Non-cactus flora of Joshua Tree National Park

Unknown blue flower

Unfortunately I’m not that well versed in the non-cactus flora of the Mojave and Colorado deserts so I’m afraid I don’t know the names of most of the plants featured in this post. If you have more details I would appreciate a comment.

Unknown blue flower in habitat

I was especially fascinated by this small plant growing in the lower Colorado portion of the Joshua Tree National Park. I visited too early in the spring to experience a full blooming desert but this guy was flashing its bright blue flower, standing out among all the earth tones amidst a wash crossing the trail from Cottonwood Spring to Lost Palm Oasis. I studied the plant and its surroundings for a while, intrigued by the habitat it had chosen to grow in - it would for certain be washed away by torrents of water during the next flash flood.

Unknown yellow flower

Another interesting plant displayed this beautiful yellow flower that looks like it might belong to the Fabaceae (Leguminosae) family but I’m not certain.

Unknown yellow flower in habitat

The yellow flowered plant had found a much more secure habitat, growing safely among the boulders in the rock-enclosed Hidden Valley (rumored to have been used by cattle rustlers in the past).

Nolina parryii in habitat

One species I’m pretty sure of is Nolina parrayii (Parry's Nolina or Giant Nolina) that has long thin leaves (and is sometimes called beargrass). It seems to be especially abundant in the lower Colorado portion of the park but also grows in some of the higher Mojave parts like e.g. the aforementioned Hidden Valley.

Nolina parryii seeds

Its tall flower stalk is said to be edible after being baked, with a somewhat bitter taste. Alas, no fresh flower stalks were to be found at the end of February and I didn’t want to try the old dry ones out for taste ;-)


In order to be better prepared I plan to buy the following desert flora books before my next visit to Joshua Tree National Park: Sonoran Desert Wildflowersand Mojave Desert Wildflowers;-)

Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) in Joshua Tree National Park

Flowering Ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens)

Near the closing of February I spent a weekend in Joshua Tree National Park. It was my third visit to the park and this time I targeted in on teddy-bear cholla (and of course cacti in general), Yucca brevifolia (one could argue they are hard to miss in the park;-), and another of my favorites that is covered in this post: the ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) with its sprawling canes soaring for the sky.

Ocotillo flower, close-up

Fortunately my visit followed a period of heavy rains so the ocotillos were both draped in leaves and flowering. On the downside a strong gale was blowing making it extremely difficult to get a clear shot of the flowers (but as the pictures show I finally managed to snap a few;-)

Ocotillo in the Colorado Desert

The ocotillo, characteristic of the Colorado Desert, prefers to root in gravelly slopes of alluvial fans. Flash floods flush sand, gravel, and rock out of the canyons and onto the valley floor creating these fans.

Ocotillo displaying new growth

Fouquieria splendens is sometimes confused for a cacti, but is not. The thorny multi-stem shrub is in fact a woody deciduous plant. Unlike other deciduous shrubs, which normally grow leaves in the spring and drop them in the fall, the ocotillo may grow and drop leaves as often as five times during the year. Its leaves aren’t season dependent but rain dependent.

Fouquieria splendens leaves

Following a sufficient rain, the ocotillo puts forth a cluster of leaves above each torn, adorning the otherwise dead-looking canes with a flourish of green. At the same time red blossoms may appear at the tip of the canes. The leaves go about the business of photosynthesis until the next drought; then they turn red or brown and drop.

Sprawling ocotillo canes reaching for the sky

The above picture was taken standing on the ground looking up into the sprawling canes of an ocotillo. It gives an impression of the height of the plant as I stand 190 cm (6 feet 3 inches) tall and these plants tower above me.

You can find more information on Fouquieria splendens in the book Sonoran Desert Wildflowers: A Field Guide to the Common Wildflowers of the Sonoran Desert.

Balboa Park, San Diego - The Desert Garden

As mentioned in the previous post I recently visited southern California. During a day off I and a couple of colleagues decided to visit the San Diego Zoo - I have to confess that I also had a cunning plan to lure my not-so-cacti-interested colleagues into visiting the Desert Garden located in Balboa Park just next to the Zoo.

