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Friday, 13 March 2009 – Durango to Gomez Palacio

Friday the Thirteenth. Another one! Still, the last one turned out OK (was that really a month ago?!)

We set off late. We needed to decide which way we wanted to head home to the US. Where as in Sonora & Sinaloa the obvious choice was limited to one main highway, we now had a number of options open. And while in the previous states it was reasonably easy to select targets for a plant hunt, here we were really spoiled for choice. the list of 1,500 plant names and locations (some no more than the name of a town) was like browsing through a Mexican Cactus Lexicon. Just like kids in a sweetie shop with only a few minutes to decide what they wanted. The time budget is relentless. Because of the late start (due to deciding what was where and what, sadly, could not be fitted in) we decided to head for Gomez Palacio, part of a trio of towns that had merged together (the others were Ciudad Lerdo and Torreon, which is across the border in the State of Coahuila.

Again, to make the best of the time available, we used the (expensive – but empty and reasonable quality) toll road to get to a selected side road from where ‘cactus clusters’ had been reported. After our experiences to date, we had become quite cynical about today’s success rate.

We left the Mex 40 toll road at  Guadelupe Victoria and continued on the free Mex 40, liberally strewn with topes and vibrasiones to keep our speed down and massage my back (which has improved nicely) and made our first stop of the day (S1335) when Eunice spotted a Yucca in flower along the road. It was not long before we had spotted a few Coryphantha sp. growing behind a barbed wire fence – no problem for experienced Cactus Explorers. Eunice in the mean time found more Corys at the ‘legal’ side of the fence than we did behind it. Other plants recorded were Cylindropuntia sp. with bright yellow fruits and very dark body contrasting nicely with each other, Fouquieria splendens, Opuntia ‘santa rita’ (the name everyone understands, pending a look as to what current name is in favour this time) Opuntia robusta (again, needs a check when I get home), Opuntia sp. #1 & 2.

The next stop was just outside Pedriceña, as Eunice had spotted two Agave sp. and no fencing on her side of the car. ‘Just a quick one then’, we grumbled, as we grudgingly went for a ‘stomp about’ to see what else might be here (S1336). BINGO! Sclerocactus uncinatus ssp wrightii, ironically called the Chihuahuan Fishhook cactus, while we were far south in Durango. It is quite impressive how this plant has been moved around by botanists, having been in Ancistrocactus, Echinocactus, Ferocactus and Glandulicactus, probably lined up for a spell in Thelocactus when Cliff gets home.  The area was covered by A. lechuguilla and on the hills (and also a few dotted along the road) was A. scabra. Other very welcome surprises included the species recorded at the previous stop, plus Coryphantha sp. (these looked different from those at the previous stop), Cylindropuntia kleiniai, or was it C. leptocaulis? Echinocereus sp. (probably E. stramineus), a small opuntioid that looked a bit like O. standleyi, Mammillaria laisiacantha fa. and a Yucca sp. Not bad at all, and clearly more than just a quick stop. 

S1337 was again prompted by Eunice spotting some Agave, Yucca and Hechtia (2 different sp.). Ah well, the last stops she had called turned out excellent, so let’s take a look. Ferocactus hamatacanthus! Opuntia sp. #1 and #2 and a plant that could be a Coryphantha sp, Mammillaria sp. or Neoloydia conoidea – no flowers, fruits to give the game away and the plants were dry and not showing off their tubercles to allow us to look for groves etc. Come to thing of it, I would not be surprised if all three genera were here and photographed.    Looking for Agave etc. turned out to be not such a bad thing, as they seemed to like similar habitats to cacti and their spent flower stalks were easy to spot. The plants grew in very photogenic situations on a steep rock face – attractive but tricky to get close to plants.

The last stop was at the Presa Francisco Zarco, a dam and a man-made lake with a very nice view across the lake that made it tempting to wait for sunset, but common sense prevailed and we managed to pull into our Best Western hotel before it was dark.

Let’s hope that today’s great day heralds a change in fortunes.

Cheers

PK

Category:

2009 Durango

Thursday, 12 March 2009 – Mazatlan to Durango

Let’s start with an update on yesterday’s Diaries, starting with the most exciting bit. It is not often that we take / get the time to review the pictures we took during the day, until the trip is over. Eunice was keen to see how good her pictures of Agave impressa were and zoomed in close on a plant with flower stalk. Imagine her surprise when, growing right next to it, she finds a ceroid with a pseudocephalium! Pilosocereus alensis! Just goes to show, never throw away ‘spare pictures until you have thoroughly checked if they contain anything of interest. Of course the problem is to find the time to make the thorough check. I hastily checked my pictures and yes, I too have the Pilosocereus alensis in the frame!

Correction: I reported for S1328: ‘… an Apocynaceae tree with peculiar fruits that may be Matelea porbifolia. The stem had large thorns on it, just like Ceiba.’ 

