Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Habitat, nursery/collection and show tours.
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CoronaCactus
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Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by CoronaCactus »

So we headed towards home, somewhat bummed out having not seen any of the 3 plants we set out for, but plenty happy with what we did see! Going off our notes from earlier, we made a few stops on the way home around the same general area, as I just knew the Grusonia had to be there. We had a choice…Left or right? Let’s start with right and back track to the left if we don’t see anything. Still no Grusonia, but we found some interesting low growing forms of C. ramosissima. Only 6-10 inches tall at the most, but 2-3 feet in diameter. Growing alongside C. leptocaulis, F. cylindraceus and O. basilaris. Where the heck are the Grusonia!

C. ramosissima
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C. leptocaulis
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C. ramosissima and C. leptocaulis well camouflaged in a sage bush
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Ferocactus cylindraceus
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C. acanthacarpa v. coloradensis
A compact form ressembling C. ecinocarpa
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Fouquieria splendens
Ocotillo just getting started
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So we headed back the other way and not more than 2 minutes in… there it is! A huge group of 10-20 plants forming a mat about 25-35 feet in diameter. We walked around but that was the only specimen in the immediate area. Back into the car we went with eyes peeled. If there’s one, there must be more! Sure enough, we reached an opening with what seemed like 100’s of mounds of G. kunzei in sandy soil on the open flats and plains, TFS! After a happy dance and a good walk around we headed further down the dirt road but could only find a few plants scattered here and there. However, these particular plants had much larger stems and stood about twice as high. 12-16inches tall, as opposed to the 8-12 inches max out in the open flats. This area was obviously a flood land, as the landscape showed not only the carved out soil from rushing water, but it was still wet from rains a week ago! We also found a few very nicely spined Echinocereus and a young Saguaro.

G. stanlyi v. kunzei
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G. kunzei with pale white spines
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E. englemannii
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Sharing space with C. ramosissima
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C. gigantea
Young well spined Saguaros were all over the place.
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It was a bit of a spur of the moment trip so I hadn’t done a bunch of research or put together any maps. Just a few books and some notes from PeterB. Next time, I’ll be better armed with more info and (hopefully) more detailed locales. All in all it was a great trip, been awhile since we went cactus hunting, so it was really nice being out there among the spines 8)
Last edited by CoronaCactus on Thu May 20, 2010 6:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Darryl
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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by IanW »

Oh good, the tips of the ribs on those habitat saguaros seem prone to near scorching in the sun like mine are in the greenhouse, glad it's not just my greenhouse!
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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by Vic »

Great stuff again Darryl, brings back memories:)

I also came across kunzei last spring off highway 95 south of Parker, although at the time I didn't know what they were, just something different and impressed by the huge clumps. After looking through Benson I decided that was what they were:

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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by Vic »

Sometimes you have to take a few risks to find and photograph the nice plants:

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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by Vic »

Opuntia basilaris near Yuma U.S. Army Proving Grounds:

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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by Vic »

That day there was a mass hatching of tortoiseshell butterflies, the air was thick with them at times and vehicles were plastered yellow, like ours. When you stopped off the ground was littered with them.

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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by Vic »

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Re: Arizona Habitat #3: Near Quartzsite (stop 2)

Post by CoronaCactus »

Good stuff, Vic!

Haha, i'll have to remember to double up on the car wax when we go :lolbt:
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