The Cactus Trip Diaries

Today was always going to be a ‘mainly driving day’ with just two target plant stops suggested by John from trips he made here during 1972 – 38 years ago, one some 22 km north of Hermosillo for Mammillaria mainiae and another for Mammillaria goldii.

So when the posts along Mex 14 announced km 22  we stopped (S1890), once again squeezed through barbed wire fencing and found Cylindropuntia sp. #1, sp. #2 (in flower) and C. leptocaulis (in bud), Stenocereus schottii, a light spined Mammillaria that I assume is M. grahamii and a darker spined, fatter stemmed form that could be M. dioica – no flowers or fruit to help with IDs and Stenocereus alamosensis (s.n. Rathbunia alamosensis). At first I thought that it was Stenocactus gummosus that we had seen so much around Baja California and along the coast in Sonora. On those occasions, we had seen some flowers, off white in colour and tubular cup-shaped. But the plants here had very different flowers: pink to red coloured, recurved petals and anthers and stamen poking out, almost like Nopalia flowers, designed for hummingbird pollination.  This and S. gummosus can not be accused of being the most dynamic plants in the desert, so while I take ‘for the record’ pictures at each stop that they appear, I never pay close attention, unless there are flowers, fruits or cristate stems, so I may have seen this species before without recognising it for what it is. This one is called the Octopus cactus, because of its sprawling habit. Stenocereus thurberi was also here, in bud and some open flowers as was Fouquieria macdougalii. John spotted a couple of caudiciform trunks of Ibervillia sonorensis and then found four individual plants of M. mainiana. growing in shade under Acacia trees. A very nice stop!

S1891 was for twelve images at a roadside comfort stop (a.k.a. a P break) along Mex 17. Pachycereus pecten-arboriginum (in fruit)  Stenocereus thurberi and a Bursera sp. were among plants of interest photographed.

Two hours later, the same excuse (P break) gave us S1892 where we saw Opuntia sp. C. sp. #1, Stenocereus thurberi, Fouquieria macdougalii. and one large Mammillaria (some 20+ cm in diameter) with large flowers (for the genus). Does. M. winterae occur here? Unfortunately only plant was found, as we had a limited time budget.

We arrived in Nacozari where John had found Mammillaria goldii, Echinocereus rigidissimus, Coryphantha recurvata and Agave parviflora in 1972, 38 years ago. His notes called for us to follow Mex 17 into town (there is now a bypass), cross two railway lines (there are no railway lines now, but a steam engine in the centre of town is a monument to a Mexican, who drove a burning ammunition train out town, where it exploded, killing the local hero, sometime in the 18 hundreds) and then look for the plants on the two low hills just outside of town (these were now built on as part of the urban expansion). We drove through town and around it on the bypass in the hope that John might recognise some likely features to suggest that M. goldii might grow here as well. Such locations needed to be accessible from the road, with an opportunity to park the car safely.

S1893 was judged to be a best fit and we allowed ourselves 30 minutes for a quick exploration. An hour later, we had found all the companion cacti, but sadly, not the Mam. It might have been here, but this is a very small growing plant that would be hard to find in the vegetation (denser than John remembered it) if not in flower.

Time had again beaten us – we had to be out of Mexico today (car insurance) and took two hours to cross at Agua Prieta. Potential travellers wanting to take their US rental car into Mexico should know that a recent change in law now necessitates a US$400 deposit to be paid as part of the import formalities. When we entered Mexico at Pedra Negra, the office to import the car was actually some 20 km inside Mexico, at Allende. Here, the office was actually at the border control, but at the point where you enter the country, not where you leave it. The process went very smoothly and friendly, but  contributed to the two hours that it took to enter Agua Prieta and cross the order into Douglas, AZ.

It was still a fairly lng drive on to Tucson where we stayed at the usual Motel 6 and had dinner at our usual steak house, The Silver Saddle, where a sign said that they did not accept the recession. Fine, but where on earlier visits we had to queue for a table to become available, today the restaurant was only about 20% full – may be because it was Monday night?

This report was written as we drove from Desert Centre to Riverside along I-10 on 13 April.

The last few days I seem to have started the daily reports with what happened at the end and then work my way back. I’ll continue that tradition today. We are at Hotel Bugambilia (no not one of my infamous typos) in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico.

Quite fittingly, our last night is spent in the same accommodation where we spent our first night in Mexico in 2009. There are some minor changes, in that the restaurant has gone down market, is no longer allowed to sell Margaritas and seems to sell snacks rather than a last night of a cactus trip dinner. We stopped off at Walmart and managed to get a bottle of Santa Rita 120 from Chile. On top of that, John believes that the LA Lakers (basketball for the uninitiated) have won their game in the play offs.

