fotografiile 18 si 18.5 ne prezinta “dragalasele” desertului, Cylindropuntia bigelovii. Aceasta este opuntia ”Teddy Bear”. Indiferent cat de draguta si imbietoare poate parea, aceasta este una din plantele cu care n-ai vrea sa ai de-a face. Daca te-ai incurcat vreo data cu aceste ”Teddy Bear”, nu vei uita nicicand intalnirea. Sunt de asemenea cunoscute ca si „cactusul saltaret” sau „cholla saltareata”. Unele articole pretind ca aceste plante nu infloresc niciodata, dar e gresit. In imagine puteti vedea fructele de la capatul unor segmente. Pentru a nu fi nevoite sa depinda de seminte pentru inmultire, la anumite momente ale anului bucati din planta sunt lasate sa cada. Este modul in care planta se perpetueaza. Bucatile se pot raspandi in jur cu usurinta, iar daca se fixeaza in sol, fac radacini si se naste o noua planta. Datorita acestei abandonari de segmente planta se intalneste de obicei in grupuri mari. Acelasi lucru se intampla si in cazul unui alt membru al familiei Opuntia, Tephrocactus articulatus. Cand planta isi desprinde segmente din ea, produce panica printre colectionarii care nu cunosc mijloacele de propagare ale plantelor. In cazul C. bigelovii e deajuns o adiere pentru a disloca bucati din planta. Daca cineva trece prin apropiere si produce o usoara miscare a aerului, segmente se desprind. Oamenii vor jura ca bucatile au sarit asupra lor. Daca vantul e mai puternic, segmentele vor zbura intr-o parte, aratand ca si cum ar sari de pe planta. Spinii au niste carlige minuscule si o teaca protectoare. Carligele se agata si nu-ti dau drumul, cand incerci sa te eliberezi de spini, teaca ramane agatata in piele. Singura metoda sigura de a desprinde bucata de corp este cu ajutorul unor clestisori sau penseta. Trageti direct, fara a scapa bucata, caci se va rostogoli si se va infige in alta parte a corpului dv. Multor oameni aceste teci ramase in piele le vor provoca pustule dureroase ce vor dura de la cateva zile pana la saptamani cateodata. Retineti ca aceste ”Teddy Bear” pot arata dragalas, dar poti avea necazuri daca te incurci cu ele.


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Ma uimeste mereu unde pot creste unele plante; zona ilustrata in imaginea 19 este una in care nu-mi inchipuiam sa creasca prea multe, dar desertul are propriile reguli. Rocile in aceasta regiune de sute de acri sunt cam la fel de aproape ca si tiglele de pe acoperis. In cea mai mare parte se vede pamant putin si mersul e relativ usor, deoarece pietrele sunt apropiate si destul de netede. Vazand plante mici crescand pe o intindere ca aceasta, realizez ca desertul nu este chiar atat de nefast. Citesc sau ascult discursuri la intalnirile cactusistice, iar unele articole sau prezentari descriu desertul ca fiind pe moarte. De fapt e doar desert, iar perioade de seceta s-au perindat ere la rand. Caracteristica determinanta este absenta unei cantitati suficiente de precipitatii si faptul ca ploua doar ici colo, aleatoriu. Daca precipitatiile ar fi la nivelul 30 pana la 60 de inch in fiecare an, nu am mai avea desert, ci paduri si pajisti, cu coline de iarba acoperite cu alte flori salbatice. Si indraznesc sa spun ca omul l-ar distruge si l-ar transforma in pamant pentru ferme, cum s-a intamplat deja in alte regiuni. Cand observ plante mici de ferocactus si ochotillo crescand intr-o zona atat de stancoasa, imi dau seama ca desertul e inca intr-o stare buna. Ma vad nevoit sa pun intrebarea : Mammillaria tetrancistra arata ca si cum ar fi pe patul de moarte ? Nu mi se pare, si plantele cu frunze verzi ce cresc in apropiere ma fac sa cred ca desertul este la fel de sanatos ca intotdeauna, asa cum este intr-o multime de locuri pe care omul nu le-a distrus. Remarc sub o piatra o samanta care, fiind udata, a dat nastere unui pui, ce a pornit sa creasca si continua sa o faca, chiar daca trebuie sa se culce la pamant pentru a iesi de sub acea roca. In aceasta zona existau cativa ferocactusi care sa fie indeajuns de mari pentru a nu mai putea fi numiti puieti, dar care inca nu ajunsesera la maturitate. Unii aveau doar unul sau doi boboci deasupra, iar altii erau destul de mari pentru a avea un inel de boboci si mai multe flori deschise. Ar putea fi primul an in care ferocactusul din fotografia 22 sa aiba un inel de boboci. Sunt cam 16 boboci pe aceasta planta, in timp ce plantele mai mature si de marime mai mare aveau 30 pana la 40 de boboci si flori.

