May 22, 2004
Star Cactus Flower
Really liked the color of this image, it stood out. The cactus in the picture is a Star Cactus, which is directly related to the Peyote cactus. Similar to the one that people hallucinate on and take spirit journeys and so on. Quite interesting to see a flower from this plant, and also kinda rare when seen in nature. These plants grow natively here in Southern Texas and into Mexico. There are endangered at the moment, because of there immense similarly to peyote cactus and the popularity among collectors for plants taken from the wild. Only around 2000 plants exist in the wild. They have been destroyed by people who are in search of the cactus with hallucinogenic compounds (alkaloids) as well. When you harvest peyote cactus you cut the tops off and let the plant grow back the next year. But people usually don't know this, and uproot and destory the whole plant. Thus its endangered species classification.
Posted by Ben at May 22, 2004 04:56 PM | TrackBack