We overcame the Margarita problem by crossing the road to the (comparatively speaking) magnificent Holiday Inn where the Margaritas were great, the steak as rare as I like it and the guacamole was served with a parmesan cheese dusting that made it the best guacamole of the trip for me.

We have gone back for a night cap (more wine) so I better finish the stop listing. I recorded six stops: S1884 to 1889 incl.

S1884 was an impromptu stop as Eunice had spotted some Agave’s along the side of the road. She has already retired for the night, so I can’t ask her to confirm the name.

Last year she had very much hoped to see A. bovicornuta (The Cow’s Horn Agave), some 250 km to the south east of Hermosillo. That location just did not fit into that year’s schedule, so this year it was on the agenda. Sometimes I have been disappointed by Agave’s in habitat not looking distinctly different from other taxa that we had already seen, but this time I has pleasantly surprised by a very distinct bright green (to my colour blind eyes) plant (S1885). Some searching on Google explains why we also saw a bluish form growing side by side with the green form. Also here was Agave vilmoriniana, the Octopus Agave, for which we had searched last year around Alamos, to the south from here. Here it was growing with the Cow’s Horn and it seems that there was at least one intermediate or hybrid. An octopus with cow’s horns? Also spotted: Opuntia sp. Mammillaria sonorensis. Dasylirion sp., Tillandsia sp. Bursera sp. and Echinocereus aff. polyacanthus?

We had remarked how, during our travels through the Chihuahuan Desert, we had not seen any ceroids. Finally, as we descended into the Sonora Desert, we spotted our first tallies: first Pachycerus pecten-arboriginum, then Stenocereus thurberi (The Organ Pipe cactus) and finally, Carnegia gigantea, the Saguaro. (S1886). Here we also found Fouquieria macdougalii, huge plants, with a small trunk and flowers at the end of their branches.

We made another stop as we saw the Octopus Agave, A. vilmoriniana hanging from the rock face to the left of the road  (S1887). Also photographed 

S1888 – just a brief roadside stop to photograph Fouquieria macdougalii, Stenocereus (Hertrichocereus) thurberi and Cylindropuntia versicolor (in flower).

S1889 was another unscheduled roadside stop where we saw Fouquieria macdougalii, Mammillaria dioica (?), M. grahamii (?), M. mainiae (?), Stenocereus (Rathbunia) alomosensis, Stenocereus (Hertrichocereus) thurberi and Cylindropuntia versicolor (in flower).

What a difference a day makes. Last night we were living it up in the Best Western in Creel and today we are in Hotel Michel in Yecora, that is still being built. There is one electricity outlet per room and so far we have not been able to get hot (or warm) water from any tap. We had dinner at the grandiose named Meson de Lucy, next to the police station. The total bill for the meal for three people tonight was less then our tip for dinner last night. Needless to say , there is no wifi in the Hotel, although Eunice’s mobile phone did pick up a wifi signal in the restaurant, but that turned out to be the Police Station’s router, and they did not want to give us the key.

This year, we commented how relaxed security had been in Mexico, with only two check points where they waved us through with big smiles and ‘Have a nice day!’ Today we passed from Chihuahua into Sonora and had four inspections with every one out of the car and armed men checking random bags. This was the reason why last year we stayed along the main road along the coast and missed the hilly area where all the interesting cacti grow.

Once again, I race ahead of myself. S1878 was a roadside stop prompted by magnificent views one side of the road and Agaves, A. wocomahi I believe. Closer inspection of the rock wall behind the Agaves revealed a number of Echeveria chihuahuensis, this time in full flower. I also discovered that what I had been calling Echinocereus scheerii on a number of stops on previous days, since we entered the Copper Canyon area, is more likely to have been E. polyancistrus. Here it was again. The German Echinocereenfreund have added another taxa, E. rischerii to this group, and I need to check up how this differs from E. polyancistrus and which one it was that we actually saw. More homework to be reflected in the stop list once it is finalised (will it ever?). John also found a nice red flowered herbaceous plant that he believes might be Lobelia sp.

Farther up the road, S1879 brought more scenery on one side of the roads, with plants on the other. E. polyancistrus, was the only succulent plant that I photographed and remembered seeing.

S1880: more scenery, E. polyancistrus, A. wocomahi, the tiny Sedum sp. that we had first spotted yesterday, another, different Crassulaceae sp., an Opuntia sp. and Echeveria chihuahuensis.

