The Cactus Trip Diaries

As described yesterday, we planned to return to S1853 to photograph some plants that I had missed the day before. It was only 3 km off our planned route, so no big deal.

First though we made a quick stop (four pictures) to photograph a fence of Fouqueria splendens – in flower (S1854). I am building up quite a collection of cacti and other xerophytic plants being used as fencing.

My stop numbers refer to a particular location on a specific date. The same location on a different date is given a different stop number. There are no hard rules that apply to creating these numbers, so I make up by own rules that fit my needs. So, S1853 on 5 April became S1855 and the additional plants found are all discussed in yesterday’s report.

S1856 was a stop suggested by the database. We forgot to see what we were supposed to be looking for so we kept our eyes open for any of the plants seen so far today. I guess the stop might originally been prompted by a coffee / beer stop as it was next to a cafeteria. We walked up to an electricity pylon as a marker, then back to the car having photographed Echinocereus sp in flower, Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Coryphantha sp, Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha and Yucca endlichiana. The stop will probably be remembered by me for its smell of the chicken farm (small) at the back of the restaurant, which might explain why they were not busy.

Our next stop could be seen for miles around, a large flat top hill known as El Pillar. We drove through a small village and eventually stopped some 6 km out of town ( S1857). The landscape provided a hint to what we might find: Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus. While it is exciting to hunt for the plants, by the time that you’ve taken 20 pictures at a stop, they become boring as plant & location all look the same. Easy to get spoiled I guess. Angie felt the same about some Frailea’s that grow pulled back into the sand. Guess that we’ll have to go back one October when they should be in flower.

We then drove on to Viesca (Mam. viesciensis fame) but found nothing, just dust, dust and more dust. Once back on asphalt we had to stop and clean the windows as it was like sitting in a car covered in snow – visibility nil.

S1858

S1859

S1860

S1861

to be continued

Another hot but wonderful day. Towards the end of the last stop, we heard the familiar sound (from previous trips in Brazil etc) of thunder and by the time that we were in the car on our way ‘home’, we ‘enjoyed’ rain and hail.

Today was made up of six stops (S1848 to S1853 incl.) and again was a treat with a number of species seen for the first time. There were also a number of plants that we’re just not sure about without further research, calling it an Echinomastus one day, Coryphantha on another and Thelocactus on a third. I’m hopeful that Cliff can sort out the Thelocactus bunch when bribed with a few bottles of Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon.

S1848 was an unscheduled stop, sort of. We intended to visit a location from The Database and after having been sent around the houses finally found the track that we were meant to follow, according to the SatNav. However, we seemed to be driving through a valley that was being quarried and the operators of the diggers creating new tracks had obviously not kept track of telling Garmin of the exploits. After a while we gave up and decided to have a stomp around before returning to the main road. Very rewarding, as we found Ariocarpus retusus fa., Thelocactus sp. (conothelos?), Escobaria sp., Echinocereus pectinatus, E. longisetus (?) Epithelantha micromeris, Agave scabra, A. lechuguilla, Coryphantha (?) sp.

The next stop, S1849 was a brain teaser supplied by John from Glass & Foster Log book notes, supposedly at a microwave tower, 27 of miles south of Monclova. But Monclova these days had grown to a fair size town. Where did they start their measurements from? And had the road been re-built since, and straightened out in the process? Had the tower been moved to a better position since the G&F notes from the sixties? In any even, the track to it had a locked gate and a sign telling us that we were not welcome. A little farther up the road, we found another gate, this time without signs, so we parked up and climbed over the gate.

We were barely 10 meters in, when a car stopped, one of the occupants unlocked the gate and drove in. We introduced ourselves to the driver and his mate, making the excuse that we had just stopped on the lay by and had crossed his border for a quick toilet stop (with Nikon cameras hanging from our necks!?!?!). We asked if we might take some pictures and were granted permission. Pictures taken here were of Opuntia sp, Agave scabra, Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, C, spinosior, Coryphantha sp, Opuntia sp and a very shrivelled Echinocereus sp.

We pulled off the highway again at Ejido La Paloma, then followed a track for 7.2 km to arrive at S1850, near the ruins of what might have been a small village. Eunice & I explored one side of the road, while John climbed the hill on the other side of the road, then later had to guide me back to show me his star plant, a crested Ariocarpus retusus.

S1851 was just a brief stop caused by numerous clumps of Echinocereus sp in flower. It also brought us Thelocactus hexaedroflorus in flower, at least I think that is what I photographed, but according to limited resources at hand, this taxa comes from Nuevo Leon, Zacatecas and San Luis Potosi while we were in Coahuila. Cliff to the rescue? And of course there was Opuntia sp. and Echinocactus horizonthalonus.

