Cholla and Yucca habitat pics

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 6:32 am

On our way home from a weekend long car race, my wife and i stopped by the side of the road to explore some cholla's we spotted on our way up a few days before.

I was very excited, as this would be our first encounter with habitat cacti. (as enthusiasts) It was great to be out there in the middle of essentially nowhere, yet still only 30 miles from home. Funny how that works.

The chollas were everywhere!! big ones, small ones, short ones, tall ones...it was great. And of course, the Yuccas were awesome, all standing proud for as far as the eye could see. Some as tall as 25 feet and 100+ branches and heads

So as usual, i snapped a bunch of pics. I was also proud of myself for IDing them correctly too

My wife pleaded the bigelovii case well tho. (i did ID them correctly, right?

)

Daiv, feel free to use these for the site if needed. The locality these were taken: Highway CA-138 south of the town of Littlerock, which i beleive is part of the San Bernardino National Forest area. About 10-12 miles north of I-15.

hope you enjoy!

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa
Silver Cholla
These where so awesome. The time of day was perfect, the sun was getting low and as you looked out across the plain, all the cholla's would glow golden and became pretty easy to spot.

Yucca brevifolia
Joshua Tree
These are pretty common and there are thousands upon thousands of them growing as far as you can see. A Yucca desert forest for sure. Really cool plants.

I was purposely looking for just this kinda thing, small little guys just starting out. I looked in every tuft and then found this one

Then turned around and found the next little guy right there out in the open.

This one has seen better days...

This one had a nest in it. Gotta be a brave bird or whatever to build a home in a cholla!

Here's bit of a panoramic view.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:15 am

here are some more shots of the Yuccas.
Sorry some are a bit blurry, took them while driving by.

Dunno whats up with this group??

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:29 pm

Thanks Darry,
I to have been driving past them or 20 years but have never stopped...
And now I dont have to

PS. looks to me like that group of yuccas caught fire at some point.

Buck Hemenway · Post by **Buck Hemenway** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:29 pm

Amazing what you see but don't notice. No pictures of Yucca whipplei Darryl? I agree with the fire theory.

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 3:58 pm

Tony, Pics are cool and all, but being right there with them is better

Sorry Buck, i wouldn't know what a whipplei looks like. It never even dawned on me that there'd be different types of Yuccas out there

We do plan to go back and spend more than 20 mins

I thought of fire too, but thought the leaves would have been burned off.

kaktus · Post by **kaktus** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 4:03 pm

Great shots! I wish we had a few more species up here...
Thanks for sharing

Post by **daiv** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 7:27 pm

Darryl,
Fun post. I think many overlook C. echinocarpa because of the general lack of enthusiasm for Opuntiodes. But they really are remarkable and beautiful plants.

They seem to me the toughest of all North American Cacti. Peterb, might have other thoughts on this, but I have noticed that Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) is about the toughest and second to that is C. echinocarpa, the Silver Cholla or Golden Cholla.

I see your populations are a bit in-between Silver and Gold. I noticed that up around Death Valley, they are very golden-colored, while down in Anza-Borrego, they are quite a brilliant silver.

ihc6480 · Post by **ihc6480** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:14 am

Great pictures Darryl. Love the C. echinocarpa's

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:17 pm

Hi- Well, hmmm...Daiv raises a very interesting question. What is the toughest of all North American Cacti?? Maybe we should hold a few cage matches....

Thing is, of course, "tough" is a relative term. Certainly the desert extremes of the areas that echinocarpa grows (and thrives) in are brutal. And it does seem that the "toughest" of the cacti would have to be an opuntioid. Just because.

But my vote might go to "Utahia" sileri, from the mud pans of the Four Corners. Soil surface temps of 130F are not uncommon in peak summer. -5F is a fairly regular winter overnight low. Soil pH has been measured as high as 10.1.

Of course, sileri doesn't exactly "thrive" there. Anyway, it's an interesting question. Good old C. imbricata is definitely up there, as is O. polyacantha for sure. Someday the world will be covered with O. polyacantha, roaches, ants and pine trees.

peterb

peter · Post by **peter** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 5:54 pm

Hi Darryl
Great photos! Thanks for sharing!