My plan succeeded and after enjoying the fabulous Zoo we spent some quality time among the cacti and succulents growing on the slopes of the Desert Garden. Unfortunately the visit was improvised and rather badly planned so I missed the Old Cactus Garden, the Botanical Building, and several other interesting gardens in Balboa Park, places that I in hindsight would have liked to visit. Then again, now I have a good excuse for going back to San Diego ;-)

According to their website “the Desert Garden contains more than 1,300 plants, including succulents and drought-resistant plants from around the world, within its 2.5 acres. The peak blooming period is January through March”. I guess my visit in very early January was a tad too early to experience the full-throttle flower fest as only a few of the plants were blooming (several of the cacti were budding, though - again a good reason for revisiting Balboa Park ;-)

Yet another reason for coming back is that several of the pathways in the Desert Garden were closed during my visit due to heavy rains just a few days prior.

Cacti in Crystal Cove State Park

During a recent visit to Orange County I had a weekend to kill. I neither had the energy nor the time to head for the open desert so instead I decided for a stroll at Laguna Beach.


Cylindropuntia prolifera (coastal cholla) overlooking the Pacific Ocean

I never made it to Laguna Beach though. Cruising south on the Pacific Coast Highway I noticed a sign advertising Crystal Cove State Park and decided to check it out.


Opuntia littoralis (coastal prickly-pear)

And I’m glad I did - the park turned out to comprise a secluded and pristine stretch of beach, almost completely deserted in spite of its location smack in the middle of the SoCal urban sprawl. And best of all cacti were abundant ;-)

I have to admit I was a bit surprised to see cactus growing that close to the sea - they even grow on the dramatic slopes of the coastal bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It just goes to show how diverse environments cacti are capable of coping with.

I’m not well versed in opuntioids but according to this Flora of Crystal Cove State Park the Cactaceae growing in the park are Opuntia littoralis (coastal prickly-pear) and Cylindropuntia prolifera (coastal cholla).


The beach at Crystal Cove State Park

Entering the park I was greeted by a friendly ranger who recommended a hike that takes you down the coastal bluffs and onto the beach - I followed her advice and spent a couple of hours walking the beautiful trails and enjoying the peaceful beach (and of course the cacti ;-)

It was quite magical walking the beach where the only sounds were the rumble of the breaking waves and the squeaking of seagulls, knowing that only a few hundred meters inland you would be engulfed in the ubiquitous noise of cars hissing by.


Tide pool at Crystal Cove State Park

I love the rock formations along California’s beaches, savor the fascinating sea cliffs that have been sculpted by winds and the relentless battering by waves through the ages.


Rock “hoof”

Unfortunately I didn’t bring my Nikon SLR for this trip and my phone is a less than ideal camera, but the pictures will have to suffice.

You can find more information on hiking Crystal Cove State Park in the book California's Coastal Parks: A Day Hiker's Guide.

Intermission

I’ve been a bit lax updating the blog lately as a new beautiful flower has entered my life - she is more wonderful than even the most stunning peyote so my priorities have shifted slightly ;-)

That being said, I’ll be back with new posts soon, so stay tuned. In the meantime enjoy the music ;-)

Peyote plants for sale

Peyote plant with flower and fruit

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by Kevin who has lost the time for his collection of peyote plants and now would like to sell them on. Kevin lives in the UK and has around 40 peyote plants for sale, mostly between 4 and 6 cm wide and many flowering every year. I asked Kevin for photos of the plants and as you can see from the handful of pictures accompanying this post his plants look healthy and well tended to.

If you are interested in buying some of the plants you will need to contact Kevin directly to agree on a price and arrange for shipping.

As always when you are looking to buy peyote plants or seeds, please check your local laws before doing so. All parts of peyote (Lophophora williamsii) plants and the seeds thereof are classified as Schedule I substances in the United States. Also, peyote is illegal to posses in France, Russia, and possibly more countries (if you have information on other countries where peyote has been illegalized please let me know; preferably with references)

Update, October 4, 2010
Kevin just informed me that all plants are sold. You might want to check this list of cactus vendors instead.


Peyote with seeds scattered in the tufts of trichomes


Mature peyote plant

Pavlovsk Experimental Station, world's first seed bank, faces destruction – part two

As mentioned in the previous post the Pavlovsk Experimental Station (part of the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry), one of the biggest and most important seed banks in the world, is at risk of being replaced by a private housing development. Fortunately international attention has started to focus on the looming disaster. Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker reports from Pavlovsk in the St Petersburg Region:

“[The Pavlovsk seed bank] is one of the biggest and oldest of its kind anywhere in the world. It has one of the largest collections of fruit – a thousand different types of strawberry from 40 different nations, 900 different types of blackcurrant and 300 different strains of cherry; and most of them are unique to Pavlovsk […] Scientists warn that if important genotypes are destroyed the world’s food security will be weakened. A case in point: Russian food supplies for example are already under serious strain following the worst drought in living memory.”