Cand am parasit aria cu roci netede, am mers catre o zona formata in cea mai mare parte din granit descompus. Ici si colo erau indicii ca plouase cu o zi sau doua inainte. Ochotillos nu erau imbracati in frunzele lor, dar in cateva zile urmau sa fie infrunziti, deoarece frunzele incepusera sa se formeze. De asemenea aveau in crestere tije florale, iar unii care care erau infrunziti aveau flori gata sa se deschida. Acestia sunt ochotillo cu adevarat mari, avand peste 20 de picioare inaltime.


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Cateodata, hoinarind printre nisipurile si rocile desertului, ajungi intr-o zona in care plantele sunt peste medie. Am gasit niste plante frumoase intr-o zona cu roci de granit puse in valoare de lumina. Studiind plantele, constat ca ceea ce le ridica peste medie este faptul ca nu pareau sa aiba, in partea de jos, spinii colorati mai inchis. Sau daca aveau, era mai putin vizibil in comparatie cu plantele din alte zone. S-ar putea ca aceste plante sa fie suficient de tinere si sa nu fi avut timp sa li se inchida indeajuns culoarea in partea de jos. In imaginea 24 avem o pereche draguta, rezemata de roca si cu spinii intrepatrunsi. Chiar crescand atat de aproape, remarcati ca partea exterioara a petalelor florilor are culoarea diferita. Unii ar spune ca aceasta se intampla deoarece bobocii uneia dintre plante sunt mai maturi. Dar chiar si cel mai mic boboc al acelei plante are mai mult rosu decat oricare boboc de pe planta mai mare. Planta din fotografia 25 se pregateste sa infloreasca pentru prima oara, nu e prea mare si nici nu exista indicii ca ar fi inflorit pana acum. Remarcati de asemenea o crestere recenta la baza spinilor mai tineri. Si aceasta planta are destul de mult rosu pe partea exterioara a petalelor florilor. Am gasit destule grupuri de Echinocereus engelmannii moarte datorita secetei indelungate. Meditand asupra acestui fapt, mi-am dat seama ca multe dintre plantele moarte erau in zone cu strat de pamant destul de subtire. Unele se aflau pe terenuri stancoase, si multe erau in partea de sus pe terenuri inalte, in timp ce la cateva picioare distanta, in zona mai joasa, plantele erau inca in viata. Aici, crescute in granit descompus, plantele se aflau in conditie foarte buna. Planta din imaginea 26 arata destul de sanatos, ca si cum n-ar fi fost seceta. Imi plac enorm minunatii spini, colorati si incovoiati ai acestei plante.
Mergand prin desert am intalnit fructe de mammillaria tetrancistra si dioica zacand pe jos, scapati de vreo pasare, dar n-am vazut deloc fructe de ferocactus. Cat timp fructele sunt inca bine atasate de planta si sunt in coacere, furnicile vor crea o gaura in ele si vor extrage semintele. Ele nu mananca semintele, ci ceea ce se afla in jurul lor si pulpa din interiorul fructului. Aceasta nu se intampla in fruct, furnicile cara semintele si restul inapoi catre musuroi. Trebuie sa cauti mult si bine pana sa gasesti un fruct care nu a fost atacat. N-am intalnit nici un fruct intreg, uscat si plin de seminte de ferocactus in desert. Grupul de Ferocactus cylindraceus din fotografia 27 trebuie sa se fi format langa locul in care exista o colonie de furnici acum 50 – 75 de ani in urma. Nu e vreun indiciu al existentei vreunei plante mama in mijlocul grupului. Intr-un an conditiile au fost bune, o multime de seminte au germinat si a rezultat aceasta frumoasa reuniune de plante. Pentru plante, producerea semintelor inseamna cel mai important lucru. Asa ca plantele se intrec pe sine in aproduce flori. Plantele mai tinere vor face un cerc de flori, dar cele mai mature vor avea un inel dublu sau chiar triplu de boboci. Florile nu se deschid toate deodata, deoarece plantele incearca sa fie sigure ca infloresc in acelasi timp cu alte plante si se va realiza polinizarea incrucisata. Florile au o minunata culoare galben-verzuie si petalele arata ca si cum ar fi sculptate in ceara sau din alt material stralucitor. Frumusetea florilor dureaza doar scurt timp, singurul mod de a o pastra este in fotografii.