Please ignore the sentence. I did see a tree with a stem that almost certainly makes it a Ceiba sp. Ceiba are in the Family Malvaceae. The Matelea reference belongs elsewhere.

Today we headed inland for a journey of some 340 km to Durango. In the process we moved into a different time zone so that we are now 6 hours instead of 7 hours behind the UK.

I have tended to regard Opuntia s.s. in general as a genus of fairly uninteresting plants, They are so promiscuous that it is sometimes difficult to know what is a species and what is a natural hybrid. I refer here to the flat padded plants. Here in Mexico, there seem to be a number of Opuntias that have a quite distinct look about them, so that I’ll have to plough through the large section of hardly touched pages in the New Cactus Lexicon containing the pretty pictures, to see if I can put some names to them. In the mean time, forgive me when I refer to Opuntia sp #1 etc. It is never intended that O. sp. #1 at one stop is the same as O. sp #1 at another stop. The numbers are just for that stop.

All of today’s stops are along Mex 40, the Mazatlan to Durango road. We started with specific stops, as usual, but as time pressed on and we were seeing lots of different Agaves, things became a little blurred, so that some stop numbers refer to a fairly long stretch of road.

And Agave’s are still a mystery to me, so at this stage, they too will be referred to as Agave sp. #1 etc. in the hope that Eunice will provide names in tie to come.

Alain’s pictures and some of mine that come through Angie, should have GPS data embedded in their metadata, so get a browser that allows you to view this info (I use ACDSEE, but Picasa2, a free image browser is excellent and available as a free down load)

So, what did we see? Great scenery as the road climbed from sea level to 2,800 m. and wound its way into the Sierra Madre Occidentalis. The temperature dropped from much too hot to explore, to very comfortable. And plant wise? This was Agave Day!

S1330:  Hylocereus ocamponis, Opuntia sp. #1 & #2, Orchid sp., Tillandsia sp. #1 & #2

S1331:  Agave sp., Opuntia sp.

S1332: We had now hit ‘the mother lode as far as Agave’s & scenery were concerned, so took a few hours to cover very few kilometers but I collected 134 images along the way! They include: Agave schidigera, A. sp. #1, #2, #3 Bromeliad sp. #1, Disocactus schrankii or speciosa?, Echeveria sp., Nolina sp., Opuntia sp. #1, #2 plus a plant that looks remarkably like a Rhipsalis or similar epiphytic cactus, only seen & photographed from a distance. There are no records for true epiphytic cacti in Mexico in my dataset, so more homework when I get home. This stop took us all the way up to the monument at the Espinazo del Diablo, a kind of ridge pass with magnificent views to either side of the road.

S1333 are for images taken from Espinazo del Diablo, 199 km from Durango, as we drove east along Mex 40, before reaching the plain where Durango is located and are of scenery rather than specific plants.

S1334 was a leg stretch as we approached Durango – now on the plain, with an Agave sp.  Opuntia sp. and Yucca sp. (Y. filifera?).

The SatNav system seemed unacquainted with the town of Durango, sending us up one way streets or in circles without knowing where to go. As always, these things happen at the end of the day when every one is tired and problem solving becomes more of a challenge.

Sat in our hotel rooms, I find that we probably passed by some very interesting cacti without having spotted them, so the question becomes: will we see these again later on, or is the only way that we’ll see these cacti this trip a matter of returning a fair distance on MEX40 to do a more detailed search? And do we have the time? And do we have the motivation? For now my eyes are stinging and I badly need some sleep.

Category:

2009 Durango, 2009 Sinaloa

Wednesday, 11 March 2009 – south of Mazatlan

It started off a bit of a strange, strained day, as it was time to decide how to break the routine of not finding ‘plants of interest’. Part of this was due to me not having the time each day to check what delights we needed to hunt for, partly nobody’s fault, because the land we travelled through had nothing new to offer – we’re just too spoiled.

The end result was that it was late in the day when we were ready to start of expedition for the day. This would take us to Escuinapa de Hidalgo, where Eunice had a location for Agave impressa. You can see a nursery grown example at http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/225443/

After the previous days’ poor findings, we were sceptical of finding anything this time, so she knew that it had to be a good set of data to ‘impress’ us cactophiles. When we re-enacted the ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’  scenario by asking ‘Are you sure that this is the place you want to take us?’ she replied: ‘Can I phone a friend?’ and made what turned out to be 3 phone calls home to California. By the time we received the definitive data, we were already near the turn off for the spot. We knew that we were unlikely to come face to face with the plants as they were reported to grow high up on steep cliff faces and the only way to approach them was from the bottom. The habitat for this plant is said to be very restricted so it would be good to be able to slip in some casual pictures in a UK ‘Other Succulent’ presentation.