S1852 was prompted by seeing a largish lake of milky white water in the middle of the desert. Great photo opportunity. I recorded another ‘shoe in the desert’ picture, for a Rudolf Schulz potential book project, discussed when we all had too much wine. This time the shoe was drowning in the lake, but the lake was in a desert, so we may need to open a bottle of wine to discuss if this is allowed or not.

Opuntia sp., Coryphantha sp., Echinocactus horizonthalonus, and Echinocereus sp. the last one in flower completed the picture.

S1853 was our last main scheduled stop, particularly to see Yucca endlichiana, a plant with leaves barely 30 cm (12") tall with flowers hidden deep at the base of the leaves. I can see why this plant might have curiosity value, although I can not call it pretty. Photos taken will prove the point. But there was a wealth of other plants to make this a very worthwhile stop. We were greeted at the fence (usually exercise to attempt to avoid joining the boy sopranos as we squeezed between tight barbed wire) by very pretty bunches of daisy like flowers (Asteraceae, I’d guess), Agave lechuguilla, Euphorbia antisyphalitica, Sclerocactus scheeri (Ancistrocactus uncinatus on John’s list is now a synonym), Grusonia / Corynopuntia bulbispina, in advanced bud but not yet in flower, Echinocereus sp. (the large flowering clumps we’d been seeing at earlier stops), Echinocereus stramineus (?), Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, C. spinosior, Epithelantha micromeris, Thelocactus bicolor (some plants in flower, most in bud), T. hexaedroflorus (in flower) Opuntia rufida, Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha, Ferocactus hamathacanthus, Opuntia sp. (large pads), Yucca sp., Fouqueria splendens (in flower), Lophophora williamsii  (first a little shy to find, then we found them in clusters of many plants, often three to four individuals growing together). Coryphantha sp. and finally Leuchtenbergia principes, apparently a favourite with goats, with the centre of the plant being preferred to the  tougher, older, tubercles.

And if that was not enough …… our cactus explorations here were disturbed by me hitting a ‘brick wall’ in terms of energy levels – too long out in the hot sun? (30 C plus temperatures) dehydrated ? (I had brought along plenty of water, but did I drink enough?). A second factor was a nice thunder storm brewing up. You don’t want to be caught on foot in the flat desert when one of these opens up overhead. The winds caused by down draughts were there, the sky was darkening, thunder could be heard not too far away and as we got to the car the first rain drops fell.

So we decided to come back tomorrow morning. For the record, the stop then was recorded as S1855 and in addition to the plants already reported we were able to find an Echinocereus (Wilcoxia) poselgeri that Eunice had photographed today in flower, but which tomorrow would be only in bud. Well done Eunice for finding it again! Also new that morning: Astrophytum capricorne, just one plant but evidence that it grows there.

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Another excellent day on the cactus spotting & photography side. Not such good news on the computer front – the image viewer that I use – ACDSee v2,5 Pro refused to work after I left it down loading images using the newly acquired DC converter in the hot car while I was adding more pictures on the even hotter outside. I eventually managed to down load the images using Windows picture downloader, but it does not have the nice feature of renaming the files with their date stamp, which, when using three cameras with synchronised time stamps, comes in very useful in ordering and sorting the images (again over 600 today).

So in desperation I deleted the software and installed V2 that I had still on my HD as a trial version. It says it has just one day left, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.

The other down side is that the internet connection in the hotel in Monclova does not work from the room that we have this time – can’t remember if it worked last week when we stayed here.

So here is the summary version of today’s events, mainly from memory rather than from a quick review of the images.

We took Mex 30 from Gomez Palacio, through its neighbour Torreon towards Cuatrocienegas, a name that I remember fondly from many January nights selecting orders from Mesa Garden seed lists. We made ten stops S1838 to S1847 incl. and the highlights in descending order were finding Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus (lots!!!) A. fissuratus (a.k.a. Fizz) (not quite so many), Astrophytum capricorne, here in flower, as if to celebrate Easter Mexican style and again, as if to celebrate Easter or today’s changing of the clocks to Summer time, all the Opuntia seemed to be out in full bloom and rather stole the show. Disappointments were not finding Agave victoria regineae and Lophophora wiliamsii from stops where in the past they had been reported. In the latter case, many holes in the ground might explain where all the plants in the more obvious places might have gone.

