My Mexico adventures

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Amante
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My Mexico adventures

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I have logged five trips to Mexico, the first one was way back in 1996 and the last one being a year ago. Here I would like to share with you the last two trips I made when digital photography was the norm for me.

I arrived in Mexico on the first September 2006, with a fried of mine. (Here I will always refer to 'a friend'. The reason is that I am no longer in contact with this person so I have no approval for mentioning his name). My friend was more interested in finding lizards and snakes while my aim was always to photograph cacti in the wild. He was opposed to hiring a car because he suffers from travel sickness and so we traveled on a coach to Tecamachalco, in the State of Puebla.

We arrived about 1.30am and there was little we could do but to book a hotel and wait till morning. At Techamachalco I had been before on a previous trip in 1993 where I had searched unsuccessfully for Mammillaria pectinifera (Solisia pectinata) . I was determined to search again for this rare cactus. I knew that the late Charles Glass had found it near an abandoned quarry. The problem was that here was several abandoned quarries so as soon as it got light we made our way to what looked like a promising site.
The area searched
The area searched
We found several species of agave, one of them being A. potatorum while the others may be A. salmiana and A. ghiesberghtii. Corypahantha pallida one of which was a crest. Mammillaria karwinskiana, Ferocactus robustus and F. recurvus (now F. latispinus)
Coryphantha pallida
Coryphantha pallida
The author with F. rebustus
The author with F. rebustus
Ferocactus recurvus
Ferocactus recurvus
Mammillaria karwinskiana
Mammillaria karwinskiana
To be continued
Amante
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Amante »

There were also several Opuntia species.
Opuntia huajuapensis
Opuntia huajuapensis
Agave species
Agave species
Ferocactus robustus
Ferocactus robustus
Unable to find Mammillaria pectinifera we got down from the hill and crossed a road to explore another hill facing the first one. This one was steeper and we did not find M. karwinskiana as we had found on the previous hill but M. haageana.
Mammillaria haageana
Mammillaria haageana
M. haageana with seed pods.
M. haageana with seed pods.
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Paul in Essex
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Paul in Essex »

Keep it coming! Great stuff.

Your agave sp would most likely be the 'purpusorum' form of ghiesbregthii, by the way, and Agave salmiana conspicuous in the earlier post.
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Amante
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Amante »

Thanks Paul for your feedback. Here are a few more from the same area.
Agave potatorum
Agave potatorum
Copryphantha pallida in flower
Copryphantha pallida in flower
Ferocactus robustus flower
Ferocactus robustus flower
A. potatorum growing on F. robustus
A. potatorum growing on F. robustus
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AnTTun
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by AnTTun »

Last picture.. small miracle of nature :)
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Aiko
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Aiko »

Very curious indeed.
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McFarland
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by McFarland »

that last picture is amazing! :lol: I wonder which plant was growing there first, if the cacti grew around the agave and pushed it out of the soil, or if the agave has rooted in a crevice of the cactus and sent roots down. very interesting (tu)
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Paul in Essex
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Paul in Essex »

The latter, without doubt. That colony of feros is ancient.

Seen 'similar' things myself - Agave titnota growing epiphytically on Beaucarnea gracilis, for example. Plants just want to break the rules.
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Amante
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by Amante »

Yes. I totally agree that the Agave grew after the Ferocactus. What was perplexing to me was that several mounds had sizable rocks on them. As can be seen on the second picture of F. robustus. I am not sure if they were pushed up as the plants grew up or that someone put them on so that they do not step accidentally on them as this is close to the town. I had to remove some of the rocks myself for the pictures but there was so many that I did not bother to remove all.

I am sorry for the quality of the pictures but I have to reduce the Kbytes to be allowed to upload here reducing the quality severely .

The next day was Sunday, so after hearing mass, we decided to walk towards km 60 which is another site reported for M. pectinifera. But we had to walk a long way and we got drenched in sweat and at the edge of town near the police station we saw another quarry with dilapidated adobe buildings. We decided to explore and found them. Unfortunately there was not many, as shortly before we arrived someone had bulldozed the whole area only leaving a short strip near the adobes.
Mammillaria pectifera, Tecamachalco, Puebla
Mammillaria pectifera, Tecamachalco, Puebla
Very difficult to locate among the grass.There are four in this picture.
Very difficult to locate among the grass.There are four in this picture.
Another F. robustus with an unidentified bush growing in the middle.
Another F. robustus with an unidentified bush growing in the middle.
That same day we left for Huajuapan De Leon in the State of Oaxaca to try our luck with Mammillaria solisiodes. It was raining as we traveled and our luggage was on the roof of the minibus. A taxi driver took us to the nearest hill the next morning. It was still dark and when we arrived we realised that he had brought us to a Mixtec temple ruin. After walking several streets and crossing a shallow valley we climbed another hill. There was no cacti here. This sometimes happens in Mexico more often then is reported. You go up a hill and you cannot fathom why there aren't any cacti. but rounding a corner we came to a most beautiful site. In another valley, hundreds of Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis. Arguably one of the tallest cacti in existence, they grow in excess of 20m (66feet). They are called locally clavija or gigantes (giants)in Puebla.
Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis, Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca
Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis, Huajuapan de Leon, Oaxaca
Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis
Neobuxbaumia mezcalaensis
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McFarland
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Re: My Mexico adventures

Post by McFarland »

Paul I'de love to see a photo of your
Agave titnota
lol :lol:

Those Neobuxbaumia are gorgeous. Really impressive plants :smile:
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