Confident with the data, we soon spotted the steep hillsides and Agave growing on them. How close could we get? We followed the GPS instructions, into a Mango orchard, down a farmer’s tracks to an enclosure where two farmers and two ten year old boys were cutting up scrub. They were as cautious as we were when I approached them with Gentry’s Agave book in hand, and in my best Spenglish asked them if they knew this plant, pointing at the picture of A. impressa in the book. ‘Oh yes, up on the hill.’ ‘Could we get near them?’ ‘Oh yes.’ As we parked the car and got ready to go (S1327), it transpired that they wanted to show us the way, cutting a path through the dense  deciduous scrub with machetes while climbing the hills at the bottoms of the sheer rock face in 30 C heat.

First Alain decided that he had gone far enough, followed 10 minutes later by Cliff and another 10 minutes, on a bit of a clearing in the scrub forest, Eunice and I also agreed that this was far enough; dripping in perspiration with warnings of spiders and ticks dropping from the trees. We could clearly see the plants through our zoom lenses and clicked away to get the best shots with reserves including pictures of Juan Luis, his brother Manuel and their sons Samuel and Jose.

It took less time to descend back to the car and we agreed there was time enough to check out another location ‘not far away’ – but everything in Mexico seems to be ‘far away’. We started to see a few interesting plants along the dirt track as we approached the coordinates for our next stop – an Echinocereus sp. , made one brief stop on the way, S1328, as there were more plants of yesterday’s Hylocereus (?) sp. along the road. Brian Bates writes:  ‘So I’m going thru NCL and find Hylocereus ocamponis from COL, JAL, MEX, NAY, SIN That seems to be the only one from Mexico.’  So that is what I’ll call the H. sp. until I learn different. For the record, there was also an Opuntia sp. (boring) and an Apocynaceae tree with peculiar fruits that may be Matelea porbifolia. The stem had large thorns on it, just like Ceiba.

We were still sceptical about finding Echinocereus here and the sun was getting now when we reached our location.(S1329) Turning a bent in the road rock boulders appeared and we were getting more hopeful.

It turned out to be a great spot as we ran around clicking away with the setting sun providing some extra colour to the plants before eventually bad light stopped play. In that time I took pictures of: Agave sp. (same as yesterday? with short flower stalk, too short for an Agave? Is it a bromeliad?), Agave orrithodroma, although with filiferous leaves, resembling A. geminiflora?, Echinocereus subinermis ssp. ochoterenae (I think, the buds look different than those in my collection in the UK), a thin 4 -5 ribbed ceroid that could be Stenocereus martinezii? clumps of orchids growing on rocks and on tree stems and a thin stemmed cactus that at first glance made me think that we had discovered Aporocactus in habitat – now that would be a find! Looking for more likely solutions, I see that Selenicereus vagans and several Peniocereus and Nyctocereus serpentinus all come from this State. Tillandsia were hanging in the trees.

Absolutely tired out, Cliff drove us back to Mazatlan where we arrived at around 20:15 and were off after a quick shower for another sea food binge with Margaritas and beer to wash it down.

Tomorrow we head inland to Durango, with great expectations of better cactus spots.

Category:

2009 Sinaloa

Tuesday 10 March 2009 – Culiacan to Mazatlan

Alain had studied Pillbeam’s Ferocactus book, Eunice had found Lindsay papers on the internet and between them they suggested another location for Ferocactus schwarzii, near Cofradia. Eunice had asked her SatNav system how to get there and it seemed possible to get to the area, have a look round, hopefully find the plants and drive to Mazatlan, arriving before sunset.

Getting out of Culiacan was the usual problem of a large town with insufficient signage. SatNav has its merits, but here, we often found ourselves on fresh tarmac that the Navigation system did not yet know about, even though it had received the latest updates available via the internet. Once out of the town we stopped to photograph Agaves (S1323), not in natural habitat, but fields of A. tequiliana being cultivated for the production of Mescal as only the drink produced in the state of Jalisco produced under licence from the fermentation of parts of this Agave may legally be called Tequilla – the shots might come in useful for a future talk as it illustrates one of the many uses of cacti and other succulents.

We changed from tarmac to dirt. These tracks were wide enough for one car, with overtaking bays created to deal with the challenge of oncoming traffic. Fortunately these tracks are very quiet and the drivers we have met, very considerate, just like we are. We made a stop at S1324, for an Agave found growing by the side of the road. Soon, others of the same taxon were found. We’re not totally sure of the name, so it remains Agave sp. for now. While we were there, we photographed Opuntia sp.#1 (the boring ‘seen anywhere’ type) and O. sp. #2, (a ‘different’ growing tall, with long pads and bluish fruits and Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum ‘just for the record’. As we were climbing aboard in our car, I think that it was Alain who spotted another ‘different’ cactus. This was a plant with green thin (to 5 cm diameter) stems that was growing leaning on the branches of a beaten up tree. Most of the stems had just three ribs. I’m familiar with Hylocereus as grafting stock used in Europe – and not very long lived in that role as most European growers are not prepared to provide the heat that this plant requires. I have no idea what it looks like in habitat or if it has been reported from these regions, but that would be my guess: Hylocereus sp.