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Speram sa gasesc un Ferocactus cylindraceus care sa aiba o cununa completa de flori in partea de sus. Cel din imaginea 29 este cel mai apropiat dorintei mele exemplar intalnit in aceasta calatorie. Are deschise 12 flori si cred ca daca as fi ajuns acolo 2 zile mai tarziu ar fi avut un inel complet. E intotdeauna placut sa fotografiezi o planta cu un intreg nimb de flori deschise. Un indiciu al starii de sanatate a desertului este existenta unor puieti sau plante tinere ce se dezvolta in locurile in care cresc plante mature din acele specii. Nu toate plantele mici sunt in umbra vreunei pietre sau tufe care sa le protejeze. Unele din seminte par sa fi ajuns chiar la baza plantei parinte. Imi place mereu sa-mi inchipui ca furnicii ce cara samanta i s-a facut foame si a curatat-o, sau a slabit stansoarea cand o purta si a pierdut-o. Fotografia 30 ne arata, pe langa baza unui ferocactus mare si destul de ponosit, un pui de ferocactus. Planta este cam de marimea unei mingi de tenis, si impreuna cu spinii ajunge de marimea unei mingi de softball. Unul din locurile in care am campat era putin mai jos fata de o zona cu Washingtonia filifera sau palmierii in forma de evantai californieni. Daca erai atent, in timp ce conduceai pe drumul spre vest, puteai sa vezi varfurile copacilor. Asta doar daca stiai ce sunt, altfel se amestecau cu rocile desertului si cu alte plante. Fotografia 31 nu este de pe drum ci din apropierea copacilor. Decisesem sa merg catre ei pentru ca pareau sa nu fie chiar atat de departe. Dar, un lucru de retinut este ca, in desert , lucrurile sunt mult mai departe fata de cum par. Cand ma viziteaza prieteni din Anglia le reamintesc acest lucru. Odata i-am luat pe cativa dintre ei la o plimbare ce a durat pana la pranz. I-am intrebat atunci daca vor sa faca o drumetie. Au decis sa ramana in tabara si i-am avertizat ca distantele in desert sunt inselatoare si sa nu hoinareasca prea departe daca se hotarasc sa mearga in jur. Unul din ei si-a spus ca nu era asa departe, a mers sa se plimbe, si a primit o lectie despre distantele din desert, nestiind ca ajunsese atat de departe de tabara. Nu a uitat acea experienta. Deoarece vedeam varfurile copacilor, mi-am zis ca nu e atat de departe. Am parcurs ceva drum pana am facut fotografia 31. Apoi am mers mai mult, de ma intrebam daca urma sa ajung vreodata la copaci. Cand se puteau vedea copacii destul de bine am surprins imaginea 32, inchipuindu-mi ca eram doar la 5 minute distanta fata de ei. Ei bine, acele 5 minute au mai fost inca 15 -20 de minute pana ce in sfarsit am ajuns langa copaci. Drumul a durat cam o ora si jumatate. Si trebuie sa recunosc ca au trecut vreo 10 minute urmarind un coiot ce-si cauta hrana.

Washingtonia filifera cultivata poate ajunge la 80 de picioare inaltime, in timp ce in desert creste pana la 60 de picioare, conform unor referinte din carti. Daca priviti colina din imaginea 31 se pot vedea cativa ferocactusi. Acestia au 4-5 picioare inaltime, iar ochotillos au cam 18 picioare inaltime. Spre comparatie, deschiderea frunzelor palmierilor este de 5 picioare. Piatra din fata palcului de copaci, din centrul fotografiei, are 25 pana la 28 de picioare. Acesta e un grup frumos de copaci, chiar daca un vant puternic a distrus unii dintre ei acum un an sau doi. Am aflat asta din spusele cuiva care isi face tabara acolo in fiecare an. Era un lucru bun ca nu se gasise vreun tampit care sa le dea foc. Pe cand eram copil, locuiam in Escondido si erau plantati copaci pe o treime de mila, de-a lungul unui drum in spatele casei noastre. Intr-o noapte cativa dobitoci au aruncat sageti aprinse inspre copaci si cei mai multi au ars. Am mai vazut si alte zone in care copacii fusesera parjoliti, de obicei doar frunzele uscate ard, dar cateodata sunt distruse si o multime de frunze vii. Refacerea unui palmier poate dura multi ani. GPS-ul mi-a aratat ca erau in zona cel putin 5 palcuri de Washingtonia filifera. Mi-am infrant tentatia da a ajunge la ele.

