Pencil and Branched Pencil Cholla

Pencil cholla is one of many different types of cholla. It is easy to see why it gets its name. It is comprised of many narrow, jointed segments that look somewhat like pencils. It grows with a trunk, instead of as a sprawling shrub. It is found in sandy and gravelly plains, valleys and washes. There is a similar type of cholla, the diamond cholla, or branched pencil cholla, which is a shrub with gray, pencil-like stems, with grooved, diamond shaped or cross-hatched patterns. It has yellow or tan spine sheaths with an orange tip. Both have long, but sparse, solitary spines. It is relatively rare - I have only seen it a few times. As I look at different pictures of pencil and branched pencil cholla on the internet, I find examples that look quite different from each other. I also find different sites which give varying characterics and so I may be mix and matching here. It does appear that there are different types of each kind of both pencil and branched pencil cholla, and that branched pencil cholla is often called pencil cholla.

When I initially started this blog, I had the impression that my photos were all of pencil cholla and that none were of branched pencil cholla. Now that I am completing the blog, I have completely shifted to thinking that they are all branched pencil cholla. One of the fun things about doing the blog, and actually doing a little spotlight on various types of plants or animals, is that I learn about them with the little bit of research I do, and it makes me more knowledgeable when I am out in the desert in the future.

The photo below was taken years ago on the Chuckwalla Bench in southeastern California. The quality is not really good. My initial thought was that it was pencil cholla. 

This is also on the Chuckwalla Bench. I believe it may be the same cholla, but I'm not sure. 

As I get looking closer at the sheathing on the spines, it appears yellowish with an orange tip and the segments do appear grooved, but not as diamond-shaped as I have seen other pictures of. My guess is this is a branched pencil cholla.

The next pictures were taken in Joshua Tree National Park. I believed the one below to be a pencil cholla, as it is growing with a trunk.

A close-up of the same cholla.

If the close-ups below are of the same cholla, and it has been so long ago that I'm not sure, then I lean toward it being a branch pencil cholla as it has the golden spines and appears to have the diamond-shaped cross hatching.

This, even-closer view, gives a little better look at the cross-hatching.

This is a different cholla and I believe it is probably a branched pencil. It has the golden sheaths and also appears to have the cross-hatching segments. But notice how much more purple and gray it looks. It also looks little like the cholla I photographed on the Chuckwalla Bench.

A little closer view.

One of my desires is to find a good source for distinguishing the different types of cholla, with both descriptions, pictures and locations. I really love cactus and the desert, in general. The animals and plants that have had to adapt to the harsh environment to survive are wonderful to view and enjoy.

Prickly Pear Cactus

The prickly pear cactus is not as common in the desert areas I have frequented as the beavertail, cholla, hedgehog or other cacti. As I have done a little research on them, I've not found a good source that identifies and describes the various kinds of prickly pear. The brown spined prickly pear, or Mojave prickly pear appears to be the most common in Southern California, including Joshua Tree National Park.  Engelmman's prickly pear appears to be the most common in Arizona, but I can't determine the difference between the brown spined and Engelmann's. I have found pictures of the pancake prickly pear, but again, I can't find a good description of what makes it different. I think I may have representative pictures of each below, but I'm not sure. I believe that prickly pear are found at higher elevations than beavertail, part of the reason that I have seen fewer of them.

Below is a picture of a prickly pear cactus found in Hidden Valley in Joshua Tree National Park. The brown fuzz is kind of weird and the only thing I've found on it says that it hides glochids, fine, tiny, barbed spines, found above the regular spines. I believe this may be a pancake prickly pear.

The next few prickly pear were found near Havasupai in northern Arizona.

I believe these may be Engelmann's prickly pear.

A closer view of the flower.

The next prickly pear were also found on the Havasupai Indian Reservation, but have red flowers. The spines also appear to be shorter and in twos and threes instead of ones and twos.

A closer view of the flower.

The following prickly pear was found near the Whitewater River in San Bernardino County.

 

Finally, these were found near Mission Creek in the San Bernardino Mountain foothills, at a higher elevation than the Whitewater River.

Dried Octopus - Grilled

Another part of our recent Chinatown haul was some dried octopus. It really looked unappetizing.

In and out of the package, it looked like one octopus.

But then, it divided into two, or two and a little bit.

I put it in water in the refrigerator for 24 hours with the hope that it could turn it into something that looked much better.

Even with the yellow water, it would be hard to look much worse than it did dried.

It plumped up quote a bit, particularly the suction cups.

I coated both in olive oil, added a little salt and grilled them on our outdoor grill. The one below was cooked higher above the flame. It did not curl up as much, but it did not taste as good either. It had less of the smoky, barbeque taste.

The one below was cooked directly above the flame, curled up more, and did not look as good, but it had much more barbeque flavor and tasted better.