You can watch Neave Barker’s video reportage below.



The National Public Radio also reports on the importance of the Pavlovsk collection:

The collection is rare, scientists say, one in a handful of places around the world where scientists carefully study fruit that could sustain through future generations even if temperatures warm and the world’s food supply is threatened […] the research station has collected fruit and berry varieties from around the world, stayed in touch with scientists abroad and cataloged everything.

"Like [what is] winter-resistant, resistant to different kind of fungi, diseases or bacteria," Burmistrov says. "What is the quality? What is the taste? And so, so on."

Russian plum (Prunus rossica) growing at Pavlovsk (photo by Global Crop Diversity Trust via Flickr)

The Farming Futures blog also has a say on this topic:

Both seed banks and wild populations are crucial resources to maintain genetic variety and traits that could be crucial to maintaining robust and productive harvests. Examples from history support this: grassy stunt virus decimated the Indian rice crop in the 1970s, and genetic resistance was found in just one of 6200 species. Again in the 1970s, when corn blight destroyed 15% of the US maize crop, resistance was found in the last remaining wildtype in an endangered Mexican habitat.

The loss of biodiversity therefore represents not only a significant business risk to the agricultural industry but a genuine threat to future food security – how will we create new varieties for our changing climate if we have only a handful of types to work with? Whilst stopping the loss of biodiversity in the wild is the ideal option, seed banks represent an important resource or ‘back-up plan’. Pavlovsk contains specimens of over 5,000 varieties of seeds and berries from a multitude of countries, and more than 90% of them cannot be found in any other research collection.

On an even more sinister note RIA Novosti recently reported that scientists were denied access to the Pavlovsk Experimental Station by the housing construction development fund.

A few days ago the N.I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry wrote on their website that the Pavlovsk Experimental Station had had an unscheduled inspection on 31st of August 2010 – the station was visited by representatives of the government as well as representatives of the development fund. After visiting two plots the commission was convinced that, indeed, the disputed plots harbor plants that must be considered valuable genetic resources and the auctioning off of the land was postponed (this is definitely a step in the right direction, but saving Pavlovsk is far from a done deal – so it’s still too early to celebrate).

There is a certain irony in the fact that this is happening in 2010, the year the United Nations declared to be the International Year of Biodiversity!

Help save the Pavlovsk Experiment Station: Sign the Global Crop Diversity Trust’s petition to tell President Medvedev to stop the closure of Pavlovsk.

Or tweet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on behalf of Pavlovsk Station:

@KremlinRussia_E Mr. President, protect the future of food - save #Pavlovsk Station! http://bit.ly/d2H96s

Pavlovsk Experimental Station, world's first seed bank, faces destruction

The Guardian recently wrote: “Twelve Russian scientists famously chose to starve to death rather than eat the unique collection of seeds and plants they were protecting for humanity during the 900-day siege of Leningrad in the second world war. But the world’s first global seed bank now faces destruction once more, to make way for a private housing estate.”

Sadly, a few days ago a court in Moscow ruled in favor of the Russian Federal Fund of Residential Real Estate Development, recognizing the legitimate transfer of the land housing the Pavlovsk Station for the construction of residential properties. That being said, President Medvedev has announced on Twitter that this issue needs to be “scrutinised” so the valuable field genebank is not lost yet. You can help save the Pavlovsk Station by signing the Global Crop Diversity Trust’s petition to the President of Russia to stop the destruction of the future of food or you can tweet Dmitry Medvedev on behalf of Pavlovsk Station:

@KremlinRussia_E Mr. President, protect the future of food - save #Pavlovsk Station! http://bit.ly/d2H96s


Redcurrant berries (Ribes rubrum)

The Pavlovsk Experimental Station was established in 1926 by Nikolai Vavilov, the botanist who conceived the idea of creating seed banks as repositories of plant diversity that could be used to breed new improved varieties of food crops.

You might ask why it is important to save the Pavlovsk genebank – the Guardian article puts it this way: “At stake, say Russian and British campaigners for the station, is not just scientific history but one of the world’s largest collection of strawberries, blackcurrants, apples and cherries. Pavlovsk contains more than 5,000 varieties of seeds and berries from dozens of countries, including more than 100 varieties each of gooseberries and raspberries.

More than 90% of the plants are found in no other research collection or seed bank. Its seeds and berries are thought to possess traits that could be crucial to maintaining productive fruit harvests in many parts of the world as climate change and a rising tide of disease, pests and drought weaken the varieties farmers now grow. As it is predominantly a field collection, Pavlovsk cannot be moved. Experts estimate that even if another site were available nearby, it would take many years to relocate the plants.”

