astrobaja
Senior Nomad
Posts: 952
Registered: 5-22-2006
Location: near San Pedro Martir Park
Member Is Offline
Mood: beam me up
|
|
Big biznaga!
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!
\"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened\"
Douglas Adams
our website: http://bajadarkskies.com
|
|
Pappy Jon
Nomad
Posts: 494
Registered: 8-27-2003
Location: Wrong side of the Continental divide.
Member Is Offline
Mood: Temp rising.
|
|
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.
"The association of flowers and warm-blooded love is more than a romantic convention; it is based upon one of the great advances in the evolution
of life." Ed Abbey
|
|
Mexitron
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3397
Registered: 9-21-2003
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy!
|
|
Looks like you're hiking in chaparral, a little wetter than the Biznaga's usual haunts---it likes it!
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
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.
Select Nomad
Posts: 10007
Registered: 11-30-2003
Location: Redding, Northern CA
Member Is Offline
Mood: optimistic
|
|
Great pic-----------happy people beside a happy cactus.
Love it!!!!
Barry
|
|
shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
Member Is Offline
Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
|
|
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
Senior Nomad
Posts: 952
Registered: 5-22-2006
Location: near San Pedro Martir Park
Member Is Offline
Mood: beam me up
|
|
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
\"There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear
and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable.There is another theory which states that this has already happened\"
Douglas Adams
our website: http://bajadarkskies.com
|
|
David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64855
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
|
|
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
Super Nomad
Posts: 1625
Registered: 5-30-2005
Location: bcs
Member Is Offline
|
|
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.
|
|