On 2011-02-19, wrote:
On 19 Feb 2011 01:49:54 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

[ ... ]

And one style of cactus which was around where I grew up I
called "watch-out cactus" because the needles had a dry husk on them,
and when you pulled a needle out of self, the husk stayed around nearly
forever in your skin. The husk could provide a continuing path of air
through the walls of the tire and tube.

If anyone really knows the name of that cactus (insanely
branching and re-branching bits about the diameter of a pencil or a bit
fatter), I would love to have identification. This was in South Texas,
sort of between San Antonio and Laredo, FWIW.

[ ... ]

See if you recognize it here.

http://thehibbitts.net/Cactus/TXCact...Accounts4.html

Hmm -- a wonderful resource, but I've checked most of them now
with little luck. The closest is:

Opuntia (Cylindropuntia) imbricata (Tree Cholla)

but the stems are too fat, and it is shown only well North of where I
saw these.

Most of the cacti on the left-hand side of the page were low
balls and pincushions. This grew at least five feet high. Most of what
gets near that high is the Prickley pear varieties.

The interesting thing is that none of the photos which I noticed
were taken in LaSalle County, which is where these were. An
un-documented species, perhaps? (Maybe he has just not visited LaSalle
County yet. :-)

Thanks much,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---