OK TTP doesn't have a nice flower picture to share (or didn't at the time this was written), but this is still a darned cool plant. This is the boojum, Fouquieria columnaris in the ocotilla family. Boojum is a classic pachycaul, a thick stemmed plant that most people think is a weird cactus. The slender branches sticking out on all sides are quite spiny, but they do not turn into fat axes, they stay slender unless oriented vertically like at the top. This specimen was at the Sonoran Desert Museum. The name boojum comes from the Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll. Take home message, succulents as a category is not the same as cacti.
No comments:
Post a Comment