Baja California trip

[BarryRice]

Hey Guys,

Here are a few highlights (I kept myself to 1-2 photos per taxon) from a trip to Baja California...

Bergerocactus emoryi

bergeemory002.jpg (306.23 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

Cylindropuntia cholla

cylincholl002.jpg (327.89 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

Cylindropuntia ganderi var. catavinensis

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Cylindropuntia ganderi var. catavinensis (crestate)

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Cylindropuntia molesta

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Cylindropuntia ramosissima

cylinramos013.jpg (281.7 KiB) Viewed 3544 times

[BarryRice]

As well as....

Echinocereus engelmannii var. acicularis

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Echinocereus maritimus var. maritimus

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Echinocereus maritimus var. maritimus (curly spines)

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Ferocactus gracilis var. gracilis

ferocgrac1006.jpg (160.24 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

Ferocactus gracilis var. gracilis

ferocgrac1007.jpg (73.74 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

[BarryRice]

And....

Lophocereus schottii var. schottii

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Lophocereus schottii var. schottii

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Lophocereus schottii var. schottii

loph1scho1009.jpg (69.88 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

Mammillaria brandegeei

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Mammillaria dioica

mammidioic002.jpg (234.47 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

Mammillaria dioica

mammidioic010.jpg (327.28 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

[BarryRice]

And finally....

Myrtillocactus cochal

myrticocha006.jpg (254.95 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

Pachycereus pringlei

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Pachycereus pringlei

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Pachycereus pringlei

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Pachycereus pringlei

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Stenocereus gummosus

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Stenocereus gummosus

stenogummo004.jpg (173.73 KiB) Viewed 3542 times

[C And D]

Great photos Barry
But what about all those other succulents?


Your Cylindropuntia ramosissima may be mislabeled.

[BarryRice]

I showed too many photos already, so I restricted myself to the cacti!

Regarding that Cylindropuntia, the only other narrow-cylindrical cholla given in the floras is C. tesajo, which has very different tubercle structure. What's your counter-suggestion?

Cheers

Barry

[C And D]

Too Many Photos!!!!!
You can Never have Too Many Photos !!
Especially with the quality of the photos above

Looks like C. tesajo to me.
C. ramosissima looks quite different than your plant.

[BarryRice]

Huh. I'll look into this more. The new edition of the Baja Flora says that the tubercles of C. tesajo are very inconspicuous, and the spines are absent or only about 1 per tubercle, buuuuut like I said I'll look into this more. Thanks!

If you are itching to see all my Baja photos from this trip, they are shown here:

http://www.sarracenia.com/galleria/g352.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[peterb]

Definitely tesajo. Great photos! Looks like you went about as far south as the Central Desert south of El Rosario?

Always cool to see Baja photos.

peterb

[BarryRice]

Hey Peter,

We went as far as Bahia de los Angeles on this trip.

So, would you argue that all the Cylindropuntia ramosissima I photographed were actually C. tesajo? The new edition of the Baja Plant Field Guide seems to suggest the contrary. I paged through the photos at http://bajaflora.org/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and they didn't really clarify...

A second query. On my link of photos I gave above (and also in the selection I posted here), I showed a plant that I identified as Echinocereus maritimus but which had much longer, curly spines. This was from the El Aguajito area (about N30° 09’, W115° 22’). Do you agree with this assessment? There didn't seem to be many options.

Cheers

Barry

[peterb]

Hi Barry- I am only aware of ramosissima growing in the Colorado Desert portion of Baja, over by Mexicali. The "other" one on the western side of the peninsula and in the central desert is tesajo.

That Echinocereus is maritimus, with super curly spines. The spines of maritimus are incredibly variable across its very large range from near La Mision to the type locale of Ensenada south all the way to Santa Rosalillita and Isla Cedros.

peterb

[peterb]

Specifics indicating tesajo in your excellent photographs:

the lack of diamond shaped distinct tubercles
the presence of low, elongated elliptical tubercles
the absent or solitary spine
the somewhat more compact branching habit
the geographical distribution, always of paramount importance.

ramosissima and tesajo do overlap in their range in the Lower Colorado Desert, but hybrids are not known. They do seem to be closely related, but no one has done the systematics as far as I know.

peterb

[peterb]

Also, it looks to me like the cristate Cylindropuntia is C. cholla.

peterb