BajaNomad

Big biznaga!

astrobaja - 4-27-2010 at 11:26 AM

Hi all,

We found this one hiking to our waterfall along rio de los pinos. By far the biggest one we have seen, must be very old!

big honkin biznagab.jpg - 44kB

Pappy Jon - 4-27-2010 at 01:22 PM

I've seen a few tall ones down there. Someplace I have a picture with me standing in front of a very large one, my hand extended above my head, and the plant is still taller.

Mexitron - 4-27-2010 at 02:52 PM

Looks like you're hiking in chaparral, a little wetter than the Biznaga's usual haunts---it likes it!

David K - 4-28-2010 at 08:12 AM

Great photo...

One of the fattest I have seen... (Valle Chico, near Parral):





and one of the tallest... about 7 feet (Agua Caliente Canyon, above the hot spring):


Barry A. - 4-28-2010 at 09:33 AM

Great pic-----------happy people beside a happy cactus.

Love it!!!!

Barry

shari - 4-28-2010 at 09:51 AM

wow, thanks so much for the photo...really incredible and could feed a whole herd of wild horses. I couldnt believe it the first time I saw my horse eat one of those suckers...he systematically pawed it open with his hoof and munched the core of it...took him all day to eat one little one...dulce de biznaga used to be a common treat here.

astrobaja - 4-28-2010 at 11:58 AM

Cool pics David, wow 7 foot tall! Ours was five and a half, most around here are between 1 and 3 feet. According to the Baja California Plant Field Guide by Roberts there are 15 Feroccactus species on the penninsula many are endemic ones isolated to a few islands,

Shari: The Pai Pais that built our adobe house claimed biznaga root was good for cleansing the kidneys, but then almost every plant they mentioned was for kdney cleaning it seems :spingrin:

David K - 4-28-2010 at 01:47 PM

Yah, I was up there alone so no photo of 5'9" me next to it... but is was well over a foot taller than I!

oladulce - 5-1-2010 at 02:16 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by shari
wow, thanks so much for the photo...really incredible and could feed a whole herd of wild horses. I couldnt believe it the first time I saw my horse eat one of those suckers...he systematically pawed it open with his hoof and munched the core of it...took him all day to eat one little one...dulce de biznaga used to be a common treat here.


Ahh haa! That solves a mystery Shari.

A few weeks ago we heard a heavy thump,thump, thump in the middle of the night. We thought the cats were up to no good but Bigwooo found both of them with saucer eyes and tails puffed up like raccoons, looking out the window. He turned on the porch light and put his face to the glass for better viewing, and about fainted when he came nose to nose with this burrito staring back at him from the patio side of the glass.

After he gathered his wits, Wooo shooed her (?) and she sauntered away and he discovered that she had been pawing around a barrel cactus I had planted off the patio. She had dug up the plant perfectly without damaging the barrel or the roots and must have been preparing to dine on the corazon.

We've seen glimpses of this solitary little burro wandering in the desert behind us and I was impressed that she could dig up the biznaga in the confined space of my landscaping and didn't disturb another plant or throw dirt or rocks around. A considerate little burrito, but the gate gets closed at night now.

Nothing near the size of the barrel in your picture in our neck of the woods Astrobaja.