Perhaps the most extreme example of this is the Agave havardiana, or Century plant. These things are all over the park, as well as (for some reason) being very popular items for decorative planters in local towns. They're pretty large and hard to miss, and they might lull you into thinking that they're easy to avoid.
That may be the case sometimes, but make one wrong move and stumble into one and you'll find out why we were mistakenly calling them "horse cripplers" for much of the trip:
Those leaves are not only stiff as a board, they're tipped with spines hard and sharp enough to go completely through a field notebook. (We tested it.) No one had serious injuries off of those, but there were some close calls. On the upside, these plants are sometimes used to make mescal and tequila, of which you might need copious quantities if you have a run-in with one of the spines.
The next offender in the plant lineup is Agave lechuguilla (on the left in this photo), which were named the collective bane of the course's existence. Also called "Spanish Saber", these nasty little knee-high bundles of misery supposedly grow only in the Chihuahuan Desert, and mainly on limestone, which (suprise!) Big Bend has a lot of.
The fun thing about these is that no matter where you are in relation to the sun, slope, water, rock type, or any other kind of environmental factor, there is always at least one of these things pointing directly at you. If you run into a patch of them, you're toast no matter what direction you're coming from. (This did happen, and we spent half an hour pulling the poor girl out of the plant and patching up the twenty or so holes it put into her legs through her pants.)
Next to that offender is one of the only plants out there that doesn't want to kill you:
Those are some of the things that aren't cacti. There's actually quite a wide variety of cacti in the park, although no barrel or saguaro like most western movies like to show (those are Arizona natives). When we visited, it rained a lot, so everything started flowering, and it put on quite a show:
(For anyone who's interested, the writing reads "PAMS, Dr. J. R. Sollidan: This is where he belongs." We came up with a theory about the pot containing the ashes of a very dedicated geologist who never wanted to leave the park, but we hope that wasn't actually the case, since the cactus was dead and accompanied by a really tacky smiling sun decoration. Any guesses out there as to who this might be?)
6 comments:
I think technically you can only make tequila from Avage tequilana, and anything made from other species is mezcal.
Field geologists who get stuck on spikes can cry me a river - at least you're able to pick your own path. If you're doing field geophysics, you have to avoid the spiky things while also carrying the GPR antenna in a more-or-less straight line behind someone who might find a wide enough path for one person to walk through, but doesn't necessarily consider the full width of the antenna and its handlers... ah, good times!
great photos!
I did my master's in the Delaware and Guadalupe Mts in west Texas...I know some of those plants all to well.
Do they have lechuguilla too in that area? They have a bit of poison in their tip...look out.
Yami, sounds like fun. I suspect I will someday have the pleasure of that experience.
Brian - Oh, yes, lots of lechuguilla. I didn't have a problem with the poison spines, but other people did. Funny thing was, the rangers claimed they weren't actually poisonous. There was definitely some eye-rolling over the third or fourth time we heard that.
I take the family to Big Bend every Spring or at New Years. The park is a love it or hate it park. The kids are now old enough to learn what plants are helpful. I love kiwi and will try the cactus you identified. Thanks for you post. BTW have you done the South Rim?
John
John,
Yes, the South Rim was wonderful! Not even a terrible hike...well, until I discovered what it does to your knees on the way down.
I'd be careful with the cactus - make sure you check with the rangers about which to eat. I don't think there's anything too poisonous, but some do taste better than others.
Thanks for the comment!
I have always wanted to go out in to the desert and try to survive. I was fasanated on this website.
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