In a weirdly twisted, almost tragicomical, logic the property developers have argued that the collection at the Pavlovsk Station is “priceless” and since no monetary value can be assigned to it the collection must consequently be worthless! The Russian Federal Fund of Residential Real Estate Development has applied a similar distorted “logic” by saying that the collection doesn’t really exist as it was never officially registered. Let’s hope that the ongoing campaigns can convince the Russian authorities that this important genebank needs to be preserved.


Half a strawberry

The strawberry and redcurrant photos are taken from Wikipedia and are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license and the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 respectively.


Read more on the Pavlovsk situation in this post.

An expanded description of Lophophora alberto-vojtechii

Šnicer, Bohata and Myšák recently expanded on their original description of the miniature peyote, Lophophora alberto-vojtechii, in the article The Littlest Lophophora – an article that also proposes a new key to the classification of Lophophora.

The hallmark of the new peyote species is its minuscule size, rarely exceeding 2.5 cm (~ 1'') in diameter. The Lilliputian stature is eminently illustrated by the following picture of Vojtěch Myšák (one of the persons for whom the plant is named) photographing a specimen in northern Zacatecas.


Lophophora alberto-vojtechii being photographed by Vojtěch Myšák

The expanded description of Lophophora alberto-vojtechii reads:

---

The stem is grayish green with a touch of mauve and is for the most part concealed below ground. The aboveground part (the crown) is flat to slightly convex and 10–50 mm wide in adult plants (average 18 mm, well under an inch). The subterranean part of the stem is cylindrical, extending 25 mm down from the base of the crown (the depth in adult plants increasing with age). The stem is distinctively small and divided into five ribs, or eight in exceptional cases. Trichomes (fine epidermal outgrowths which might be called fuzz or hair) are visible only near the growing point and drop off early, leaving the areoles inconspicuous.

The root is thick and bulbous, up to 30 mm long, and typically 16 mm in diameter where it joins the subterranean stem. It is smooth and a dirty white to creamy yellow color.

The flower is 15–35 mm (average 23 mm) wide. The style is longer than anthers and overtops them, and the petals are long relative to their width, both traits in accord with other members of the Diffusae. Filaments are white, anthers a yellowish orange. The style is white and topped by a white to yellowish or pinkish stigma. Tepals are white to dirty pink, rarely creamy yellowish, and bear a lengthwise stripe in a brownish, salmon, or darker pink shade.

The fruit, dirty white, yellowish, or pinkish, is round to slightly claviform and dries out over time.

Seeds are black, round, 1.15–1.45 mm long × 1.0–1.45 mm wide with the hilum compressed into a broad V–shape. The perimeter of the hilum consists of a pronounced edge. The testa is nodulated, and individual cells of the testa are clearly demarcated.

Type locality: northern San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 1700 meters above sea level. The type specimen was collected by GS Hinton on 1 August 2007 and is kept at the GB Hinton herbarium filed under number 28642.

We have named the plant Lophophora alberto-vojtechii in honor of two people: the late prominent Czech traveler and cactus-hunter Alberto Vojtěch Frič and the living lophophora enthusiast Vojtěch Myšák.

---

Lophophora alberto-vojtechii flower visited by an unidentified diptera

Three insects (two kinds of bees, one large and one small, and an unidentified diptera) have been observed visiting flowers of Lophophora alberto-vojtechii. The plant being visited by a fly in the above picture is from the second known locality in San Luis Potosí and has exceptionally numerous tepals.

The mini-peyote grows in flat, alluvial sediments that transform into greasy mud flats during rain periods. L. alberto-vojtechii has a distinctively geophytic lifestyle, in dry periods it withers and withdraws into small cavities below ground where it is covered with dust and dry leaves by the wind, effectively protecting the plant from the harsh environment. When rains arrive, the plants absorb water and swell, pushing the photosynthetic crown back up above ground level.


Zacatecan Lophophora alberto-vojtechii plant hidden by its flower

In Zacatecas L. alberto-vojtechii flowers can on rare occasions reach over 3 cm in diameter, totally obscuring the plant below - specimens of L. alberto-vojtechii from the plains of northern Zacatecas are lighter flowered than those at the type locality.


Lophophora alberto-vojtechii growing in mud flat


All pictures are taken from the article The Littlest Lophophora.

Key to the genus Lophophora sensu Šnicer et al.