The road from Creel had been of variable quality with lots of evidence of work in progress to make the stretch to Basaseachi hard top.  Shortly before arriving at the waterfall turn, we joined the road that we had taken last year. S1881 (= S1368 in 2009) was for the stretch from the car park in front of the souvenir shops to the viewpoint at the top of the waterfall. Here we each did our own thing, me just sitting on a rock, soaking up the view and trying to remember that by Thursday this would be another holiday memory back in England. The scenery remained magnificent, with the light kinder to the rock faces than it had been last year. We did not make the walk to the bottom of the waterfall (See report for 20 March 2009)

S1882 was another scenery and rock wall plant stop and, as the light was turning reddish in the late afternoon sun, gave us Agave parviflora (or was it A. schidigera?), Echeveria craigiana

S1883 is where I realised my mix up between Echinocereus scheerii and E. polyancistrus as the two were growing here side by side, both in bud, and eventually we found a few plants with the magenta flowers closing at the end of the day. They grew either exposed, on the top of large boulders or in the the shade at the base of the rocks, in faltering light. We also found a ‘new’ (for me) Mammillaria sp., densely spined with strong pink coloured flowers. John remarked how it looked like a Parodia with straight spines.

Yecora, our home for the night, has a long way to go before it becomes a magnet for tourists, the way that towns in neighbouring Chihuahua are striving.

I could just copy the Diaries for 18 March 2009. It would be much easier, as we’re on our second bottle of Norton Malbec at the Best Western in Creel.  I guess that I’ll just run through today’s program and put the 2009 stop numbers in brackets.

We managed an early get away, negotiating for a 7:00 breakfast (well 7:05, by the way that we rattled the door of Restaurant Los Pinos to alert the staff of their side of our agreement). We then thought that the Mexican road building system had performed miracles by putting down an almost brand new asphalt road to take us to the Baranca Sinforosa. We were well ahead of schedule, when the fun started. Eunice’s SatNav target was NOT the Baranca Sinforosa but a way point from her database, where a friend had made a stop last year. We drove on until we met a gang of workmen, continuing the road improvements and asked them if we were on the right way. Noooooooo! came the reply, the directions took us back all the way to our Hotel, in Guachochi!. But the track that we had followed from there last year had improved dramatically and there were now clear signposts to the Baranca, which offers one of the most spectacular views that I have seen. This time, I walked the complete edge of the view point holding the video camera to try to capture the spectacle.

But first we made a quick stop (S1871) at the point in Eunice’s Data Base (EDB) which had sent us 30 minutes in the wrong direction. No cacti or succulent plants were found, but the ground between the pine trees  was covered with a dwarf lupine: tall flower spikes but the leaves very close to the ground.

So S1872 (S1358 in 2009) was reached around 10:10. It was John’s first view of these Canyons and he agreed that they were very impressive. But I had taken all the pictures that I needed from here and I knew that a certain Mammillaria senilis was waiting for us at the suspension bridge that we could see some 1000 ft below us, 4 km along an impossible track. Where is Cliff when you need him to take control of the steering wheel? The alternative was simple: walk.

While Eunice stayed at the top, photographing her favourite Agaves. A. shrevei (?) NOT A. maximilliana as she had suggested last year A. wocomahi,  and (see
http://www.globetrotters.ch/botanik/pflanzen/botspezies_seite_en.asp?main=5070&menu=1&bgt=am&genus=AGAVE&gnr=110), John and I walked to the bridge. I explained how last year I had crossed this several times, just because I could, Eunice had crossed it once and chosen the alternative route back. John said he’d like to give it a try as at college he had taken an additional course in circus skills which involved tightrope exercises, for which he holds Diplomas!. It came useful during his Service years in the Navy where he was able to impress his colleagues with these skills. I would of course now show you pictures of John crossing this ravine balancing on the wires of the suspension bridge, instead of the meter wide planks that I had used, but he admitted that he had left his tight rope walking shoes at home, blaming me for not telling him to pack them!

The walk downhill was a reminder of the excellence of Cliff’s driving skills – I would not have dared to take our Jeep down here.   It made me also think about having to walk back up, around midday (Mad Dogs & Englishmen ……) 

S1873 (S1359), and I headed straight for the rock where I have a clear memory of M. senilis in flower. I must have taken some twenty pictures of the one plant to milk the subject in talks. Cliff and Alain had walked on and had found many more plants, here accompanied by large butterflies. I had told myself not to expect miracles. ‘My’ Mam. might no longer be there and some three weeks later in the season, would certainly have finished flowering. But maybe the Echinocereus scheerii, in bud then, might be in flower this time?  M. senilis was there exactly as expected, but with more flowers! More pictures were taken. The E. scheerii were again in bud, from memory less advanced then last year. So they must have had a cold long winter here too. We then walked on farther and found more M. senilis, but only one or two large swallow tail butterflies.

Soon it was time to start our climb back and I was really chuffed with myself as we managed the 4 km in just under an our, arriving back at the car 1 minute after noon.

We continued the rest of the day with ELO’s greatest hits on my juke box, just as in 2009. Cliff & Alain were here in spirit, if not in person.

