We ended up driving in the dark over the Ruta de Sierra, a two laner with no shoulder over incredibly mountainous terrain. I don't recommend this, haha. But we made it to Moctezuma safe and sound, in time for me to have some excellent carne asada tacos and for us to rent a very nice room at a funny little place called Hotel Biguan.
In the morning, I headed back west through the mountains to look for plants. Odd to see Stenocereus thurberi growing in mountainous woodlands:
Mammillaria sp. (grahamii sort of olivae?):
Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa:
Another local Opuntia:
A couple of the local trees that caught my eye. This leafless, smooth-barked gray tree flowering in January with nice cup shaped flowers:
One of the fallen flowers:
The bark on this tree really cool, reminds me of the Alligator Juniper that grow in southern NM:
A Mammillaria species growing in the shaded woods along with M. heyderi (?):
M. heyderi (?):
Another cool Mammillaria:
Most exciting for me was finding Coryphantha recurvata and a miniature Agave. First, C. recurvata. Only found a couple plants in a very large area.
The miniature Agave. At first I thought it might be Agave toumeyana ssp. bella, but that form is only known from Arizona. Maybe these are Agave parviflora? I was quite enchanted by the tiny rosettes, filiferous leaf margins and white markings.
Echinocereus bristolii ssp. pseudopectinatus:
East of Moctezuma, we stopped in an area to look for Mammillaria mainiae and luckily found them right away. Very pretty plants:
Another couple Mammillaria in the vicinity:
A cool cholla also in this area, not sure what species:
Another interesting Fouqueria-like tree with strange peeling green bark, also in this area:
Finally, very near Agua Prieta, some impressive Echinocereus fendleri rectispinus:
That's it for the trip, except I'll probably post some more tourist-y photos in the Free for All section. Happy New year all,
peterb
