Contents of the Spring 2008 Northants News
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Split rocks and broken credit cards Seeking Ariocarpus fissuratus in flower Richard Booth |
Richard from Wales contributes his account of a cactus hunting trip to the Big Bend area of Texas, October 2007
You can click many of the images for a better one and more information.
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Thursday 4th October We drove from Alpine to Study Butte/Terlingua. The countryside was very green compared to our previous visits in 1988 and 1999. We booked into the Chisos Mining Company Motel in Terlingua; pretty basic but quite acceptable. Drove Texas highway 170 (El Camino del Rio) to Lajitas and wandered around taking pictures – it was very quiet. There was a nice Ferocactus hamatacanthus in flower in a decorative container. These Texans have taste! |
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Thelocactus bicolor which is a rare plant in this area together with a small white spined Escobaria sneedii var. albocolumnaria |
We drove as far as the Tepee
picnic site for a late lunch. Returning towards Terlingua, we stopped at a known
site for Mammillaria pottsii – a strange white rock formation on the
north side of the road. Scrambling up to the left of this rock, there are
numerous plants together with Echinocereus stramineus, E. enneacanthus
and E. dasyacanthus and an unidentified Mammillaria (or was it an
Escobaria?).
Further down the road there were more, then a pleasant surprise; Thelocactus bicolor – just one adult. This was the first time we have found this plant in this area. Approaching Terlingua ghost town we stopped at the top of the hill in a huge parking area to photograph the view of the distant Chisos mountains. The limestone pavement there contained some delightful miniature Mammillaria pottsii, possibly Escobaria sneedii var. albicolumnaria, Echinomastus warnockii, Mammillaria lasiacantha and very green Ariocarpus fissuratus. They were not in flower! We ate dinner at La Kiva – half underground and very dark. A strange place but the food was OK. There were lots of locals propping up the bar. In town, we found lots of nice Echinocactus horizonthalonius on the left hand side of road to the new school about halfway down. |
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Above: A desert tarantula crosses the road. Below: Classic Texas history - The Starlight Theatre.
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Above: The lace-spine cactus Mammillaria lasiacantha. |
Sunday 7th October Our plan was to drive to Boquillas Canyon, stopping as desired. Our first stop was a limestone ridge, a well trodden area but still full of plants. We spotted Escobaria tuberculosa, Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Echinocereus dasyacanthus, Echinomastus warnockii, Coryphantha nicholli, Mammillaria lasiacantha, (left), Ariocarpus fissuratus and Epithelantha bokei (below). The best plants here were an eight headed Mammillaria lasiacantha and a four headed Epithelantha bokei. We spotted a Ferocactus hamatacanthus with a dead flower on the cliff where the Boquillas road winds through a canyon and had to stop to photograph it. Then we spotted a couple more and photographed them; the nicest plant had a dead flower plus an almost mature fruit. We also photographed Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Opuntia rufida with red brown glochids and another nice prickly pear. |
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| Habitat and plants of Epithelantha bokei. A ‘button cactus’. The four-header might just be four seedlings as the plant is normally solitary. | ||
It was very hot (low 90s) at Boquillas Canyon so we decided not to walk into the canyon. Instead, we strolled about above the car park and looked at cacti – Echinomastus warnockii, Echinocactus horizonthalonius and Echinocereus dasyacanthus.
We called in at the visitor centre on the way back and met a ranger (who was an expert on the cacti of Big Bend) and discussed where to find the elusive Ariocarpus fissuratus in flower. She said she had seen some in flower on the Terlingua – Lajitas road a couple of days previously – how did we miss them? We went to the place and found plants with dead flowers (the first in this condition). The ranger also introduced us to Powell and Weedin’s book ‘Cacti of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas’. (Ed: I have reviewed this book in this edition.)
We drove up to the Chisos Basin and checked in at the Lodge. Eating at the Chisos Lodge restaurant, we found it very much improved from our last visit and not overly expensive.
We decided to attend the ranger presentation in the Basin amphitheatre on “Cacti of Big Bend”. We expected to be bored but the speaker was the ranger we had talked with and she gave an excellent presentation. Afterwards, we spoke with her in detail about our plans for the remaining two days. Because of the heat, we didn’t fancy the two miles each way hike to the colony of Echinomastus mariposensis that we knew about. She suggested an alternative, which involved only 200 yards of hiking. She also gave us a location for Echinocereus chisoensis, which we had not seen before.
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Ariocarpus fissuratus, the 'split rock' cactus which is easy to see in flower but well camouflaged during the rest of the year. |
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Monday 8th October
We were permitted to visit a study site for Echinomastus mariposensis. Some of the plants had ‘dog tag’ markers, others stones turned upside down with a number on them. While looking for mariposensis, we came across three Ariocarpus fissuratus, each with a single flower. At last the main objective for our visit had been achieved! Other plants encountered were Escobaria tuberculosa?, Echinocereus dasyacanthus, Echinocactus horizonthalonius and the biggest Ariocarpus fissuratus we have ever seen – well over six inches across and nearly three inches high as it was growing in a shaded position. It had one recently closed flower on it.
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You can click this image to play 'spot the Ariocarpus' |
We drove towards Persimmon Gap
and stopped in the pull-off for the Dog Canyon Trail. We walked along the trail
for about 100 yards and started to find ‘horse cripplers’ (Echinocactus
texensis) which is a rare plant in the Park and Coryphantha macromeris.
