Quote:
Originally Posted by thistlesifter
The old name for this was Ferocactus acanthodes.
common name: California Fire Barrel
Hunts Lexicon, Andersons Cactus Family reports that Taylor rejected Acanthodes in 1979 and it is now called:
Ferocactus cylindraceus
Widely distributed over Southern Calif, Arizona and into Baja Calif. Mexico. It is highly variable in spination and size.
It has been pirated for many years and decimated in some areas from collectors as far back as the early 1900's. In the 1940s along route 66 curio shops sold Cactus Candy made from these plants.
There are old photos of another highway through the pass from Palm Springs through the mountains to San Bernardio what is now I-10 with sparsely populated forests of 6 foot specimens of this magnificent cactus..
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Thank you. We had read that they had recently discovered a population of the ssp. tortulospina within the confines of the Anza-Borrego boundaries (CSSA Journal) and are not really cactus people, so are not sure how to tell the two apart.
Yes. Tragic what happened to the deserts in the early 30's especially as Harry Johnson and others reported the raping of the lands. I had read one report that a truck pulled into the L.A. area offering an assortment of cacti and there were more than 10,000 specimens on board. Would have been nice to see the desert prior to it getting plundered.
Last trip we were taking pictures of Agave deserti and the ranger pulled up behind us and asked to inspect our vehicle. We had unknowingly parked about 20 feet away from a pile of freshly dug specimens of the pictured cactus.
Thank you again for the information.