If I had been in Brazil, I would have described the vegetation as Catinga, low deciduous forest. The vegetation is quite dense, with just about every plant equipped with long sharp spines to keep animals (including humans) out.  This had been quite typical for the area east of Mex15. We had been lucky to have spotted Ferocactus pottsii in this dense vegetation a few days ago. Literature seemed to suggest that F. schwarzii would be found on ‘open hills’. We searched for these as well, but no luck. 

A bit farther along, we could see a structure rising from the forest, a dam, which had created a huge man made lake. We drove to the dam (Presa de Sanalona, still S1324) to take some pictures of the lake and to see if, from this vantage point, we could see some ‘open hillsides’. No such luck. When we passed by the dam again later in the day, we saw a group of snow white pelicans on its shore. Mike H., any suggestions to name and rareness?

I believe that S1325 was just a brief comfort break stop with seven ‘just for the record’ pictures of Agave sp., Opuntia sp. (the boring type), Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum and Stenocereus alamosensis.

We had tried all day to get to Cofradia and although I had no hope that we would find F. schwarzii in the village itself, it had become important to me to actually get there before considering how to get to Mazatlan for the night and how many more stops to make. S1326 was at the sign welcoming us to the few houses that are Cofradia and more ‘for the record’ pictures of Agave sp., Hylocereus sp, Opuntia sp #1 (boring type) and O. sp. #2 (yesterday’s ‘very interesting plant with flat growth habit), Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum, as well as of some ‘interesting trees’ with interesting peeling bark that is not a bursera as far as we could tell and other with ‘interesting fruits’. These were obvious signs of frustration, of lack of cacti on a cactoholic. I stopped myself just in time taking some pictures of cow pats ‘because of ‘their interesting patterns’ before the men in white coats came to take me away.

Please send emergency parcels of cacti to be dropped liberally in the road between Mazatlan and Durango!

But seriously, we have learned a great deal about the Mexican States on Sonora and Sinaloa and have been fortunate to have found a number of cacti, some expected, some unexpected and some yet to be identified. We’ve been impressed and ultimately depressed by the amount of corn that is grown in this area – no Mexican should go hungry as long as they do not have a corn allergy.

We still have to agree the detail of what we’ll do tomorrow as I can’t get on the internet in our 4th floor hotel room overlooking the Sea of Cortez, where I just managed to snap the tail end of ‘not another bloody sunset’. I need to check data on Google Earth that can only be checked out once I have a connection – which will happen in the foyer in the morning when I send this message out.

Category:

2009 Sinaloa

Monday, 9 March 2009 – Navajoa to Culiacan

If yesterday was disappointing, today beat it. We agreed that we were all disappointed with cactus & succulent flora and scenery, that the solution lay inland in the hills and so we agreed to go and look for Ferocactus schwarzii in Bacurito. The distance did not seem too great and, as we speeded down Mex15, decreased as planned. Then we turned off, and although the surface was still good hard top, it seems that in Mexico the ‘hard top kit’ comes with ‘topes’ (sleeping policemen – speed bumps – suspension breakers, call them what you want), often unmarked, at all too frequent intervals. They are of course justified as the road passes through little villages and it is better to have lumps of concrete in the road than the corpses of its inhabitants. The scenery remained flat and uninteresting as we drove along wide canals (had we lost our way and were travelling through Holland?) with the hills apparently afraid of us, because,  like yesterday, as we approached, they retreated.

Just after midday, we pulled away from a crossroad, on tarmac, and heard the familiar thud-thud-thud noise: a puncture. Our first since leaving England on 31 October, so we can’t complain! Of course, we did! In true team spirit we watched and took pictures and video as Cliff changed the tyre. We were of course willing to help at any and every stage of the process, but the road was fairly busy and too many people crowding around would have made the task more stressful and dangerous. Well done, Cliff!

Having learned a lesson in Baja last year, getting the tyre fixed became #1 priority, so we returned towards Mex15 and within minutes had found a llantera where for 50 pesos (just over GBP 3.50) a friendly Mexican had repaired the tyre and checked the pressures all round. By 1 p.m. we were back at the crossroads where we had broken down. Not bad for a habitat pit stop.

Soon afterwards tarmac was replaced by dirt of variable quality.

Today’s stops were just two:

 S1321 – Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum, Stenocereus alomosensis (?), C. thurberi, Opuntia sp. and one single, battered but old plant of Ferocactus wislizeni. It was so hidden in the scrub that Alain had difficulty finding it again to show me, even though it just grew a meter or so from the track.

S1322 – near Sinaloa de Leyva. This was just a leg stretch & toilet stop, but Alain found an interesting Opuntia. It is not often that you’ll find me using the word ‘interesting’ for an Opuntia, but these plants were growing along the ground with a distinct growth habit, had distinct pads and spination and yellow flowers.