S1874 was a leg stretch & comfort stop with again A. wocomahi and a small herbaceous plant photographed.

S1875 was for 26 images taken from the car of the breath taking scenery.

S1876 (!361 in 2009) was for Echinocereus scheerii and Echeveria craigiana, photographed in much better light this time.

The last stop of the day, S1877 was prompted by a suggested location from EDB, but at the coordinates suggested, we were looking at a 50 m drop along side the road. We expect that the explorers had taken an earlier track that ran parallel to the road, along a dry river valley. About 1 km farther along, we were able to join this track and soon had found the moss covered rocks that is the favoured habitat for E. scheerii and another Echeveria, E. chihuahuensis.

Another excellent day!

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Today was very much a driving day, covering some 550 km., quite a bit of these on winding roads or through topes filled villages.

Only 53 images taken today, spread over four stops, (S1867 to S1870) record scenery to record that MEX 45 from Durango to Parral leads mainly through boring flat (high plateau) cultivated or unused land. We did see some cacti, but nothing worth reporting here. Details in the field list available on request after I have pieced it together in months to come.

Alain & Cliff will be pleased to know that tonight we are staying again in Hotel Cumbres and that the range of food served in Restaurant Los Pinos has not improved; still no guacamole!

Tomorrow we plan to drive through Copper Canyon to Creel. I should have left last year’s wireless keys on my laptop.

During breakfast at the Best Western in Gomez Palacio, the head waiter approached me and asked if he was correct in thinking that I had stayed with them before, about a year ago. Yes I had. Then I was with two large gentlemen; were they alright? Yes, Cliff & Alain are fine – nice to be remembered I guess – I trust that it was for the right reasons.

We are now entering familiar territory for Cliff & Alain, as our first stop (S1862) was just before the Presa where last year we were able to see Agave victoria reginae through telephoto lenses. They were still there this time. I’ll have to look up the list of plants seen from last year’s Diary, so that I don’t contradict myself this time. I can tell you that the Opuntia rufida, the Cylindropuntia spinosior and the Coryphantha durangensis were all in flower this time.

S1863 was at the Presa itself, a brief stop and nothing new to report since last year.

S1864 was a stop along the Rio Nazas, close to where we stopped last year. Then we had photographed a white flowered Fouquieria splendens. John tells us that this is known by the name of F. campanulata. Wikipediea has it down as F. splendens ssp. campanulata. Anyway, here is where we first encountered it this year

We stopped again at last year’s stop where we first saw the white flowered Fouquieria, (S1865) although our real purpose was to look for Ariocarpus fissuratus and Leuchtenbergia principes. That time we only found one Leuchtenbergia, but this time I was able to find that plant straight away and then found numerous plants – five near by, others higher up the hill. I believe that that time, short of day light hours left, we were unable to find any Ariocarpus. This time we fared better, over the hill, on to a second hill, finding a dozen or so plants, dead & alive, in the time allocated (actually, we overran, leaving John waiting at the car, sorry again, John! All the other plants reported in 2009 were found again (yes, I know that I’m chickening out). The database suggested the name A. intermedius, but according to the Living Rock’s website, this occurs in the Cuatrocienegas area in Coahuila, not here.

What next? Last year I was ill prepared with my stops – no break from five months continuous cactus travel had taken its toll. This year Eunice had accepted the challenge of planning a route that would take us past interesting plant locations and she has done really well. She reported two stops of Mammillaria, a little out of the way: M. theresa and M. guilzowiana.   We made it to the first, the one for M. guilzowiana, but the road was poor, approaching roads in Bahia, so our speed had been far below the 60 m.p.h. (100 km.p.h.) average on highways. I was none to hopeful at finding our plant as we stopped (S1866) near a pass, with a cooling wind howling through. Hats were left in the car. The hillsides seemed to be covered by the remains of ferns, thick layers, not the best place to look for small Mams. And yet, within minutes, John had found a flower poking through the ferns. Cameras clicked, and, after some of the dead plant material had been cleared away, clicked again, now at four or five small globular Mams, nowhere near as woolly as plants in cultivation had made me expect and much smaller. The flowers were on longer tubes, so that they could poke above the competing vegetation.

While trying to stay upright in the storm (we later discovered that this is the norm here) I found my first Stenocactus (Echinofossulocactus) with the body practically obscured by spines and a few white flowers with darker mid stripes on the outside of the petaloids. There was also a nice Echinocereus of the triglochidiatus group in flower.

Once again we had run out of time and even though the M. theresa stop seemed only 9 km away, it was along that track in poor condition, with light failing fast. Instead of driving to Hidalgo del Parral, some 250 km away, we headed for Durango where we had stayed in the Best Western in 2009. Nothing had changed here.

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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!