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Nu-i asa ca e simpatic ? Se ascunde langa un grup de adulti. De fiecare data cand privesc acea fotografie (35), imi inchipui un copil timid incercand sa se ascunda indaratul fustei mamei sale. N-am masurat inaltimea copacelului, dar puteti observa ca este un pic mai inalt decat mine. Stateam pe o piatra si eram la cateva picioare deasupra bazei copacului, deci probabil ca are 8 sau 9 picioare inaltime. E un copac destul de aratos. Zona nu este atat de deranjata de turistii care se perinda, precum este zona Palm Canyon in prezent. Cel putin inca arata salbatica si aceasta se vede si urmarind frunzele ce zac pe jos. Mergand in jos, spre tabara am dat peste o padure de Cylindropuntia echinocarpa (imaginile 37 si 38 ). Aceste plante sunt impresionante, nu sunt mici in inaltime ca si alte plante din alte zone. Acesti regi ai regiunii au pana la 7 picioare inaltime. Nu e la fel de neplacut sa ai de-a face cu ele ca si cu opuntia ”Teddy Bear”, dar la fel nu doresti sa nimeresti intr-una. Unele pasari din desert isi fac cuib in acesti cactusi, si de asemenea in opuntia ”Teddy Bear” si ma intreb cum de reusesc sa nu ramana agatate in spinii lor. Par sa fie in stare sa aterizeze pe ramuri fara sa fie prinse in ele. Isi construiesc cuiburi, ceea ce inseamna multe drumuri si multe aterizari pe spini. Vin si pleaca de la cuiburi pentru a-si hrani puii si trebuie sa aterizeze pe spini de mii de ori si totusi niciodata nu sunt agatate. N-am vazut nici pui de pasari prinsi vreodata in spini. Un lucru sigur despre cuibul construit aici este ca, nici un pradator cu mintea limpede nu va incerca sa atace ouale sau pasarile tinere. Se stie ca iepurii salbatici isi gasesc refugiul printre aceste plante sau printre ”Teddy Bear” si nu le pasa de coiotii infometati care le dau tarcoale, dar nu indraznesc sa intre datorita ramurilor tepoase ce zac pe jos. Destepti iepuri !

Coborand colina catre zona joasa intalnesti Smoke Tree, Dalea spinosa. Alti oameni au ajuns acolo inaintea mea, asa ca nu mai ramasese fum pe copaci. Acesti copacei sunt denumiti „copaci de fum” datorita pionierilor vestului, care, intalnind in drumul lor acesti copaci, li se parea ca vedeau fum ce statea aproape de sol. Am vazut locuri in care credeam ca era ceata ce atarna asupra solului, atat de desi erau copacii. Incercand sa obtin numele corecte ale plantelor am petrecut multa vreme sa verific daca unele din cartile despre plantele desertului au denumiri corecte ale plantelor. Fotografia 40 arata o asemenea planta. Este usor sa vezi ca este vorba despre lupin dar care anume ? Cartea numita „Deserts” ce prezinta plantele si animalele din deserturile Americii de Nord enumera si arata lupinul lui Coulter (Lupinus sparsiflorus). Textul precizeaza ca florile au culoarea albastru pal sau albastru-lila. Asa cum se vede in imagine, floarea nu este albastra pal si nici spre lila. Habitatul plantei este dat in carte ca fiind S. California si N. Baja California, S. Nevada pana la SW. New Mexico. Stiu ca nu sunt foarte bun in a distinge culorile, dar mie aceasta floare nu imi pare albastra ci mov un pic spre roz. In cartea „California Desert Wildflowers” este listata ca fiind Lupinus arizonicus si e printre florile rosiatice. Pare sa creasca in aceeasi regiune ca si lupinul cu floare albastru pal. In calatoria mea n-am intalnit nici un lupin albastru, pal sau nu.