In the article The Littlest Lophophora Šnicer, Bohata and Myšák detail the discovery of the new species Lophophora alberto-vojtechii and expand on the description originally given in the June 2008 issue of Cactus & Co.

The article also gives a key to the species of Lophophora which are divided into two sections Lophophora and Diffusae. These sections were originally introduced by the same authors in the booklet Genus Lophophora Coulter - Kaktusy special 2, 2005 and the division was based primarily on chemical composition but also on other factors like habitat, incompatibility of the species, rib numbers and morphology. Members of the Lophophora section are characterized by having concentrations of the psychotropic (mind-altering) alkaloid mescaline ranging from 15–30% of the total alkaloid content, while members of the Diffusae section contain a maximum of 1.3% mescaline. Šnicer et al. recognize five species of Lophophora.

SECTION LOPHOPHORA
L. williamsii (Salm-Dyck) Coulter

SECTION DIFFUSAE
L. diffusa (Croizat) Bravo
L. fricii Habermann
L. koehresii (J. Ríha) Bohata, Myšák & Šnicer
L. alberto-vojtechii J. Bohata, V. Myšák & J. Šnicer

The following key to the species of Lophophora assumes that L. alberto-vojtechii is allied with the non-mescaline-prevalent species, i.e. it is placed in the Diffusae section.

KEY TO THE SPECIES OF LOPHOPHORA
1	15–30% mescaline in total alkaloids, epidermis tough and thick	Section Lophophora, L. williamsii
1	Maximum 1.3% mescaline in total alkaloids; thin, fine epidermis	Section Diffusae, 2
2	Seed hilum wide (almost circular), testa not nodulated but reticulated	L. koehresii
2	Seed hilum V–shaped, testa nodulated (outer cell walls protruding), individual testa cells clearly demarcated	3
3	Usually five (rarely eight) ribs, stem solitary in nature, miniature (rarely exceeding 25 mm in diameter)	L. alberto-vojtechii
3	Up to 21 ribs, stem solitary or branching in nature	4
4	Flowers dirty white with touch of yellow (rarely pinkish); fruits white to dark pink, usually pale pink; occurring in Queretaro, Mexico	L. diffusa
4	Flowers usually light pink to dark purple-pink, also white; fruits pink to dark purple-pink (when flower is white the fruit is always dark purple-pink); Coahuila, Mexico	L. fricii

Seed morphology is an important factor in the above key. In their original publication on Lophophora alberto-vojtechii Šnicer et al. included SEM images illustrating the differences between the seeds of the various Lophophora species, these images along with their description are included below (Šnicer et al. attribute the SEM images to Gerhard Köhres; the images below are not scanned from the article but based on the ones included in the online French version of the article - just to make sure that credit is given where credit is due ;-)

Lophophora koehresii seed SEM images
L. koehresii has a seed testa structure that is completely different from the other lophophoras. The hilum is wide open, and is almost circular. The testa is not nodulated (the outer cell walls do not protrude above the surface of the seed), but is reticulated [characterized by or having the form of a grid or network], and the cell walls are flat to even. The individual cells of the testa almost merge together. The seed in the pictures is from San Francisco in San Luís Potosí.

Lophophora alberto-vojtechii seed SEM images
L. alberto-vojtechii has round black seeds, 1.15 to 1.45 mm long and 1.0 to 1.45 mm wide. The hilum is compressed into a broad V shape. The perimeter of the hilum consists of a pronounced edge. The testa is nodulated with the outer cell walls protruding. The individual cells of the testa are clearly demarcated. The seed in the pictures is from the type location in San Luís Potosí.

Lophophora fricii seed SEM images
L. fricii has oval seeds, 1.5 mm long and 1.2 mm wide with the hilum compressed into a V shape. The testa is black, relatively coarsely nodulated, with an oval tubercle structure; the tubercles get smaller near the hilum. The individual cells of the testa are clearly demarcated. The seed in the pictures is from El Amparo in Coahuila.

Lophophora diffusa seed SEM images
L. diffusa has seeds which vary greatly in terms of shape and size. The hilum is compressed into a broad V shape. The testa is coarsely nodulated with the outer cell walls protruding. The individual cells of the testa are clearly demarcated. The seed in the pictures is from Niñas Las Palmas in Querétaro.

Lophophora williamsii seed SEM images
L. williamsii has seeds that are 1-1.5 mm long and black. The hilum is compressed into a broad V shape. The testa is nodulated with the outer cell walls protruding. The individual cells of the testa are clearly demarcated. The seed in the pictures is from Mazapil in Zacatecas.