The Arizona Desert
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Both Saturday and Sunday were pretty much out-in-the-desert-all-day kind of days,
thanks to MLK. On Saturday, I was back southeast of Florence trying to get more of a handle on the Echinomastus erectocentrus "acunensis" populations there.
Yesterday we went up through Wickenburg on highways 60/93 (the Joshua Tree Parkway) and were stunned by how beautiful it is there.
Tons of very fast moving traffic zooming to Vegas or Laughlin or whatever, too.
Adjacent photo: A crested Echinocereus engelmannii. |
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A saguaro skeleton. |
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Cylindropuntia fulgida, a form with fewer brown spines. |
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The lower desert near Florence, AZ without saguaros. |
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A nice stand of Ferocactus cylindraceus. |
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North of Wickenburg, Arizona is a real mix of Sonoran/Mohave with giant saguaros and equally giant Joshua Trees. |
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A giant Joshua Tree! (Note Jen hiding in the trunk.) |
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The little treelike Opuntias are very cool. |
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Both days I was pursuing my obsession with Echinomastus. A nice older branching erectocentrus "acunensis" from Saturday. |
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The new find for me was Echinomastus johnsonii "lutescens" north of Wickenburg, really showing off at sunset. |
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Another new find, Mammillaria tetrancistra, here buddying up with a seedling Ferocactus. |
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A beautiful Mam easily mistaken for microcarpa, except for the more feathery radials and the seed, which has a large corky hilum. |
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The moonrise in the Arizona desert. |