Right:
General
view of the habitat with Opuntia
robusta
Far right: Opuntia robusta
Contents of the Winter 2015 Northants News
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A Hill in Chihuahua Trevor Wray |
I showed you the cacti on a hillside in Coahuila in the last issue that was definitely a desert-like habitat. And I am sure this is how we think that most of the cacti that are popular grow in habitat. So let us have a look at a hillside in Chihuahua at an altitude of 2545m.
We were looking specifically for Echinocereus knippelianus var. kruegeri. The hillside was wooded with extensive clearings of grassland. In some places the sward was so good that it would have passed muster on a golf course fairway. Even a putting green if it had been flat. However, I am sure the odd cowpat would have interfered with playing the Royal and Ancient game.
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Right:
General
view of the habitat with Opuntia
robusta Far right: Opuntia robusta
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Irrespective of the objective of our search the first plant I saw was a flowering Stenocactus obvallatus. A very nice plant, tucked down in the turf with its flowers open to welcome any passing pollinator. However the next, very shortly after, was a flowering Echinocereus knippelianus var. kruegeri. Again the plant body was tucked into the turf and only the flower made the plant easily visible. I spotted many dozen plants including the cluster pictured. Then many Stenocactus and then occasionally the two together.
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Short
turf which is home to Echinocereus
knippelianus var.
kruegeri and
Stenocactus
obvallatus both
with pink flowers. |
Stenocactus obvallatus is difficult to see at this habitat unless in flower | An unusual cluster of Echinocereus knippelianus var. kruegeri. Most plants were solitary. |
I was pleased to see both Echinocereus
knippelianus
var. kruegeri and Stenocactus
obvallatus
in flower but the other impressive cactus here was a prickly pear. We tend to
walk past them but this was a super thing. Well at least at arm’s length.
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Mammillaria
heyderi var. gummifera |
Escobaria missouriensis var. asperispina |
A poor specimen of Echinocereus parkeri growing in deep shade |
Walking up the hill
the terrain became densely colonised with a low, (and very prickly), Agave and
then dense sapling trees before passing into a steeper, rocky area with mature
trees and extensive shade. Here I found a Mammillaria which might be M.
heyderi var. gummifera,
listed as occurring here. There was also Echinocereus
parkeri,
a widespread species in this area, but far more attractive in sunnier
situations. Perhaps the most interesting cactus here were 6” single plants of Thelocactus
bueckii
but these were in poor condition with no indication that they had flowered or
were going to in the next month.
I headed back toward the car and my companions. They were on their tummies taking close-ups of Echinocereus knippelianus var. kruegeri and Stenocactus obvallatus. But they had also found growing in the turf an unflowered cactus that they thought might be a Mammillaria. It looked like an Escobaria to me, in fact did E. missouriensis grow this far south?
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Tillandsia, an ’airplant’ in flower |
As a finale to this visit we were directed to a flowering Escobaria, fringed sepals, so pretty definite. And the plant body matched that we had seen earlier. A quick search back home in the library showed that Escobaria missouriensis var. asperispina was a good match both visually and in distribution. And above us was an attractive flowering Tillandsia sp., mocking our efforts to identify those silly cacti. Before we left the area I made a lightning tour of the grassy meadow further downhill and across the road. Naturally I was looking especially for cactus flowers in the turf. It would seem that since there were no fences the grassy glades in the woods would be similar to the grassy meadow. Not so: no cacti, only contented cows. They looked just like Swiss cows to me; happy to be chewing the cud. On second thoughts maybe there were cacti there: just not in flower. |
Trev