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In alt loc existau mai multi lupini de desert, dar erau si mai inchisi la culoare decat cei intalniti inainte. Fiind atat de frumosi nu m-am putut abtine sa nu le mai fac o fotografie. La fel se intampla si cu alte plante. Observati ca floricica de porumb are un nume diferit. Si asta deoarece exista 2 plante distincte carora li se spune floricica de porumb. Ele cresc mai mult sau mai putin in aceeasi zona. Nu stiu care dintre ele este. E mai sigur sa raman la denumirea populara de floricica de porumb. Aveti si ambele nume latine, asa incat, daca simtiti nevoia, va puteti duce in desert si veti constata daca infloresc amandoua in acelasi timp si incerca sa descoperiti ce nume ii corespunde fiecarei plante. Creosote Bush era o adevarata splendoare. Nu-mi amintesc sa le fi vazut etaland un asemenea spectacol inainte. Cea din fotografie ne delecteaza cu toate fazele unei infloriri. Exista boboci, flori si fructe. Fructele sunt pamatufurile acelea albe si pufoase , care la coacere se transforma intr-o pastaie in forma de stea. Fiecare sectiune contine o samanta. Petalele florii au o forma usor rasucita, ca si palele unui ventilator. Cand temperatura se ridica peste un anumit prag si florile sunt deschise, toate ventilatoarele, adica florile, pornesc si incep sa se roteasca; aceasta ajuta la racorirea plantei pana cand toate florile s-au deshis si semintele sunt asezate in pastai. In plus, tin la distanta albinele, asa incat sa nu poata colecta nectarul si sa avem miere cu savoare de creosote. Iata inca o dovada a intelepciunii naturii. Exista studii ce au descoperit ca tufele formeaza in timp un cerc si apoi se extind in afara lui; s-a estimat ca unele plante pot avea pana la 3000 de ani.
Din nou, planta ce se straduia sa-mi acopere pantofii acoperindu-i cu polen, crestea peste tot. In acest loc se poate remarca o usoara diferenta in ce priveste florile plantei. Nu sunt la fel de galbene si se deschid mai larg decat cele intalnite inainte. Multi oameni mi-au trimis e-mailuri cu idei referitoare la numele familiei de care apartine aceasta planta. Multi au spus ca sunt din familia Onargraceae, adica familia primulelor de seara. Am o retinere fata de aceasta ipoteza, si anume, credeam ca la primulele de seara florile se deschid seara. Dar aceste flori sunt deschise la prima ora a diminetii si raman deschise intreaga zi. Nu stiu daca se deschid peste noapte, fiindca le vedeam deschise de cum ma trezeam dimineata.

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E placut sa privesti plantele in desert, in special pe acelea care se intalnesc mai rar. Prin urmare, cand am dat peste o Mammillaria tetrancistra cu 3 capete, dolofana si frumos crescuta, era de datoria mea sa o fotografiez. De fapt planta cu 3 capete avusese mai intai 4 capete, si cum plantele cu 4 capete nu sunt la fel de placute ochiului precum cele cu 3 sau 5 capete, unul a cedat si planta s-a transformat intr-una cu 3 capete. Observati cum spinul central, subtire si incovoiat accentueaza personalitatea plantei. E ca si cum ar erupe din rozetele spinilor radiali ca linii de demarcatie din loc in loc. Cresc, in joaca, in sus, sau in jos, sau se intorc in lateral, creand un aspect aparte. E o delectare sa privesti ! Aceasta a fost fotografia 48 si mergand mai departe la 49, avem o planta cu 5 capete si ar fi o imagine frumoasa, dar cred ca aceste „fete” se puteau grupa chiar mai bine de atat. Ar fi format un grup mult mai frumos. Merita totusi apreciata incercarea. Remarcati ca 4 dintre capete sunt in crestere si au boboci, dar al 5-lea este mai putin activ. E vorba despre cel din spate dreapta. Nu-mi amintesc acum daca partea de sus a capului respectiv era degradata, sau de-abia incepuse sa se dezvolte, avea totusi mai multi spini rosii. In timp ce studiam al 5-lea cap am fost distras de un manunchi de echinocereus, cel prezent in imaginea 50, compact si frumos. De la acea distanta nu s