Bishop CA trip

[Vladimir]

Here is a series of pictures that I took on March 24th in California desert not far from Bishop. Due to picture size limit I?m putting here links to Russian cactus forum where pictures are posted with my comments: http://cactuslove.ru/phorum/read.php?22,65383,page=1

[Vladimir]

First I have pcis of Opuntia basilaris. Here is one growing on a side of a shallow wash.



This pic would be a good illustration o a specific name. Plants forming a low shrub, new pads are always emerge from the older pad base.



Buds are always appearing the pad tip, at or by it?s the edge.





Bud next to fruit ? that is unusual to me, seems like the fruits are the result of some late season blooms due to the unusually rainy last El Nino summer.



Shoots are coming from the pad base. By the location of the bud one can easily tell is it a flower or a new pad forming.





Here is couple more plants ? one with fruits..



and other all covered with flower buds. You can see that some pads were chewed by rodents ? but rats are not persistent, seems like eating Opuntia is the last resort for them.



?

[Vladimir]

Another Opuntia in this plant community - Cylindropuntia echinocarpa ? AKA silver and golden cholla. Opuntias basilaris and polyacantha as well as Echinocereus engelmanna are limited to the valley edges or slopes, but Cylindropuntia echinocarpa, even if shares that micro-habitat with them, also spreads widely all over the valley floor. Somewhere down that valley Opuntia pulchella was also reported ? but I did not look for that mysterious plant, not this time. It never grows dense here and plants are always small ? only knee to waist high



This cholla always forms a small tree with distinct trunk and branches. Trunk is often naked and wooden at its base, and only the upper segment are green and juicy ? as juicy as it gets with this dry habitat plant.







Here yellow (golden cholla) and white (silwer cholla) spined plants grow together. Actually the color belongs not to spine but to papery spine sheath ? as this is true Cylindropuntia.







Here is all three Opuntias of this area growing next to each other ? all but the pulchella of course.

[Vladimir]

Opuntia polyacantha ? I probably should say ssp. erinacea. The nice plant to keep in collection ? interesting look, grows slow and stays compact. It is cold hardy ? and seems like it needs winter frost to initiate spring bloom. If soil is well drained and mineral, it will take wet winter with ease ? just like back home. Summer watering often results in some awkward looking growth ? so just let it stay dry till winter comes.



Fruits are dry ? so this Opuntia does not get called ?Prickly pear? as we would expect, but goes under cholla name



Hard to say flower or sprout buds as both come from the pad top. The second pic has young growing pad and likely a forming flower bud next to it ? as here these Opuntias usually first develop new growth, and a bit later flowers start forming.





Polyacanthas are never as dense as other Opuntias around here, and inhabits the upper edge of the cactus habitat, reaching the lower border of the bristlecone pine forest. At this pic I have it with Sierra Nevada in the background ? in its wintery ?nevada? appearance. Couple 14,000 ft peaks are happened in this picture, and the largest glacier in California ? for whatever it worth.

[Vladimir]

And the little beauty ? Echinocereus engelmannii. Here grows this nice compact form with long and contrasty white and dark-red spines. It also appears that it blooms in early age ? much younger and smaller plants than usual engelmanii.



Here are several more of these nice plants.









Flower buds are showing already ? but very tiny.





Even older and multi - branched plants stay low and compact ? much smaller than the ones I?ve seen growing in Red Rocks area near Las Vegas.



The growing habits can be different ? some plants branch a lot, other stay simple and develop thick stem



Golden-yellow and white- spined plants are also occur here even if more rarely





Plenty of young seedlings. The previous three very wet El Nino years were not wasted.

[Vladimir]

On the steep slopes above the valley is Echinocereus mojavensis habitat. The plants are mainly at the rocks, as talus is too loose for these large plants to establishe.

The first pic has actually at least seven large plants on it, and the second has four more apart from one obvious at the opening





Here is a closer look. Plants forming large clumps, sometimes up to may be one meter in diameter, and with something like over a hundred heads



Lots and lots of blooms





There are also smaller plants, and I found one young seedling ? may be five years or so old







Nice cushions







And more blooms close-ups

[Vladimir]

I was on my way out when a bright spot up the slope made me stop the car..



I do not think anyone needs more of my comments here

[Vladimir]

[fritz]

ja looks great.

merci vladimir

[Hob]

great habitat pictures Vladimir........thanks for sharing them with us.
I'm always amazed at how much more spine cover the plants have in habitat than they do in cultivation in Europe.........must be something to do with the light levels and the spines providing shade as well as protection from animals ?