There were many more interesting cacti & other succulents, some new to me, to be added to my taxa tick list such as Foquieria shrieve, that has its white flowers along the length of its stems, instead of the traditional cluster at the tips as seen in F. splendens. Some will need some looking up, such as Grusonia bradtiana, which has been moved to one of the other genera when Opuntia was split up. These plants fill the niche that Miquelopuntia miquelii fills in Chile.

A wonderful day that will take several days back in the UK to put into order.

Now let’s hope that tomorrow I can get an internet connection and send this report and some of the pictures.

On these trips, as soon as you’ve stayed in a hotel for three nights, it feels like home. So it was high time that we moved on. Today we were going to start the first leg of a loop that would see us back in our hotel in Saltillo sometime next week.

Our destination tonight brought me back to one of the places were we stayed in 2009. We’re booked into the same Best Western hotel.

Today’s stops continue to add new taxa to my ‘plants seen in nature’ CV.

S1833 was a leg stretch stop. We were not disappointed as we found the ground covered with low shrubs with the space between them almost completely taken over by Thelocactus bicolor – not sure which one of the many forms. Where there were no shrubs, there was Agave lechuguilla, the Mexican shin stabber. And where the Thelocactus had left a gap, we found Coryphantha sp. or Neoloydia conoidea. Dotted around the place were clumps of a large, open Echinocereus, E. enneacanthus fa dubius (?) coming into flower, also E. stramineus, a tall Yucca sp. and the odd Astrophytum capricorne, Thelocactus setispinus / Ferocactus hamatacanthus and Echinocactus horizonthalonius.

If that was what an unscheduled stop gave us in terms of plants, then the next stop, just outside General Cepeda, S1834, had to be even better! And it was! To the above taxa, add Epithelantha micromeris, a form that produced clumps with up to 30 heads! And not to be forgotten, Ariocarpus retusus (A. furfuraceus)! As a bonus, an Easter Parade (?) passed by: several pick ups with a Mexican band in the back, followed by more pick up trucks with kids and women and the whole lot surrounded by Mexican cowboys in their finest. I see that Backeberg described Epithelantha polycephalus (many headed) and that would certainly fit most of the plants photographed here. Charlie Glass made it E. micromeris sso. polycephala.

There were so many cacti here and the same type of hills continued along the road for miles, that I suggested that all these plants would occur anywhere that we’d chose to stop.

Eventually we did, S1835, and certainly did not find everything that we had expected, but perhaps the gap between the stops was too long / far apart. We saw Dasylirion leiophillum – Sorry, I tend not to take pictures of Dasylirion unless there is something special to report about them, or there is nothing very special to report about a stop, such as is the case here. A Yucca sp. and Agave stricta / striata were also photographed, as were Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Coryphantha sp., Echinomastus sp (or Thelocactus macdowellii?) which in nature seems to be solitary while in my collection I have a six headed clump. Also photographed was a plant that resembled Agave stricta / striata but with filaments along the leaf margin. John suggested Nolina erumpens – foothill bear grass, as a name – very nice plant, and Agave lechuguilla, which should be known under the common name of ‘ugly everywhere Agave’.

S1836 was a bit of an accident. We were looking for an Ariocarpus site but found, by 16:00 p.m. that we’d have to drive some 10 km along a 0 km p hr track and back again, so did a reality check and decided to have a look where we were and turn back on to a main road to our destination. We saw plenty of A. lechuguilla, Neolloydia conoidea (I have just learned that Wikipedia lists 6 species of Neolloydia, which I had assumed to be a monotypic genus – more study when I get home!), Opuntia sp., Cylindroputia spinosior (?), a robust form of C. leptocaulis which might be a hybrid with C. spinosior?, Opuntia rufida, and of course Echinocactus horizonthalonius that also seems to pop up everywhere.

S1837 was the most likely habitat to find Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus, but despite us willing it to be there, none were found. There was no data base info to suggest that it would be, but I gained a collection of seven images of cracked silt, which is the expected environment for this Ariocarpus.

The GPS still plays tricks on us when trying to find the hotel, but not as bad as in 2009 when it tried to send us the wrong way up a for lane one way street, or along a railway track. Earlier though, it had suggested a 126 km route when we overshot a turning to a track by 2.6 km! They are great tools but still require a human intelligence interface rather than blind faith.

At our Best Western in Gomez Palacio, Eunice and I felt that we were recognised by some of the staff, but they looked confused when they could not spot Cliff & Alain. We had the car washed and hardly recognised our faithful carrier – well, it deserved an Easter treat!

Happy Easter! 

Yesterday’s early stops focussed on trying to find the Chicken Farm Stop at km 27 on the Mex  40 Saltillo to Monterey road. Unfortunately, this is now the location of a huge motorway intersection. Although there are plenty of chicken farms around the intersection, the one that was here in 1973 is likely to have been destroyed by the development, together with many thousands of plants, if today’s exploration of the surrounding hills provides an indication.

