The Cactus Trip Diaries

Before our two days away to Itamarandiba, we had asked the staff in our Diamantina hotel to do some washing for us and to have it ready for our departure this morning, after breakfast. I’m not quite sure what went wrong, but when we came to check out, the washing had not yet arrived back from the laundry. A couple of hours later and the problem was resolved, with some tuning to the still damp items needed as various items got mixed up.

Today I have a fair idea of where we went, as I switched on the DashCam and recorded our travels today as seen through the front windscreen of our Duster. When we started in Belo Horizonte, the car was a nice dark brown (? – I’m colour blind!) colour, but by now it had taken on a nice ‘splashed in chocolate milk’ appearance. The result was 105 three minute movie clips i.e. 5 hours  and 15  minutes of bumping along country roads. The footage includes the time, speed and GPS coordinates of where we were. The majority of the time the movies are quite boring, only of interest if we should have an accident, to help determine who was to blame. I have included just two minutes in my current presentation, to give the audience an appreciation of what it is like to drive in Minas Gerais. The cacti certainly don’t stand to attention by the side of the road, but it is possible to pick out quartz patches on distant hills that look promising for exploration for cacti.

We managed to visit Uebelmannia gummifera subsp. meninensis in 1999, after a brief reception by the mayor and a second member of the city council, dressed in suits on a day that was much too hot for looking smart. In 2009, without Marlon, but working from his very detailed notes, Cliff and I managed to make our way to the ‘drive through’ site of U. gummifera.

This time, S3668 was a different location to the 1999 stop but is it the same spot as in 2009?

Marlon and Jared noted that there were several small plants, just some 5 cm across, that looked unwell. Marlon cut the plant in two and revealed that it was no more than a hollow shell. A borer beetle, or rather its larvae, had done their evil work. A similar phenomenon occurs in Sclerocactus in the USA and has been well studied and documented. It would be interesting if a Brazilian student could look into the details of what we observed here.

All the affected plants were of a similar size. Fortunately there were still a good number of fully grown plants around.

However, U. buiningii had always eluded me. It is the most remote location, from Diamantina, if you want to see the other members of the group as well. But here it is!! Found by Jared, found by looking over my shoulder (I was sitting on a rock!) and asking:’Is that one?’ You bet!

I understand that three more plants were found at the other end of the site. We just need to find Uebelmannia horrida to complete the set, planned for the end of the trip. Make no mistake! Although we were very pleased to have seen just a few plants, this is a critically endangered species, unless there are more locations, less accessible, yet to be found.

We headed back to Itamarandiba as our Dusters were low on fuel. As we approached the town Marlon received a message that one of us had left a bag behind. I had not noticed it yet, but the bag was mine. That is the trouble, with luggage split over two cars; my luggage includes a soft IKEA bag, mainly containing cables and chargers that I can either squeeze into my main luggage suitcase or use as ‘filler’ in the boot of whatever of our cars is handy. On this occasion my Nikon D750 was also in the bag, so that the honesty of the staff in the hotel prevented quite a financial loss.

We had entrusted our dirty washing to hotel reception for collection the following morning.

• S3663 – Le Do Anjo

Chris Hayes showing off his skiing skills. But it’s quartz, not snow, Chris!

• S3664 – Eucalyptus Charcoal Ovens
  
• S3665 – Uebelmannia gummifera var. rubra

• S3666 – Uebelmannia meninensis
  
  
• S3667 – Eriocaulaceae sp.

Yesterday’s fall at the first stop of the trip had left me questioning if I was becoming too old for these sort of trips. But these thoughts blended with trying to work out why I was feeling unusually tired. Marlon had suggested that November was not the best time of year to travel in Minas Gerais – it was the hottest time of year and the start of the rainy season, creating high humidity. Marlon suggested that I was dehydrated and needed to drink more bottled water. That was easy, with plenty of bottles bought at the local supermarket before setting out. I had insisted on the dates because in 2009 we had travelled here at exactly the same time without any problems. But then, the weather can be notoriously unpredictable.

Today I took images at:

•  S3658 – Uebelmannia pectinifera subsp. flavispina

S3658: Uebelmannia pectinifera subsp. flavispina
and Cipocereus minensis, Dyckia sp. Orchidaceae sp. Tillandsia sp and Velloziaceae sp.

•  S3659 – Uebelmannia pectinifera subsp. flavispina, Bromeliad sp. C. minensis, Eriocaulaceae sp (Everlasting flower), Lichen, Orchidaceaa sp and Velloziaceae.
  
  

There is often a distinct difference between the juvenile and adult spination of Uebelmannia to the point that they look like ‘different’ species. When grafted, the juvenile spination persists longer than in nature. This is the case for the plant described as Uebelmannia pectinifera var. eriocactoides but its discoverer has admitted to me that in habitat, larger plants look like ‘normal’ adult U. pectinifera. Plants offered for sale are always grafted.

• S3660 – Datas
  Images taken are of the typical colonial architecture. No plants photographed.
• S3661 – Uebelmannia pectinifera subsp. flavispina
  
  This population contained tagged plants as part of a population study. Metal tags were tied to the plants by a metal wire. All tagged plants had died. A few plants were missed by the taggers and were healthy. I suspect that heavy rains can turn the puddles into electrical batteries rather like experiments I remember from school. I hope that the students recorded and reported their results, so that others can learn from this and avoid a repeat. I have seen other population studies (e.g. Pediocactus bradei near Navajo Bridge, AZ), where the tag is secured into the soil by a nail, but neither metal objects touch the plants. On a recent visit to that location some of the discs were made of black plastic. There was no evidence of plants being affected by the tagging.
• S3661 – night out in Diamantina, no plants photographed
  
  Alain Buffel and John Child used as scale for the 3.5 litre beer glass. I should say that the six of us shared two such glasses! There was no space on the table for one each!!

It’s been a frustrating year, healthwise. Around this time last year, we were all set to travel to Chile. Angie had asked if we could include a short break for her to go horseriding high up in the Andes, at a farm near the town of Hurtado. After a year of visits to Salisbury hospital and initially placed under a ‘long-haul flying ban’, she will have some stents inserted in some two weeks time. Fingers crossed.

You can’t keep good folks down so in March 2018 Angie and I drove down to Frijas and Monaco on the French Riviera to visit the oldest cactus nursery of Kuentz and the Jardin Exotique respectively. We even bought some cacti to see how things might work after the UK leave the EU (Brexit), as we headed home via Switzerland, also outside the EU. No problem. The border officer was only keen that we bought a carnet, a sticker to allow us to drive on Swiss motorways. Brexit negotiators, please take note!

We also visited the Sukkulenten-Sammlung Zürich before crossing into Germany to visit the nursery of Uhlig’s.

We were back in Germany again in July to visit the Dahlem Botanical Garden in Berlin, the oldest cactus nursery in the world of Haage in Erfuhrt and to visit Angie’s mother in Cologne.

Today marks the day when in one month’s time I fly out, without Angie this time, but with friends Alain Buffel, Chris Hayes and John Child to Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil to meet up with Jared Marguiles from Mayland, USA and Marlon Machado for a month of cactus inspired travel in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia.

As usual, I’ll try to find an internet connection to keep family and friends up to date with our progress and to tell cactophiles of the plants that we saw and photographed.

I hope that you can join us on the Blog and enjoy with us what we’ll see.