We had a nice and relaxed day along the sea front, looking at Feros. Eunice had selected two spots where she and I had found them last year, the first (S1397) at Point Lomas, and the second (S1398) at La Jolla Glider port. I can’t remember the stop numbers for these locations used in 2008, so had better repeat that we found F. viridescens, in flower, both tallish solitary as well as squat and offsetting plants, casting a bit of doubt or need to clarify the differences between ssp. viridescens and ssp litoralis. Also there Agave shawii, Bergerocactus emoryi (S1397 only), Carpobrotus sp. – an invasive African Mesemb that seems to be invading many temperate zones at the expense of the endemic vegetation, Mammillaria dioica, some in flower, Opuntia sp. (boring fa.), three different species of Dudleya, of which I’m sure one was D. edulis. There were also some escaped Aloes, again African, that were conveniently being used as a feeding station for a hummingbird, close to where I was sitting.
Strange that an Old World plant (Aloes are restricted to the African continent) have become a favourite with the Hummingbird, a New World native, only found in the Americas. I’m sure somebody will tell me what pollinates Aloes in nature in their home habitat.
Apart from pressing camera shutter releases, we just lazed around and took in the sun in a light breeze, knowing what is in store in Europe in a few days time. Just topping up the reserves.
We’re spending the last 3 nights of our trip in a Best Western in Los Alamitos on the outskirts of LA. The off licence next door sells Belgian beer and Chilean wine, so we’ll be fine but may not be issuing many more Diary reports 🙂
The Cactus Trip Diaries 
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