We made five stops between 8:45 and 15:49, all in a relatively small area around this intersection, with temperatures approaching 30 C, but with a stiff breeze cooling us down and threatening at times to take our hats off. The sixth and unnumbered stop was at the local Walmart where John and I sat down in the air conditioned cafeteria, drinking a ice cold Sprite while Eunice went shopping – incl. three pairs of sunglasses to replace the pair broken the previous day.

S1828 was a disused quarry reached after we turned off at km 25 on Mex 40. We climbed the hill and I took an amazing 165 images of what seemed initially a none too promising location. As we climbed the limestone hill, we photographed: the White Prickly Poppy (Argemone grandiflora), Thelocactus rinconensis (s.n. T. phymatothelos), Evening Primrose (Oenothera sp.), Echinocereus stramineus (?), Mammillaria pottsii, Echinocereus pectinatus, Echeveria cuspidata, Epithelanta micromeris, Mammillaria woodsii [PS No. occurs much farther south], including a dichotomously splitting plant.  

As we pulled away, I spotted an Opuntia in flower, bright yellow. All the Opuntias are heavy with buds after a wet winter (relatively) but they are late opening their buds (cold spring, although with temperatures around 30 C around midday, that too is relative. S1829, here at the bottom of the hill that was S1828, turned out to be more than just a quick picture. 30  minutes later we left having taken pictures of Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha, Coryphantha sp., Echinocactus horizonthalonius, Echinocereus pectinatus, Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha, Mammillaria pottsii, Opuntia sp.

We tried to find another location suggested by John, based on his notes (or were they from the Glass & Foster Logbook?), but this time found the track blocked by a locked gate. We parked near the gate (S1830), disappointed at not being able to reach our goal, but 75 minutes later left happy after finding an impressive selection of plants: Agave lechuguilla, Corynopuntia sp., Coryphantha sp1, C. sulcata, Cylindropuntia spinosior, C. tunicata, Echinocereus stramineus, Epithelantha micromeris, Euphorbia antisyphalitica, Hechtia sp., Lophophora williamsii, Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha, Neolloydia conoidia, Opuntia sp., Sedum sp, Thelocactus bicolor ssp bolaensis and Tradescantia sp. Quite a catch!

We returned to yesterday’s S1818, now S1831, for a more detailed look around. An impressive list of plants found now included another one of the ‘painted Agave’: A. fernandi-regis. Also found: A. stricta, Ariocarpus retusus, Echeveria cuspidata, Echinocereus pectinatus, E. stramineus, Escobaria sp. Hechtia sp., Lophophora williamsii, Mammillaria formosa ssp chionocephala, M. heyderi ssp meiacantha, M. pottsii, Neolloydia conoidia, Opuntia rufida, Thelocactus bicolor ssp bolaensis, Thelocactus rinconensis, T. setispinus (?) I must check how to distinguish this last taxon from Ferocactus hamatacanthus, especially when there are no flowers and fruits to examine.

With a bit of time to spare John and I decided to take a look around a near by the flat area at yet another Chicken Farm (S1832) and found Ferocactus hamatacanthus, Agave lechuguilla, Agave scabra, Coryphantha sp, Cylindropuntia sp., Mammillaria heyderi ssp meiacantha, Thelocactus rinconensis, Echinocereus stramineus, Fouquieria splendens, Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, Lophophora williamsii, with evidence of digging, most likely for the peyote. Peyote omelettes anyone?

A great selection of plants here – I think that I’ll be back at some future date.

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Today produced eleven stops, as we entered Huasteca Canyon this time from the Saltillo end. The intention was to go as far as yesterday’s turn around point and then turn  back. However, the track was so bad in places and the turn around point was somewhere in the middle, that we opted to form a convoy of three cars – we were the meat in the Mexican sandwich – and return to the Santa Catarina / Monterrey end from where we could pick up a fast freeway for the last 80 km home. As a result, the stops tended to be brief, with probably more time in the car than any of us had wanted, but the plants seen were worth it.

