Got to spend a few days out in the Arizona habitat, well 1 day really plus a few roadside stops.

Our first stop was on Golden Nugget Road off Interstate 10 alittle past Quartzsite, AZ. We were on the lookout for Grusonia kunzei and Peniocereus greggii. We thought this may be too far south for P. greggii and we were right, or atleast were not able to find any. We came up empty for both at this local but found all the usual suspects waiting for us to take their pictures. It was getting late, the sun was low so we headed on our way. We took note of another small road to explore on the way home.

Elevation = 875-1000 feet

Saguaro scenery






Cylindropuntia bigelovii & Echinocereus engelmannii







C. acanthacarpa var. coloradensis





Mammillaria grahamii



M. tetrancistra

Very nice walking by the desert.
A lot of nice spines!!

Darryl,
What do you mean "too far south" for Peniocereus greggii?
http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?stat ... mbol=PEGRT

Last weeks rescue close to Vail, AZ
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=21490&p=172087#p172087
Scoot down to Johnny D's comment and see what we got clearing only an 80 foot road easment.
If you believe in the two variations our P. greggii is var. transmontanus and the farther east you go all the way to the Chuhuahuan you will find the greggii v. greggii. Some have been reported in the far south east corner of Arizona. The differences are small.
Enjoy,
AZED

Well according to the book i have (1969!) We were too far south...i hadn't checked any other sources, flying by the seat of our pants

Darryl,
In Benson's 1969 book it is called a Cereus greggii var. transmontanus with the range map on page 118.
Hope that helps. We have them all over but you need to know how to look for them or wait for a bloom.
Come on down,
AZED

That's the book. I suppose a more accurate statement would have been, too far west. Sometimes my memory fetches the wrong files

I knew what to look for, but there are are a yitload of bushes and shrubs out there in the desert ... LOL! But we just we didn't have enough time to search properly. Next time!

Darryl,
I can't count the times that members of the rescue crew have walked right next to the Peniocereus greggii and sometime later another member notices it.
One time Linda and I were loading the car at the end of a job and someone said "I guess you want the Penio?" We turned around and 3 feet behind us was a beauty we hadn't noticed.
There are a couple diggers that can see the depression where a tuber that has been beheaded is buried. I haven't learned that skill yet.
Like most of out plants. If you find one there will be more in the area. The P. greggii is a flat land plant. I don't think we have found any on a grade of any sort.
We have also had many plants found growing strong out in the open. If they had a partner plant at some time there is no sign that it was ever there.

Worry not about retreiving the wrong files from memory. Be happy you can retrieve any files at all.

Have a great day,
AZED

Thanks for all habitat pictures!
All the plants looking good and
appear to be "swollen", has it rained recently?
When i visited Joshua tree N.p and the surrondings ,
all plants seemed dried up. It could not have rained
for a very long time......

Hi Magnus,
Thanks, glad you enjoy.

Yes, it had rained quite a bit the week before. The plants you saw were probably quite thirsty. I don't think we had our first rains yet before your trip.