Lava flow at Las Tres Virgenes (south of San Ignacio). I've always admired these Elephant Trees that grow on top of the lava flows that Mex 1
crosses. It's worth a few moments to stop and look around.
Udo - 5-3-2014 at 11:45 AM
I finally saw an Elephant tree with greenery and what looked like blooms last month.
I have seen several Elephant tree farms in Baja...what are they used for?tripledigitken - 5-3-2014 at 12:01 PM
I'm not aware of any commercial use.Mexitron - 5-3-2014 at 12:06 PM
Elephant Tree farms? Could be they're growing for the Copal---the incense made from the sap...one genera of the Elephant Trees (Bursera) are related
to the Mideastern Myrrh tree but the trees in your photo I think are Pachycormus.
I've seen fig tree orchards in the Vizcaino area that look like Elephant Trees because of the way they are pruned.elgatoloco - 5-3-2014 at 12:17 PM
Scientists who study plants tell us that some of the largest specimens of Elephant Tress on the Baja peninsula are found on the slopes of Las Tres
Virgenes. vgabndo - 5-3-2014 at 12:26 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Mexitron
Elephant Tree farms? Could be they're growing for the Copal---the incense made from the sap...one genera of the Elephant Trees (Bursera) are related
to the Mideastern Myrrh tree but the trees in your photo I think are Pachycormus.
I've seen fig tree orchards in the Vizcaino area that look like Elephant Trees because of the way they are pruned.
Lots of Higos around Vizcaino for sure. There is no value for firewood because if used as leña it is considered both toxic and excessively smokey.
(Incense?)David K - 5-3-2014 at 02:25 PM
Perhaps they found a pharmaceutical use and don't want to kill off the wild plants... Like is happening near El Rosario with the yucca trees?
Udo - 5-3-2014 at 02:39 PM
I glad someone found a use for those yuccas. The majority looked as though they were dead (when we pass them). However, the ones in the photo look
like they were alive and well.Pompano - 5-6-2014 at 08:15 AM
Always a familiar landmark, tripledigitken.
I remember stopping at this place for the first time in 1973 and marveling at this patchwork landscape of lava flows and hardened pyroclastic flows.
Imagining what it must have been like when it was forming — hot clouds of volcanic ash, dust, and rock fragments racing down the slopes of Tres
Virgens like an avalanche. And then much later, life returning, as with the elephant trees and other hardy flora and fauna. A tough place to make a
life.....and I wouldn't want to make a hike across it.
Here's a collage of photos I made of that area.
Tres Virgens
ehall - 5-6-2014 at 10:40 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Udo
I glad someone found a use for those yuccas. The majority looked as though they were dead (when we pass them). However, the ones in the photo look
like they were alive and well.
We saw the same thing on the road heading North out of Mikes sky ranch, truckloads of yuccas being hauled out.