We left Saltillo around 8:30 a.m. and made straight for a stop near the place that John called the Chicken Farm Stop, when he visited the place with Charlie Glass and Bob Foster in 1973. Unfortunately, the chicken farm seems to have made space since the 1970s to become a junction of the Mex 40 and Mex 57, major highways that between them have gobbled up lots of cactus habitat

As a result, today’s first stop was not the original ’73 location, but it seemed likely that the hills around here would host most of the plants listed. S1817 celebrated the fact that we had managed to find a track off the Mex 40 and were at the foot of a mountain to be explored in detail later. During our ten minute stomp around, we found Thelocactus rinconensis (s.n. T. phymatothelos), large plants in advance bud but with the white flowers struggling to open fully through the heavy spination. I thought of Cliff, as the genus Thelocactus is (one of?) his favourite(s). The location is marked, Cliff, for a future Thelocactathon. Also found: Mammillaria pottsii, and Echinocereus stramineus (?)

S1818 was a Eunice stop, from a previous visit last June, just on the other side of a wired off project from the previous stop, but a bit higher up the hill: Plants seen in the order that we found them: M. pottsii, Ariocarpus retusus, E. stramineus, Coryphantha sp. (C. radians?), Thelocactus bicolor, Echinocereus pectinatus (?), Mammillaria heyderi ssp. meiacantha, Cylindropuntia spinosior, C. tunicata, and C. leptocaulis.

We now followed the dirt track into Huesteca Canyon, but still on a broad plain with the mountains slowly moving in on us. S1819 was prompted by a clump of Echinocereus viereckii (?) in full bloom. Also found: O. rufida, Mammillaria heyderi ssp. meiacantha, C. leptocaulis, C. spinosior, Echinocactus spinosior, Agave scabra and Yucca thompsonii (?)

The excuse for S1820 was a large twin of Ferocactus pilosus / stainsii – not sure which name got stuck to this plant. As we were taken its picture, we saw groups of much larger plants some 100 m away. It was as though the desert had been designed as a practice track for the 100 m hurdles, as we sped to these groups.   They were in full bud and some of the flowers were beginning to open. Also found, a different flat padded Opuntia sp., denser spined than what we’ve been calling O. engelmanii, A. scabra, Echinocereus sp., Tillandsia recurvata (often seen, not always photographed or mentioned). Soon after we carried on, a heavy duty iron gate with ‘we mean business’ padlocks, blocked the road. We went back to an earlier fork in the road and took that.

We had been admiring an orange-yellow flower, like the Californian Poppy (Escholtzia sp.) for a while. Now we were coming along massive groups along the roadside, worthy of pictures (S1821). Of course we continued to look our for cacti and found C. leptocaulis, a much more robust form than the pencil thin cladodes usually seen; could this be a hybrid with the other Cylindropuntia here, C. spinosior?  And if so, here, why not in the other places where we had seen both species together? Agave scabra was still here as was a small globular cactus with a huge magenta flower, a Gymnocactus perhaps? or an Echinomastus? In fact there were a few candidates for this genus, perhaps because I don’t know it well enough? There was also a flat padded Opuntia with a variegate-like marking on the pads. Interesting, but unlikely to warrant a taxonomic name.

S1822 was just five pictures taking of the Ferocactus stainsii growing on a steep cliff face.

At S1823 I’m suggesting Turbinicarpus (Gymnocactus) knuthianus  for a small globular cactus. Also near there we saw Agave gentryi.

S1824 was past the sign for Llanitos, a small hamlet, population 18 on one sign, 19 on another. Soon after we saw Agave parresonia (a close relative to A. parryi). There was even an Agave posing as an epiphyte high in the trees – one more for the ‘unusual epiphyte’ corner of a future talk. Also photographed, an Opuntia sp. hanging down the cliffs, pretending to be a promising hanging basket subject.

We reached the village of El Pajonal, rather concerned at the lack of progress and considering to turn round. No cacti, just scenery, but very nice. (S1825).

So what was the quickest way back to the hotel? Via Monterrey, or back the torturous route that we had come? We asked people in the village of El Pajonal: via Monterrey was their suggestion. As we turned the corner out of the village, there was the sight that Eunice had been wanting to show us (S1826): Agave victoria reginea growing ‘on the flat’, rather than zoom lens range on cliff faces. Due to the late hour, and the need to get back in day light, we allowed ourselves just eleven minutes here, until some of the locals invited us to form a three car convoy to town. It was long enough to take 44 images, many of the Agave, but also some from the local Echinocereus that is keeping me awake trying for an ID. I’d call it Echinocereus adustus, but that plant is not reported from this area, and none of the Echinocereae that are, fit this plant. Interesting! [Since coming home, a bit more searching suggests that Echinocereus reichenbachii ssp armatus is the closest fit and reminded me that some of the Echinocerei that I’ve been calling ‘E. pectinatus’, might be forms of E. reichenbachii or E. rigidissimus.]

S1827 is just for the scenery as we bounced for another 90 minutes through some of the most incredible scenery. The Andes are impressive, but here, the mountains press much closer in on you, sometimes making you doubt that there is room for a road to pass through.