Category:

2009 Sinaloa

Sunday, 8 March 2009 – Navajoa to San Bernardo and back

Diary addicts amongst you may have spotted that yesterday’s diary was quite brief. and ask themselves ‘Is everything OK?’

Everything is fine, but I found myself dissatisfied with the plant stops we were making. Best I could master for yesterday was a stop list with the plants that we saw – not the usual banter that I hope entertains a bit as well.

Why? I guess I am somewhat disappointed with the cacti & scenery that we are seeing and it’s probably due to inadequate preparation. Had we not been to Baja last year, things might have been different but most of the plants that we have seen up to now have been ‘Baja plants’, nothing new and previously seen in a better, more photogenic settings. Nobody’s fault, but never the less disappointing. I sense a similar feeling among my fellow explorers. The Sonora that we have seen (and I hasten to add that it is only a fraction of this huge State) has been along Mex 15 and to the west, where the Sea of Cortex was a natural border. Yes, the Fero’s on Isla Tiburon  were ‘special’, but to very spoiled people, ‘not really special enough’.

The area that we’ve travelled through has been very flat, heavily cultivated, even if currently left to waste, and industrialised. Most of the time, the roads are bordered by barbed wire fences. Are these aimed at keeping people out, animals in or simply to ‘stake a claim of ownership’? In any event, to us they act as a deterrent, not inviting us to enjoy the flora. In that respect it is not too different from the coastal zone in Peru, south of Lima. There are more cacti here, but they are the same at each place that we stop, or at least – they seem to be the same taxa.

In Peru we found a much more interesting experience was had by travelling inland. As the roads climbed into the Andes, the change of altitude and the resulting changes in climatic zone gave rise to an ever changing flora and spectacular scenery.

So today’s solution was to travel 50 km inland to Alamos and returning to Navajoa to avoid changing hotels. The Database told us that we might see Ferocactus pottsii here as well as some Agave and Pilosocereus alensis. We arrived at the scenic town of Alamos still frustrated. It seemed that as we approached the mountains, they moved away to the left and the right of the road, never allowing us to reach the foothills. After some touristy pics of Alamos, we re-read notes and found that ‘our’ plants actually grew near San Bernardo, some 35 km to the north east of Alamos. Did we have a town map of Alamos? Of course not. Eunice’s SatNav system was programmed to guide us there, but did little more then tell us to ‘stay on the trail’ for 35 km, no matter which way the car was pointing. So back to first principles – find out where the North East was, take any track in that direction and ask any human being if they can help us get there. Several dead ends later ….  ‘Yes, go back the way you have just come and follow the road past three haciendas’ was the helpful answer from an elderly gent sitting by the side of the road.

Just past Alamos, now on dirt, the barbed wire fences relented a little, either being farther away from the track or missing altogether. We stopped (S1313) to take pictures of the Kapok Tree, Ceiba pentandra and also saw Cylindropuntia thurberi (syn. Cylindropuntia alamosensis) in flower, Opuntia sp. and Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum.

Near Los Tanques (S1314) we spotted an Agave , A. angustifolia and Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum was hard to miss again. We did not stop for very long.

On to Technabamba (these names were becoming very reminiscent of place names in Peru and Bolivia!) for S1315:
Agave augustifolia, Ferocactus pottsii (ssp alamosensis is said to come from here – I’ll have to do more reading to learn how it differs from ssp pottsii), Janusia gracilis (Desert Vine), Mammillaria sp #1 (I ought to know this one as it’s short stubby central spine is very distinct, or was it an Escobaria or Coryphantha? – sad when it becomes difficult to determine the genus, let alone the species!), Mammillaria sp #2, Opuntia sp., Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum.

Driving on again, I spotted a strange sight worthy of a quick stop. terrestrial cacti growing epiphytically in a tree! This became S1316 with Stenocereus thurberi and Opuntia sp, as subjects.

We arrived in San Bernardo and drove in the direction of an interesting view of 4 volcanic plugs in the landscape. The track turned out to terminate at the cemetery ( S1317) where we found Agave augustifolia, Cylindropuntia thurberi, Ferocactus pottsii, Mammillaria sp. 1, Opuntia sp., Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum and Stenocereus thurberi.

