Cacti on a hill in Coahuilla, Mexico

Contents of the Summer 2015 Northants News

A Hill in Coahuilla Trevor Wray

I was lucky enough to visit Mexico in Spring 2014 with three similar minded enthusiasts to search for cacti. One hillside in Coahuila was perhaps typical of our stops with an interesting mix of species. After a dusty drive along a reasonable dirt road (and some were certainly the opposite), we parked and collected our gear. For me this was GPS, sunhat, water, cameras and tripod.

The first plant we encountered was Neolloydia conoidea, a very common cactus of this area and present at just about every location we visited in some form or other. They generally cluster with age. Sometimes the species had attractive white spines or was in flower with small magenta flowers but these were the form we usually encountered and not in flower.

Above: Very common on this hillside was Neolloydia conoidea. This plant was 3 cm.

Left: Typical plants of Echinocactus platyacanthus .

Shortly up the hill we found the first Echinocactus platyacanthus we saw close-up, a magnificent barrel cactus, and this one was a fair size at four feet high and across. So not really suitable for pot culture! This turned out to be another common species of this area but you know how it is? You have to queue up and get your photo taken with the first one. Being old fashioned some of us remember this as E. ingens and we knicknamed them ‘Indians’.

Nearby was the other big species of the area, super plants of Ferocactus pilosus. A clustering, very prickly, species with stems up to eight feet. These very tall specimens we nicknamed ‘Pilosuscereus’; a pun on the cereoid Mexican species with a similar name.

Left; A view at the habitat with a typical Ferocactus pilosus.

Above: Mammillaria chionocephala, the specific name means snow-head. The right image probably shows seedlings though the species does cluster.

There appeared at first to be a second Ferocactus, similar to some I had seen in Baja, with reddish spines but not seedlings of F. pilosus. These were however seedling Echinocactus platyacanthus and I soon saw intermediates showing the transition to the monster adults. On these the flowering zone is often oval as if the plant was going to be a cristate but this is normal. Later we were to see these plants in flower with buttercup yellow blooms.

The object of our search was to find Echinocereus reichenbachii forma pailanus in flower and we found several in bud or with spent flowers. Our persistence was rewarded when we found just one in flower. Peter the Echinocereus fan was certainly pleased.

Cameras and tripods were brought up to take the definitive images. We were later to see the typical species in flower at several sites.

Echinocereus reichenbachii is a rewarding small species to cultivate with relatively large magenta flowers. It is easy to grow and will, in my experience, tolerate a little frost.

Above: A flash of magenta quickly shows us a flowering plant of Echinocereus reichenbachii

Also present on the hill were Rapicac tus beguinii and Escobaria laredoi in flower. The local Mammillaria was the common M. (formosa ssp.) chionocephala which had pink flowers. And of course Opuntias, but unless they are in flower you stop looking at these after a while.

Left: Neat plants of Escobaria laredoi show this is one worth cultivating. (Well we all love white spines!).

I should have mentioned of course that this is Chihuahuan desert with stab-the-ankles ‘lechuguilla’ as an indicator plant. Agave lechuguilla is a low growing weedy species which creeps across suitable terrain and protects choice plants from cactophiles who like to take pictures. Only our Colin might like it. You can try and pick your way carefully through them or attempt to walk on top of them. Either way failure is guaranteed; I still had festering spine tips in my legs two months after the event.

So this then is a typical Chihuahuan desert hill and a great cactus place, I have an account of a very different Mexican cactus h abitat for our next issue.

Trev