A different view of the same octopus.

I didn't love it, in fact, I probably would not cook it again (unlike the dried squid which I thought was quite good). I can eat octopus, but I still have not tasted any octopus that I really liked. For me, squid is still substantially better. Still, there is something wonderful about the look of octopus.

Tahoe Galbi: Korean Barbecue

Saturday we went to Santa Monica to celebrate Andrew's 22nd birthday. He wanted to go for some Korean barbeque and picked Tahoe Galbi, located at 3986 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles (213) 365-9000, in Koreatown.

Lexi, Marlin, Andrew and Judy

We knew that they had all you could eat, but had no clue how the restaurant worked. The waitress spoke little English and we informed her we were going to have the "all you can eat." I then asked her where the buffet was she just started to laugh at me. Her tip went down at that point. It would have been helpful to read up on Korean barbeque before-hand because the people at the restaurant were no help at all. They brought out a bunch of little dishes filled with various foods. We didn't know if we were to eat them separately, mix them together, or both. I have since learned that these are known as banchan. They were replenished during the meal as we used them. Toward the front left of the picture is kimchi, fermented cabbage seasoned with chili peppers and salt. I have had kimchi before that was overpowering, but this was pretty good. Toward the back, on the right, is kongnamul, which is soybean sprouts seasoned with sesame oil, soy sauce, minced garlic and chile powder. To the right of the kimchi, is broccoli and cauliflour in a spicy red sauce. Next row back, on the left, was something akin to potato salad, relatively bland, but good. To its right, a mild noodle dish. Back left, was a scallion pancake which was pretty good. Not shown is gyeran jjim, a steamed egg caserole, also served as banchan, which I was not particularly fond of. It was bland, so I reserved my stomach space for more exciting food.

It was not until they brought out the meat and fired up the grill in the middle of the table that I realized they were going to bring everything to our table. First they started with brisket. It was my least favorite of the three types of meat they brought us. It was very thin and was not marinated.

The marinated chicken, or dahk galbi, below front, was very good. It was marinated in teryaki sauce, or something similar, and was very good without adding to it. Behind, underneath some brisket, is pork belly, or samgyeopsal. It was thicker, and although not marinated, was fatty and tasted real good when seasoned.

Below, cooking brisket which is almost ready to eat.

Finally, not knowing what to do with all of the condiments, I put them altogether in a dish and ate it like a mixed salad. In reading about it, the lettuce which we were given, is typically put together with some spicy paste, then wrapped around some meat.

In looking at Korean barbeque, and at the Tahoe Galbi website, I see that they have other types of meat, such as marinated rib meat, known as galbi. Some of the more marinated meats look really good. We are going to have to read up more on Korean barbeque and go back. Ideally, it would be nice to go with someone that speaks Korean.

Saguaro Cactus

The saguaro cactus is found in Arizona and in the Mexican state of Sonora. Despite its limited range, it seems to emblemize the deserts of the American southwest. I love Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in southern Arizona, where the saguaro are plentiful. One of my favorite camping memories was camping near a saguaro near Alamo Canyon with our young children. Below, Rachael and Sam and our tent, dwarfed by a giant saguaro.

Saguaro may live more than 150 years and it may take up to 75 years before they develop sidearms. So the large saguaro with multiple sidearms are quite old and mature.

The saguaro, above and below, were found near Estes Canyon in Organ Pipe.

Below, Sam and Andrew near some saguaro in Grass Canyon during a backpacking trip.

Andrew and Sam, near Alamo Canyon, with less mature saguaro in the background. Most of those visible are a pillar without arms. The few cactus with muliple shoots coming out from a base are organ pipe cactus, not saguaros.

The saguaro flower is the state flower of Arizona. They bloom at night in April and May. They have a ruby colored fruit that matures in late June, but I've never been there that late in the year to see them. Below, the tip of each saguaro is covered in flower buds, a few of which are open.

An unusual, crazy armed saguaro, each arm with flower buds on them.

The buds on the top conjure up the image of a mop-topped muppet. They go from being majestic to almost comical looking.

A closer look at a clump of blooming flowers, unusual to have so many blooming next to each other.

A head on look at the end of an arm, like a balding man with transplanted hair follicles.

The closeup of a bud, amidst the thorns.

This bud looks like it bloomed during the night and is now closing up for the day.

These pictures of flowers were taken at the end of May in 2009, the only time I've seen the saguaro in bloom.

The flowers attract bats, that feed on the nectar from the night-blooming flowers. These flowers were still open in the morning, but they close up later in the day.

Many animals use the saguaro for shelter. A flicker below, has a hole burrowed high up in this saguaro.

A view of this saguaro stump reveals the woody core inside.

This dead saguaro has decayed to the point where only the woody core remains.

A closeup of the woody core.