Was on an expedition in Oaxaca and Puebla last month, and encountered three species of Fouquieria. The most common was the ubiquitous - and hard to pick out out-of-flower - Fouquieria formosa.
Fouquieria formosa
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Fouquieria formosa
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Fouquieria formosa
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The much-sought after Fouquieria purpusii.
Fouquieria purpusii
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Fouquieria purpusii
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Fouquieria purpusii
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Fouquieria purpusii
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And, the one I was most excited to find, Fouquieria ochoterenae.
This year's trip was to assist with Greg Starr's Agave research and to collect a new species of cactus I discovered on last year's trip. Side excursions to Fouqueria sites were just a bonus because I am a Fouquieria Nut as well!
Great plants. What were the temps like? What were those great cacti in the background?
I see once again,why our attempts to keep them in potting soils and mixes is a hard row. Where to buy limestone sands and gravels with a dab of organics?
Stan wrote:What were the temps like? What were those great cacti in the background?
We had some pretty cold weather this trip - at least for this area. Temps at night dropped well into the low 40s/upper 30s (F) for some of the days. A front had just gone through when we got there, and it was overcast much of the first week.
The large cacti in the background of the F. formosa are mostly Pachycereus weberi.
Thanks for sharing these great images. My two favorites shown here. The stem detail of ochoterenae reminds me of some of the columnar Malagasy euphorbias. Beautiful in a savage sort of way. Hopefully, someone will get around to reintroducing this amazing tree ocotillo to US cultivation.
Agave
"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".
"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
Bananaguy wrote:Awesome colors on the trunks and neat flowers. Thanks for sharing the pictures of your research and what was the cactus you found any pictures?
We are putting the finishing touches on the description of the new cactus, so we should be able to share more, including pics shortly!