We had seen these plants in flower in 1999 and they were quite healthy, though
shrunken then. In 2007, they were a sorry sight – most of the big plants were
reduced to a pile of spines and there was no sign of regeneration.
We gave up looking for them and tried the limestone hill immediately to the north of the sand flats. Here we found: Mammillaria heyderi?, Ariocarpus fissuratus (lots of small plants here), Mammillaria lasiacantha, Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Glandulicactus uncinatus var. wrightii and Coryphantha macromeris(?). |
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Tuesday 9th October We headed straight to the site of Echinocereus chisoensis we had been given and started to find plants immediately – but they were large clumps of Coryphantha echinus var. robusta. Then we spotted our first chisoensis, a small, solitary stem under a creosote bush within 50 yards of the vehicle. Soon we were finding lots of them, single and multi-stemmed, all growing under creosote and often with Dog Cholla. We didn’t go more than 100 yards from the vehicle but the site is quite compact. Other plants in this area were Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Coryphantha macromeris and Echinocereus dasyacanthus. We continued and turned down River Road East to explore some limestone hills. We found: Escobaria tuberculosa, Echinocactus horizonthalonius (lots of little ones), Echinomastus warnockii, Ariocarpus fissuratus (not flowered), Echinocereus stramineus, Coryphantha echinus, Echinocereus dasyacanthus and, right on top, Ferocactus hamatacanthus, Epithelantha bokei and Mammillaria lasiacantha. We drove down to Hot Springs – and yes, it was very hot. The river was too high to see the spring. We spotted one Ferocactus hamatacanthus. The one we had seen on the edge of the cliff in 1999 is still there but looked dead. Wednesday 10th October We left Big Bend and drove highway 90 to Del Rio. Sanderson is a very run down place indeed so we didn’t bother to stop. We did pull off the highway to visit the Judge Roy Bean Visitor Centre at Langtry – a modern visitor centre with the original Jersey Lily Saloon and Roy Bean’s Opera House preserved behind it. Also the cactus garden admired by the Lambs in the 70s still exists but is pretty run down; there is a list of plants which should be there! We stopped for lunch at the overlook of the bridge over the River Pecos. Approaching Amistad Lake, we drove down Spur 406 to the lake. Driving back along this road, we spotted a plant from the vehicle so stopped to investigate; a solitary plant of Ancistrocactus brevihamatus. |
Ferocactus hamatacanthus with spent flower and mature fruit.
Mammillaria heyderi often grow in the shade of trees and bushes. When it is dry they pull themselves into the ground.
A cluster of Coryphantha echinus var. robusta |
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| A superb cluster of Echinocereus dasyacantha. | Echinocereus chisoensis, a rare plant of the Big Bend. Left; Three plants are in the partial shade of a shrub and guarded by cholla. Right: This plant is a juvenile but shows the characteristic spination with the two main centrals brown and around 10 radials. | |
Thursday 11th October
Volunteers in the Visitor Centre suggested we look around Diablo East. We photographed the two bridges crossing the lake. In the fairly dense undergrowth around one of the campsites, we found Mammillaria heyderi and what looked like another tiny Mammillaria but was probably Coryphantha pottsiana according to Powell & Weedin. The plants had solitary stems and brown tipped spines. We also saw Mammillaria prolifera, Echinocereus enneacanthus var. brevispina (according to Powell & Weedin); Ancistrocactus brevihamatus, and another plant, which may be brevihamatus but looks different somehow. Then clumps of the tiny Mammillaria? with brown tipped spines (Coryphantha pottsiana).
Having eaten lunch at the marina, we crossed highway 90 and took the road to Governor’s Landing. The road goes under the highway 90 bridge to a parking area and we explored a limestone area. It looks derelict as a lot of waste concrete has been dumped here but there is still some original ground left. The first plants we came across are clearly of the Ferocactus/Hamatocactus type but which species?; they could be Ferocactus hamatacanthus var. hamatacanthus or var. sinuatus or Hamatocactus bicolor according to Powell and Weedin’s distribution maps. They certainly didn’t look like the juvenile Ferocactus hamatacanthus found in Big Bend. Also here were the tiny Mammillaria? (Coryphantha pottsiana) with brown tipped spines, Ancistrocactus brevihamatus and a huge Ferocactus hamatacanthus, which could be var. sinuatus as the ribs spiral a bit. Then surprise, surprise, loads of Epithelantha micromeris and lots of tiny ones showing good regeneration; as many as six in one photograph.
We had to get to a bank before it closed to cash traveller’s cheques so we had to leave the plants. Having got the cash we went to Val Verde Winery for a swift tour and tasting and bought a couple of bottles. Souvenirs of a great trip and we had achieved our ambition to see Ariocarpus fissuratus in flower. And a lot besides!
Richard
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Ed: Thanks Richard. It’s great to hear of your travels. I was discussing Richard’s article and he mentioned seeing many ‘Eeyores’ at one site. This was a new one on me. Commonest pet names for cacti in habitat in this area are ‘UFOs’ (Unidentified Fabulous Opuntias, I may have got this wrong), ‘trigly’ (a plant of the Echinocereus triglochidiatus/coccineus persuasion) and ‘Ham squared’ (Hamatocactus hamatacanthus). This last will be a puzzle in the future as the plant is now generally called a Ferocactus. As to ’Eeyore’; it is not a donkey but E. hor - izonthalonius, a common plant of the Big Bend. Should have guessed it really! |
Echinocactus horizonthalonius, the ‘Turk’s head cactus’, (or 'Eeyore'!) is a common plant of Big Bend. |