The journey back to Navajoa became a bit of a race against time, as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky and the road just did not allow us to do the speeds needed to arrive back at the original forecast time. Bad light made it more difficult to see pot holes and bumps, so that my back is very sore of the pounding it got. We made three more brief stops:

S1318 Agave angustifolia, Ceiba pentandra, Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum

S1319 Ferocactus pottsii, Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum, Stenocereus thurberi

S1320 Ferocactus wislizeni, Stenocereus alamosensis

Category:

2009 Sinaloa

Saturday 7 March 2009 – San Carlos to Navajoa, SON

We started the day with a visit to observe and photograph the flora of Cañon de Nacapule: A desert-bounded tropical canyon near Guaymas, Sonora, S1309. Canon de Nancapule: Agave chrysoglossa, Agave colorata (fortiflora), Ficus palmeri, Fouquieria diguettii, Jatropha cuneata, palms (3 taxa), Euphorbia ceroderma. We photographed the following plants: Agave chrysoglossa, Agave colorata (fortiflora), Cylindropuntia sp#1, Echinocereus sp., Ferocactus wislizeni (ssp herrerae?), Hechtia sp (montana?), Mammillaria sp., Opuntia sp., Paychycereus schottii and Stenocereus thurberi and probably saw but failed to identify Ficus palmeri, Fouquieria diguettii, Jatropha cuneata, palms (3 taxa) and Euphorbia ceroderma.

We headed south on I 15, turning on to a few side tracks to stop and photograph cacti; S1309, S1310 S1311 and S1312 Cylindropuntia sp#1, Ferocactus wislizeni, Mammillaria sp. Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum, Stenocereus alomosensis and S. thurberi, The lack of diversity in the cactus flora was disappointing, perhaps we’ve just been spoiled too much already.

Category:

2009 Sonora

Friday, 6 March 2009 – Bahia Kino to San Carlos, SON

Today was a reasonably quiet day, travelling to San Carlos, just a  couple of hours driving plus stops.

The first stop S1306 was prompted by some Feros being spotted along the road. The mainland Feros here seem to fit the description for Ferocactus wislizeni ssp herrerae. and some plants obliged by bearing fruits with ripe seed. We also found Carnegiea gigantea, Pachycereus schottii and S. thurberi.

Just under an hour later we stopped for a large F. herrerae in fruit along the side of the road. (S1307) and photographed Carnegiea gigantea, Cylindropuntia sp (C. echinacarpa?), C. sp. #2, Ferocactus wislizeni ssp herrerea, Mammillaria sp. Pachycereus schottii and Stenocereus thurberi.

Eunice had some scanty information to look for Agave near a microwave tower (these are used in communication systems) on the hills near Guaymas. I was a little concerned about the vagueness of the directions, but as we approached Guaymas, there was a nest of aerials and communication towers high on a hill to the left of the road. It almost seemed too easy, but we still had to find a track up the hill to get to the top. We succeeded on that point as well! We found a turning to a road that seemed to run to the base of the hill, but then stopped, turning into a cobblestone road up the hill. Knowing that we would be passing back this way, we tried not to make too many stops, but instead earmarked places for a more detailed look on the way down.

In fact all images taken between the start of the cobblestone road (next to a prison) and the summit of the hill, with all the communication masts etc are recorded under S1308 and include: Agave actides?, Agave colorata, Bursera sp (more than one I think, in fruit), Ferocactus herrerae, Fouquieria splendens, Hechtia montana, Mammillaria sp., Opuntia macrocentra (or is it O. santa-rita? – more checking to be done at home.) The plant’s yellow flowers resemble those of some O. santa-rita images found on Google, but I seem to remember that the original description applies to a limited population from the Santa Rita mountains on the border between New Mexico and Arizona. The spination looks more like that pictured on Google for O. macrocentra, but that is supposed to have yellow flowers with a red centre. Another plant in flower was a Cholla, or Cylindropuntia sp, with greeny-yellow flowers.

The Mammillaria reported from this area is Mammillaria boolii, but few, if any of the plants seen today match the appearance of these plants offered for sale by that name in the UK. I have no other name to suggest, so Mam. sp. will have to do for now.

Although the internet is a mine of information, there is also (at least) an equal amount of incorrect information out there, some from quite trusted sources. I guess the only way to resolve this naming game is to check out the original descriptions (if they can be found and accessed) to see which presents the closest match for what we see, and that is impossible on the road, as my library sits at home in Durrington. Perhaps I should start a project to publish all original descriptions (perhaps on Wikipedia?), or at least make a start

I have to mention the last cactus that I photographed today. We had spotted a giant Fero as we drove up the hill and stopped to take its picture on the way down. It was some distance away and partially hidden behind a thin white barked tree. So how big was this plant? It seemed impractical to get to it, until I saw a route by climbing up the hill to the right of the plant and, once level with it, working my way to it. Distance and steepness of the rock face were not an issue, but the huge spines on the Acacia and other flora were, so my arms were covered in scratches by the time I stood smiling next to the plant, ready for Cliff to take our picture. I could not reach the fruits at the top of the stem, which puts this barrel at somewhere between 230 and 240 cm in height.

Finally, Brian Bates posted this link to an article about the history of Lotusland, the gardens that we visited in February. Interesting background reading at
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/05/other-men/
and the article in turn links to
http://www.independent.com/news/2009/mar/05/santa-barbara-and-search-american-eden/

Thanks Brian!

