What is it?

Use this forum to discuss matters relating to Cacti genera too plentiful to enumerate. This is where one posts unknown plant photos for ID help.

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Spination
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What is it?

#1

Post by Spination »

??? Wanna guess? It's pretty big, pretty old (couple hundred years?), and it looks like some big old rocks - at least what I'm letting you see of it here. There's some important history where it is as well.
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Azuleja
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Re: What is it?

#2

Post by Azuleja »

Live oak
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Spination
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Re: What is it?

#3

Post by Spination »

A good guess, and it certainly looks oak-ish. The next clue is that it does belong in the Cactus forum.
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Re: What is it?

#4

Post by Spination »

It's a cropped photo of one of the remaining oldest parts of a large clumping Opuntia.
Here
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Where this was made
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According to info found regarding this particular mission, the Opuntia there in the courtyard in "mission times", served as a living fence and a source for food. This remaining section is up against the back wall of the courtyard, an impressive massive clump apparently preserved for ages.
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http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/species ... ecnum=5938" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What is very interesting, is that if one also looks at a map of the placement of the California Missions...
http://californiamissionsfoundation.org ... -missions/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
there's a clear correlation between the naturalized distribution of this plant in California, and the location of the missions. I would venture to say that it's not accidental or coincidental.
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