Another great day! But long, and with 307 images to take home as souvenirs.

The other event worth reporting was that there was a power cut that took out all the electricity for our hotel and the one next door, plus the shared restaurant. We were enjoying a bottle of Casillero del Diablo – Cabernet Sauvignon and guacamole as starters. They let us have the guacamole for free, but we had to pay for the wine, before crossing the road to a Brazilian restaurant for the usual unlimited meat feast that we had experienced earlier on our travels in Brazil.

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Today’s visit was dedicated to Huasteca Canyon, between Monterrey, Nuevo Leon and Saltillo, Coahuila. The key plant that we were looking for was the recently described Agave albopilosa, described as recently as 2007 by Mexicans I. Cabral, Villarreal & A.E. Estrada in Acta Botanica Mexicana. Although the location is kept vague, as the Sierra Madre Occidental, we knew that it comes from Huasteca Canyon from an article in the L.A. Times.

We made eight stops (S1809 to S1816) and were lucky to find A. albopilosa at one of them. It seems to be a very limited distribution, known only from one spot that we have been asked to keep confidential, to avoid plundering by the trade in cacti & other succulent plants. The market should have ample supplies following micro propagation by a Californian nursery, according to the LA Times article, but not until 2011. Europe may have to wait a bit longer I guess.

As today’s pictures show, it is a wonderful plant that will have great appeal for both specialist Agave collectors and the general public: a mix that could spell disaster for the plants’ survival in nature. The Canyon is a host to a large number of Agave: A. lechuiguilla, A. victoriae-reginae (described by T. Moore  in 1875). A. stricta , probably its closest relative, A. bracteosa  and A. scabra, the latter on the valley floor while the others clung on precariously to the perpendicular rock walls. Given its extremely limited distribution compared to the other taxa mention, I can’t help but feel that A. albopilosa is a natural hybrid with a mix of genes from some if not all of the other parents. For now, all I can say that I was fortunate to be one of a small number of people to have seen this plant in nature, where it’s remote location in a National Park is perhaps its best protection.

After last year’s visit to the State of Durango, where we saw  A. victoriae-reginae only through powerful zoom-lenses of our cameras, it was great, here, to be able to walk among the plants to take their pictures. It is in plentiful supply here, again protected by the boundaries of the National Park.

In case you think that I have turned from cactophile to Agave-nut, there was plenty to enjoy on the cactus front as well, with Echinocactus horizonthalonius (incl. two plants in flower) Echinocereus sp. (E. enneacanthus? E. fendleri? E. vierecki?), Opuntia sp. – there was a mule munching away on its pads –  Cylindropuntia leptocaulis and C. spinosior ? (x2), Mammillaria sp. (x2), with M. formosa as one candidate, Epithelantha micromeris ssp bokeri, according to John, as it does not show the strong apical depression that is characteristic of E. micromeris and Hamatocactus setispinus.

On the other succulent plant front, I have mentioned the Agave already. I was baffled to find Kalanchoe daigremontiana, a plant that is endemic to Madagascar, but looked very handsome growing here in Mexico.

But in the end it was the stunning scenery, among the best that I have seen, that made this a very memorable day.

Judge for yourself.

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Breakfast at Hotel Ancira was at 8:00, so a chance of a bit of a lie in. By nine we were on the road and heading back to Saturday’s S1793, past Ojo de Agua (now S1807). Eunice wanted to look for a particular spot for which she now had the GPS. This time it produced nice pictures of Astrophytum and Epithelantha with the sun in a better position, so I was quite happy with the repeat stop. Eunice failed to find a stone that she found last June.

We stopped briefly in town, as we passed the guys from the breakdown service and minutes later were back on the main road to Monterrey. Perhaps we should have stopped longer at the tyre guy, as soon the low tyre pressure light started to flash again. All four tyres were still round, but we were uneasy about the situation and stopped at the first tyre man (here again called a Vulkan for short, just as in Chile), where Eunice’s I Phone’s translation software told the tyre man that we would like him to check the pressures. They seemed OK, but he put them up from 33 to 34 just to be on the safe side. The warning light stayed on …..

Soon we entered the outer city limits of Monterrey, Mexico’s third largest metropolitan area, with some four million inhabitants. Eunice had booked us into the Best Western, but this turned out to be a bit of a nightmare, with eight hotels of this chain in town. Eventually (three hours later) we arrived at the right one, and after settling in, we decided to find a Walmart for some purchases. Top of the list was a tyre pump that works from the cigarette lighter, breaking the reliance on finding petrol stations etc. It will stay in the US for use on future trips, so a good investment. I’ll do the same in Chile I think.