Do check Alain’s Diaries for his trip report as well, as every picture tells a story, as Confusius said. But do we have any pictures to tells us what Confucius looked like?

Category:

2009 Sonora

Thursday 5 March 2009 – Isla Tiburon

I woke up at 5:45, about a minute before Eunice knocked on the door for the official wake up call. By 6:30 we were at the local OXXO shop for freshly made coffee and by 6:55 we drove up the beach where our skipper, Ariel, was getting ready to launch his boat. Unlike last year in Baja, where we had to get our feet wet to get into the boat, we were able to board while still on land. A tractor then pushed the trailer with boat into the water where the boat’s engine took over.

The sun was rising and peaking through quite dense cloud cover, but the Sea of Cortez was as smooth as a mill pond. This boat was quite a bit bigger than last year’s panga.

Earlier research on the net had revealed a report by a gentleman who had made a detailed study of the flora of the island group, published at:
http://www.bioone.org/doi/pdf/10.2181/1533-6085(2007)39%5B51:RTAAOS%5D2.0.CO%3B2 and http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.2985/1070-0048-14.1.127
I had extracted a list of the plants that we were interested in: Agave chrysoglossa, Bursera hindsiana, B. microphylla, Cylindropuntia leptocaulis, Ferocactus tiburonensis, Lophocereus schottii, Mammillaria grahamii and Stenocereus gummosus. The Fero was our main target, although for Eunice the Agave was the most important.

As always, I was careful to take pictures of any cactus taxon that we saw (S1300 for this Stop) – even if ‘just for the record’, of an ugly plant that will never appear in a talk or publication. Of the plants listed, we did not see the Agave, the Cylindropuntia the Mammillaria or the Stenocereus gummosus. 

However, we did see our Fero, which mysteriously has been placed as a ssp of Ferocactus wislizenii, although our observations of plants, fruits (Alain) and flower (again Alain) suggest that is more likely to be related to F. cylindraceus, just like its island neighbour F. johnstonii on Isla Angel de la Guarda that we found last year.

We also found Stenocereus thurberi (NOT S. gummosus) and Fouquieria splendens and Carnegia gigantea. This last taxa grows also on the mainland here, alongside Pachycereus pringlei and it takes some second looks to check which is which, even though it should be easy. I still need to check if P. pecten-aboriginum occurs up here, ’cause without flowers / fruits etc. that could be a candidate for some of the plants we saw as well.

The island is reported to receive only 1 inch of rain per annum and there was no evidence of vegetation (such as Tillandsia, lychens etc) that elsewhere would suggest regular fogs, sufficient to sustain such a varied and dense flora. I bet the water table is not too far down and that the rock strata is able to filter out some of the salt.  

Next stop, S1301, was of the small island to the south of Isla Tiburon, which displayed a name plate of Isla Cholludo or Isla Cholludito. The leeside of the island was absolutely jam packed with tall Pachycereus prinlei. We did not have permits to land and the disembarkation and embarkation at S1300 had been sufficiently awkward to avoid it unless there was a rare cactus to see up close. There was not, so we missed seeing Ctenosaura hemilopha, also known as the Cape Spinytail Iguana. Even with permits, it would have been a real challenge to walk between the Cardon, as they grew so closely together and had Cholas fill the space between them.

Next we headed to a larger island that we believe to be Isla Turner, although Ariel called it Isla Danti, probably the Seris (the local tribe) word for the same island. Ariel said that we would not be able to land ‘because of the wind’. We wondered what he meant as the sea was still as smooth as a mill pond. We took pictures as we sailed along the island, a little disappointed that we would not stop. Next Ariel asked Alain to close the window at the front of the cabin – clearly he knew what was coming, as soon the wind picked up and I was treated to an almost continuous sea spray shower. Nice and refreshing, for a while, but after about an hour of regular soakings I became cold and crowded into the cabin, leaving Cliff ( on the lee side of the boat, to toughen it out.

It had been a great day but I was glad that we got back to the Hotel where I could change into some dry clothes. The cameras had been in plastic bags so were OK. My note book with recent kitty entries is still drying out.

It was still early. Alain & Eunice opted for lunch while I warmed up & Cliff had a snooze. When they got back, it was Eunice’s turn to feel tired, sending the 3 men out on our own for more cactus explorations.

