Cacti of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
Cacti of White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico
On May 22nd a group of about 20 people, comprised of members of the El Paso Native Plant Society and the El Paso Cactus and Rock Club, had the chance to visit the generally restricted military reservation.
Only seven vehicles were allowed in. Because my car does not have high clearance, I parked it and joined someone who had a pick-up truck that was better suited for the trip. We did have two White Sands Missile Range employees guide the tour, including the man responsible for the flora on this huge chunk of land. He seems to know every plant and its location!
We did cover almost 120 miles, stopping several times along the way in order to look at the vegatation. Mostly we did explore the plants growing on the hill sides and in the canyons.
Here are some of the cacti that we did encounter.
The first one is most likely an Echinocereus triglochidiatus. We only spotted this one plant, which was hidden in the high grass.
One cactus that is quite common is the Echinocereus coccineus. Here are two images of a nice clump and also some shots of smaller clumps seemingly growing out of rocks.
The next plants are probably Escobaria vivipara. I did not get to write the name down, but I believe, that we were told they were E. vivipara. One of the small cacti did have some damage but was still hanging in there.
One of the true beauties within the cactus world, Echinocereus fendleri (Fendler's hedgehog) was still in bloom.
We also did see two kinds of Cylindropuntia species. The first one is the common cholla (Cylindropuntia imbricata)
The other the Desert Christmas Cactus (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis).
Of the pad-forming Opuntia group there were two members represented that were flowering.
One is the Opuntia phaeacantha, the other Opuntia engelmannii.
The last, and in my opinion the prettiest cactus that we did find, is the beehive cactus or strawberry cactus Echinocereus stramineus. This is the cactus I had accidentally put my hand into, when I fell during my field trip to Orogrande, New Mexico, where we went in order to see the naturally occuring Echinocereus hybrids. Most of the plants had already bloomed, but three of the mounds did still have flowers on them. I must say, that I was mightily impressed by the size (8-9 cm or 3-3 1/2 inches in diameter) of the blossoms and also their brilliance. The hot pink flowers seemed to be glowing. Although I do not have a specimen of this plant, this one definitely would be worth acquiring.
I am told by a cactus club member, that the plant, despite its huge size in nature, is a slow grower. So I would not see a mound of the sizes pictured, unless I lived to be 100 years old.
Well, here are some images. The first one shows a mound with only one blossom. I photographed it, because the arrangement of the stems was not circular, as a result of a near vertical wall of rock next to the cactus.
This field trip also yielded a good number of images of wildflowers and shrubs and trees native to the Chihuahuan Desert. It was difficult though to photograph the wildflowers, because the constant brisk wind whipped the stems around and getting the image into focus was not easily accomplished.
Harald
Only seven vehicles were allowed in. Because my car does not have high clearance, I parked it and joined someone who had a pick-up truck that was better suited for the trip. We did have two White Sands Missile Range employees guide the tour, including the man responsible for the flora on this huge chunk of land. He seems to know every plant and its location!
We did cover almost 120 miles, stopping several times along the way in order to look at the vegatation. Mostly we did explore the plants growing on the hill sides and in the canyons.
Here are some of the cacti that we did encounter.
The first one is most likely an Echinocereus triglochidiatus. We only spotted this one plant, which was hidden in the high grass.
One cactus that is quite common is the Echinocereus coccineus. Here are two images of a nice clump and also some shots of smaller clumps seemingly growing out of rocks.
The next plants are probably Escobaria vivipara. I did not get to write the name down, but I believe, that we were told they were E. vivipara. One of the small cacti did have some damage but was still hanging in there.
One of the true beauties within the cactus world, Echinocereus fendleri (Fendler's hedgehog) was still in bloom.
We also did see two kinds of Cylindropuntia species. The first one is the common cholla (Cylindropuntia imbricata)
The other the Desert Christmas Cactus (Cylindropuntia leptocaulis).
Of the pad-forming Opuntia group there were two members represented that were flowering.
One is the Opuntia phaeacantha, the other Opuntia engelmannii.
The last, and in my opinion the prettiest cactus that we did find, is the beehive cactus or strawberry cactus Echinocereus stramineus. This is the cactus I had accidentally put my hand into, when I fell during my field trip to Orogrande, New Mexico, where we went in order to see the naturally occuring Echinocereus hybrids. Most of the plants had already bloomed, but three of the mounds did still have flowers on them. I must say, that I was mightily impressed by the size (8-9 cm or 3-3 1/2 inches in diameter) of the blossoms and also their brilliance. The hot pink flowers seemed to be glowing. Although I do not have a specimen of this plant, this one definitely would be worth acquiring.
I am told by a cactus club member, that the plant, despite its huge size in nature, is a slow grower. So I would not see a mound of the sizes pictured, unless I lived to be 100 years old.
Well, here are some images. The first one shows a mound with only one blossom. I photographed it, because the arrangement of the stems was not circular, as a result of a near vertical wall of rock next to the cactus.
This field trip also yielded a good number of images of wildflowers and shrubs and trees native to the Chihuahuan Desert. It was difficult though to photograph the wildflowers, because the constant brisk wind whipped the stems around and getting the image into focus was not easily accomplished.
Harald
- Peterthecactusguy
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Thank you for your nice comments. I too believe, that this trip was worth getting up early and spending almost a full day wandering and driving through some interesting area within White Sands Missile Range.
I was also thinking of perhaps placing the other images - those showing wildflowers, shrubs and trees - on the "Free for All" part of this site.
Harald
I was also thinking of perhaps placing the other images - those showing wildflowers, shrubs and trees - on the "Free for All" part of this site.
Harald
excellent images and good report Harald, the tuft of the stramineus is amazing
also that gropub of coccineus is spectacular.
thanks for your sharing
also that gropub of coccineus is spectacular.
thanks for your sharing
Angelo
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- kevin63129
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Thanks, guys. Anytime there is a field trip to a location that does not require a hotel stay, it is hard to keep me away. During my last field trip to White Sands Missile Range last year I was disappointed, because our guide took us to places that had very few cacti. Because he probably remembered my constant question "When are we going to see some cacti?", he scheduled a different route this year. I am still going to be after him to show me the plant populations of the White Sands variety of Echinocereus coccineus, which grows taller than the regular E. coccineus. Perhaps I already did photograph those without knowing it, because both last year and this one too I did take pictures of E. coccineus. I shall contact him and bring this topic up and see what he has to say.
Harald
Harald