Today’s pictures include one of me with the painted lady at Walmart, one of the more unusual pictures taken on cactus trips. I’ll also include an image of me with new hat – should have gotten one in Cuba as well so that I can start a display of hats at the Stonehenge Cactarium, Winebar, Cinema and Haberdashery, with my unique Cuba shirt substituting for a Cuban hat.

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It was a cold night. I finally found something that wakes me up, low temperatures! The coyotes howling at a full moon meant that it took a while before I dozed off again.

We had brought a supply of eggs sausages and bread rolls that Eunice transformed into breakfast, before setting off for an informal stroll up the lime stone hillside (S1802) in the general direction of the microwave tower at the top.  Plants spotted were the same as those seen yesterday: Agave scabra, A. stricta, A. ovatifolia and A. lechuiguilla, Opuntia engelmannii, a Sedum sp., small leaved, similar to one that I have seen growing in nature in Cornwall and Somerset in the UK, Sedum sp. #2, Hamatocactus setispinus, Echinocereus enneacanthus and E. viereckii, and Mammillaria heyderi, with buds bursting to open anytime soon. All these plants sat on a lime stone hillside with other hills providing a marvellous back drop.

We were back at the Great Hall in time to meet Nacho, a retired miner who now acted as caretaker at the hall and who was going to show us some other interesting things. First was a short drive along the track that we had followed yesterday, to a parking spot from where we walked to and inside Mina Buena Vista (S1803). This was the same name as the mine where we had looked for Copiapoa tocopilliana and Eriosyce laui in Chile in 2008. Needless to say we did not find them here either. The track, that had been in the shade yesterday, was now in full soon and showed up many more Mammillaria heyderi, this time with their flowers wide open. It may be that I’ll revise the species name when I get home amongst my books, but for now, I’ll use this name as it is a good indication of what it looks like. M. formosa could be a candidate. Echeveria simulans was here, in bud and in flower.

Next, Nacho took us up the hillside, on a track that was getting worse by the minute, driving through the lime stone. With memories of Brazil still fresh in mind, I was expecting to see Melocactus. We were taking pictures from the car window (S1804) as we made slow progress and just before we reached the point to turn around (S1805) and continue exploring on foot, the sound of a stone pinging from underneath a tire did not sound quite right. Almost immediately, the tire pressure warning light came on. As I walked around the car I could hear the hissing of air escaping from the near side front tire. Where is Cliff when you need him?  I posed for a number of pictures fixing the the tire, before letting Nacho do the job twice as fast. I think that Eunice managed to snap a picture of me reading the manual, while work was in progress.

The puncture dampened our enthusiasm somewhat as we remembered ‘Double Puncture Day’ in Baja California in 2008 and in Cuba, last month, and the track that had caused the damage was not going to improve on the way back. The pressure warning light had stayed on, not unusual following a puncture, but it did raise some concerns and the promise to ourselves to check pressures when we were getting the tire fixed.

We decided to return to the Great Hall, drop Nacho off and pick up our luggage and drive the 30 or so km back to Bustamante where we had pre-booked the hotel that we had stayed last time, and get the tire repaired. As we drove off, John noticed that the spare tire on the front looked a bit soft. Never mind, let’s go! Most of you will recognize ‘puncture-phobia’ when you are left without a spare, so I made a number of tire check stops, each time confirming that the tire was getting worse. 4 km from the gate to the main road, John hung his head out of the window to confirm that we were practically riding on the rims. Time to stop.

Eunice phoned the hotel where we were due to stay and put on her best impersonation of a Mexican blonde by telling the hotel owner that we were in trouble with two flat tires. With the use of the translation program on her mobile phone, the message was finally received. Help was on its way! We then remembered that the gate had a security lock with a 4 digit number to unlock it (1111 if you are ever there in an emergency) so offered to walk to the gate to open it. We took some pictures of a few Opuntia engelmannii now in flower, and of me posing some more as Mr. Tyre Repairman, while John took some 30 minutes to cover the distance to the gate at a brisk pace, arriving at the same time as the repair team. In 2008 we donated Ian to our rescuers. This time, the repair men left their trolley jack under the car and took Eunice as security as they went back to their garage to fix the two tires. Thirty minutes later they were back. The original front tire appeared to have been patched many times before and had an emergency patch that should be OK for use as a spare, but the puncture in the spare tire was fixed and would be fine.

As you can tell, there are some merits in having a two-car expedition team.