We drove out to the north of Bahia Kino, past the spot where we had gone last night. We were surprised to find elderly US couples sitting with garden chairs and tables along the dirt track at intervals of a mile or so – strange way to spend a holiday, getting covered in dust – until we realised that they were marshals for an over 60s (or was it over 75s) rally for off road vehicles.   Anything went, it seemed, as we overtook anything from Doom Buggies to motorised golf carts. We stopped (S1302) to inspect some flowers on Fouqueria splendens. It seemed to me that the usually orange – red flowers were yellow on some of the plants. Closer inspection showed that when the flowers were fully open, the anthers, covered in pollen, caused the yellow appearance. As we were out of the car we decided to take stock of what else grew here and found the usual suspects:

S1303 had Pachycereus pringlei, including a stem that could not decide if it was going cristate or not, Fouquieria splendens, Bursera sp.(at least 2), Stenocactus schottii, S. thurberi, Pachycereus pringlei,

S1304 was a bit farther along and in addition to the above had Ferocactus sp. – I thought it looked the same at the Feros on the island, but Alain thought it was F. wislizenii – I’ll do a bit more reading & comparing images before I decide what I’ll be calling these plants – after all, naming is a personal opinion and we can all sometimes see different things, while looking at the same object. There was also a Mammilaria species here that I’ll continue to call M. sheldonii until a better name crops up. [PS: Mammillaria grahamii ssp. sheldonii is indeed reported from this area]. They do look like plants by that name that I have grown & killed in the UK. Stenocereus thurberi here was an absolute giant and I managed to get plants of P. pringlei & Carnegie gigantea side by side in the same picture!

S1305 was the last brief stop of the day as we found signs that we were on Seri territory and needed permits to take pictures. We found and photographed a Mam. and a Cylindropuntia sp. growing along the road, but decided to turn around rather than to invite problems.

We enjoyed another pleasant evening at the Red Fish Restaurant, where we spent as much on Margaritas and Tequila as we did on food – still, you’re only young once, as my kids keep telling me.

Category:

2009 Sonora

Wednesday, 4 March 2009 – Hermosillo to Bahia Kino

Whereas yesterday had been a cactus washout, today made up for it. We eventually found our way out of Hermosillo – confusion caused by the SatNav sending us down a road that was still being constructed caused some delay and confusion before we found Mex 16, the road to Bahia Kino and the Sea of Cortez. Not the most amazing cactus scenery in the world as much of the land had at some stage been in cultivation and nothing really to entice us into making a stop. We turned off onto a side road heading south on the Habana – Ignacio Ramirez road, heading for the southernmost rock pile, a string of ‘insel bergs’ probably of volcanic origin, that stood out in the otherwise flat and cultivated terrain. We stopped at the foot of this hill (S1295) to find vegetations that we had already seen last year in Baja California, with a few strangers creeping in. We saw Bursera sp., Carnegiea gigantea (not seen in Baja), Fouquieria splendens, Jatropha sp.  Mammillaria sheldonii – the local form of the M. dioica complex, Stenocereus (Lophocereus) schottii and Stenocereus thurberi.

From here, the tracks just petered out, one by one so that in the end we  had to retrace our tracks to Mex 16, where a few miles on we made another stop (S1296) to find a mass of  Cylindropuntia sp., Fouquieria splendens, Mammillaria sheldonii, Pachycereus pringlei, Stenocereus (Lophocereus) schottii, S. thurberi. Cliff reported seeing a solitary Ferocactus. So why P. pringlei here and C. gigantea at the last stop? Answers on a post card please.

We drove on to Bahia Kino and eventually found rooms in Hotel Dolphin and a fisherman to take us to Isla Tiburon tomorrow! Bahia Kino is little more than a few miles of attractive luxurious beach houses overlooking the Sea of Cortez, 4-5 hotels and a few more apartments, with RV parks making up the balance. Tourist Information was an empty shell of building – I guess there were just too few tourists around to warrant them being open. Perhaps they re-open next month. Enquiries to local folks revealed that Restaurant El Pargo Rojo was the best place to find a fisherman willing to take us to Isla Tiburon.

While we snacked on some seafood dishes washed down with a cold Tecate, phone calls were made and a gentleman appeared who was prepared to take us to the island tomorrow. The significance of this island is that it is the home of Ferocactus tiburonensis. Last year we had managed to visit a couple of the islands off the Baja coast, and this seemed to be the only opportunity to do the same off Sonora.

Arrangements made, we booked into Hotel Dolphin, overlooking the Sea of Cortez and then went off to the north of the town where we had seen track disappearing into the hills.

S1297 was a hill next to the landing station used by our new fisherman friend. Cliff drove the car almost to the top of the hills that offered some nice views of Bahia Kino, the Sea of Cortez and the islands – there are some tiny islands, not named on our maps, as well. 

We drove a bit farther inland where at S1298 we found Bursera sp. Cylindropuntia bigelovii, Ferocactus wislizeni, Fouquieria splendens, Jatropha sp., Mammillaria sheldonii, Pachycereus pringlei and Stenocereus thurberi.

S1299 follows the by now familiar pattern of ‘Not Another Bloody Sunset’, except that it was not the best by a long chalk, resulting in only 9 pictures as the sun setting behind Isla Tiburon just did not produce the expected colour festival by lighting up the clouds – perhaps the clouds were just too thick and in the wrong place.

We’re up early tomorrow for a 7 o’clock sailing to Isla Tiburon!

Category:

2009 Sonora