Tomorrow we head off in the direction of Monterrey, where Dollar have an office for a chat about a replacement spare tire.

It was only some 30 km from Bustamante to Minas Viejas but we took quite a while to cover the last 20 km from the gate along the asphalt road, up the mountain to the Great Hall which would be our lodgings for the night. At the princely sum of 33 pesos (less than US$3, or GBP2) for all three of us. We were the only people here and the hall served as our indoor campsite. Eunice had brought along air-mattresses for us and John had his own cot-bed. The hall had a kitchen and bathrooms and avoided the setting up of tents and the clearing of sharp rocks. There is quite a wind whistling around the place as I write these notes, so it is just as well that I do not need to put up a tent.

From the gate to the Great Hall, the reasonably maintained track wound its way up a canyon and I recorded four stops for pictures taken along the way.

S1797 was prompted by us spotting our first Opuntia in flower. We were still on the flat lands of the Valley floor at around 580 m.

Local reports from Los Angeles all along the route to here suggested that in general it had been a wet winter, so that everything looked relatively lush compared to June 2009 when Eunice had last been here. It meant that the Opuntias were full of advanced buds. But the warmth of Spring needed to persuade these buds to open had been late this year, as if the flowers had been waiting for our arrival. The coming weeks should be a real feast.

We saw Epithelantha micromeris, the omni-present Agave lechuiguilla, Agave scabra, recognised by the sandpaper-like texture of the underside of the leaf, Opuntia engelmannii (?), and a small globular cactus about which we can’t make up our mind as young plants look different from older plants and flower remains and fruits will probably require some reading and looking up things on the Internet once I’m back home in England. Coryphantha, Sclerocactus (Ancistrocactus) and Echinomastus are among the candidate genera.   Or are we seeing more than one species of similar looking plants? There was also an Echinocereus sp. that we had seen yesterday. It forms clumps and looks to be coming just out of its winter rest, looking dehydrated and in need of some moisture and warmth. At the Great Hall they had a picture book of the natural history of the area and there was our plant and the label clicked immediately: Echinocereus viereckii.

S1798 was at the beginning of our ascend up the hill at around 800 m. Plants spotted included that Coryphantha / Sclerocactus sp. again, small solitary green bodied plants assumed to be seedlings of Echinocereus viereckii and a slightly larger, clumping sp. too, were they the same species? The book suggests E. enneacanthus, but the accompanying pictures of plants in flower suggests E. vierecki to me. Agave scabra was also still abundant.

We had climbed to 1,020 m when we photographed Echeveria simulans in flower, for the start of S1799. This stop lasted until we reached the Grand Hall. We saw Sedum palmerii, (although the book calls it S. greggii, John is positive that it is E. palmerii) abundant and in flower, another Sedum sp., Echinocereus enneacanthus and E. viereckii. the same one that we had seen at the previous stop, and a form with long pendant stems up to a meter long, Hamatocactus setispinus, a thick leaved Tradescantia sp. – are there succulent Tradescantia ? Opuntia engelmannii.  Mammillaria heyderi (?), M. prolifera (? not reported from this area,  so probably something else), Tillandsia sp., Agave stricta and our first Agave ovatifolia, although the book called it A. gentryi.

Throughout our trip and also in Brazil, we would come across the resurrection plant, Selaginella, and here it was in all its stages between very dry and in full glory, depending on the aspect of the hillside and the availability of moisture. I suspect that there is more than one species that we have seen on our travels – must read more later. *

After inspection of our quarters for the night, we went farther up the track, until it deteriorated and climbing to the top of the hill tomorrow became a good alternative. John and I walked back along the track, while Eunice drove the car. All images are filed as  S1800 and included Agava stricta, A. ovatifolia, a few A. scabra, Mammillaria heyderi (?), Echinocereus viereckii , Oxalis sp. and Opuntia sp.

Tomorrow we’ll explore a bit more around the area before returning for a night in comfort at Bustamante.

*  From Wikipedia:

‘Selaginella is a genus of plants in the family Selaginellaceae, the spikemosses.

Selaginellas are creeping or ascendant plants with simple, scale-like leaves on branching stems from which roots also arise. The plants are heterosporous (megaspores and microspores), and have structures called ligules, scale-like outgrowths near the base of the upper surface of each microphyll and sporophyll. There are about 700 species of Selaginella, showing a wide range of characters; the genus is overdue for a revision which might include subdivision into several genera. Selaginella lepidophylla – the resurrection plant, dinosaur plant, and flower of stone (Chihuahuan Desert of North America)’

So what species is the one that we saw in Brazil?

Unusually for the lycopods, each microphyll contains a branching vascular trace.