Pincushions, Yellow Umbrellas and Prickly Greeks

[Lesley Cox]

Very surprising to see the Opuntia species in Canada (though I know there are Andean, hardy cactus species . They must be tough as old boots.

[Lori S.]

Oh, sorry - yes, Krascheninnikovia lanata has apparently replaced Eurotia lanata.  I can never remember which name has superceded which!  (Not to imply that I'm overly familiar with the plant anyway; I was just thinking about it and wondering if we'd overlooked it at Dry Island.)

[cohan]

Very surprising to see the Opuntia species in Canada (though I know there are Andean, hardy cactus species . They must be tough as old boots.

they sure are tough, lesley--and remember fragilis occurs in the extreme northwest of alberta--hours farther north than me!
i have seen opuntia sit out all winter (-40 lows)in regular plastic pots and come through unfazed, among the hardiest plants there are!

[cohan]

onward to the next site, south and east farther through the Red Deer River Valley, past the town of Drumheller..we drove on farther south since one of my wishes for this trip was to find the only confirmed non-opuntia cactus in canada-Escobaria vivipara, and they just barely begin in the drumheller area..
well we drove some ways, but although the landscape was getting drier, and there may well have been interesting plants in the hills, the area was all fenced (grazing, i suppose, though we didnt see any livestock) right up to the roadside, so no place to stop and look for plants..time being limited, we turned around and drove back, finding our next stopping place (last photo) right across from the town of East Coulee..
only about 30 kilometres from our first stop, but noticeably drier..
shots 5 and 6 show an old wooden grain elevator--used to store, ship grain etc in the old days; there are only a handful left in alberta (used to be one in nearly every small farming town), and some of those have been restored; not this one yet, but there is one north of drumheller that has been maintained and is being used privately...
also note, as you go farther south in the valley, it becomes much wider, with extra hills from old eroded valley walls, with the present valley walls farther back; its probably at its widest near the actual town of drumheller..there are wonderful yards (in natural potential, not in their current use...lol) with little miniature hills with sedimentary layers and rocks exposed..imagine having that in your yard to garden!..i dont mean city lots..acreages..

[cohan]

site 2: directly across from the town of East Coulee; just south/east of Drumheller, Alberta, about 30km from our first stop at Nacmine..
i haven't looked it up, but i think there must have been some kind of-mine? home? farm? business? something on top of this hill, as there were timbers and pieces of metal laying around, and some signs of excavation..also a roadway that leads partway up, through escaped agricultural forage plants etc, then some trails on the higher areas... i speculate the area is popular with nature hikers, and/or local teens who might hang out up there (although i didnt see any beer bottles or litter...lol)..
it doesnt look that high from the bottom, but look for the shots looking down on the town, and our little van sitting at the bottom...

the geology of the valley is interesting--varying sedimentary layers  exposed and eroding, so you get all sorts of unrelated rocks side by side--some areas are just clay, then you see ironstone, and red rock and sandstone etc etc..all very arty..
lots of Opuntias at this site, again, and sometimes in the exposed rocky spots, though again, the most harsh locations are more likely occupied by Eriogonum, Hymenoxys, Artemisia etc...

[cohan]

Opuntia: from a prickly plant growing near Opos, in ancient Greece..

site 2, East Coulee, Alberta

the largest patches are often found on slopes, where no doubt both fruit and pads roll downhill to germinate/root..
the specimen growing from 'pure rock'(no doubt there are veins of clay behind) is the exception, more typically they grow among grasses and other vegetation, which give a bit of shelter, and probably trap moisture, especially snow..

i was very impressed to see the 'red' buds in second last photo, only realised in looking at the photo that those are probably aborted...lol--nature is lovely even in retreat next shot shows normal bud colour..

[cohan]

the two Opuntia species in alberta, O fragilis (small oval/cylindrical pads, easily detached) and O polyacantha (large flat pads) intergrade in some locations; last year i looked at a site where there was every form from one extreme to the other; this year i mostly saw plants that look like polyacantha, though i saw a couple that were smaller/ambiguous--hard to tell at times if its environment or genes, but a couple of these i realise more in the photos clearly had fragilis looking pads...
plus some close-ups of the always lovely opuntia flowers...

4 and 5 show the past prime flowers fading to bronzey yellow..

[Lesley Cox]

Krascheninnikovia lanata

First read that as Kaleshnikovia. A plant with explosive pods no doubt, even if I can't spell it properly. You wouldn't want to lose your balance and go rolling down that hill Cohan.

I wonder do the Opuntias have a sort of internal anti-freeze fluid as some plants do, in order to stop them freezing to death? Some insects likewise, like our alpine wetas.

[Lori S.]

The area had an active coal-mining industry until into the '60's (amazingly)... it is quite likely the traces of old machinery and timbers you saw on the butte in East Coulee was associated with coal mining... a good reason to be a little careful while exploring there (many open shafts)!  Did you happen to stop at the Atlas Coal Mine in East Coulee?

Terrific opuntia pix!

[cohan]

thanks for commenting-
lesley--it certainly is a mouthful- Krascheninnikovia lanata --explosive pods or not...lol; i wonder if it has any edibility for humans, as do so many in that family--spinach, beets, chard,orache, sorrel, lambsquarters, goosefoot, quinoa, etc!

lori--mining is what i was thinking of too, though i wasnt sure how widespread that was; there was one visible hole, which looked more like a well than a mine shaft; could have been ventilation, perhaps...
when i went to drumheller on a 2 or 3 day school trip at the end of grade 6--so i guess that should be '77-- we toured a coal mine, among other things...havent been since; we didnt go into the town of east coulee at all, just passed along the highway...

last year i was later and caught just a few opuntia in flower, this year there were more..

[Lori S.]

If you ever have the time and inclination (and like such things), the Atlas Coal Mine at East Coulee is worth a visit... you may have seen it from the road.   The young lady (from a coal-mining family) who gave us a tour spoke very entertainingly about life in the times, and the walk through the coal tipple and descriptions of different machinery used through time was very interesting!   (Pit ponies were used for a surprisingly long time to haul the coal to surface.)   Also (hope I'm not letting any cats out of bags by mentioning this), driving in to the old coal-mining town of Wayne, across the 11-12 (? - I forget) bridges, for a burger and a beer at the saloon, is quite fun!  (Actually, neither of these is the kind of thing we'd likely do on our own, but both were part of a work-related field trip (tough job, I know!  ), and were quite enjoyable.

[cohan]

i've certainly seen the mine name, and possibly signs, though my focus is pretty tight on plants on these trips...lol. so anything not related is likely not registered in my brain...
yeah, sounds like a tough job good sometimes to get pushed a bit out of regular routines to do something different...
we dont do either burgers or beer, our pit stops lean more to coffee and sweets...lol

lesley--i meant to mention, re: anti-freeze in cacti; i know there has been some research into how they (and other plants) take those deep freezes, and i dont remember all the results/theories; i do know that a crucial aspect for most hardy cacti is a pre-winter shrivelling--the theory being that if they were turgid when they froze, the ice crystals would burst the plant; fall weather that is too 'nice' -i.e. warm and moist, and so doesnt trigger dormancy preparations, can cause problems for this reason...these northern opuntia are amongst the most resilient in regards to moisture and dormancy, though...

[cohan]

still at site 2:
a few odds and ends-- a nice patch of
Hymenoxys richardsonii
growing with Artemisia frigida , possibly A longifolia and others...
taken with telephoto down a bank, so not a great shot; plus a cropped view, enhanced a bit to show the massive woody bases and exposed roots of the hymenoxys..
a complete
unknown
flowers not open, so no help...i feel like i should know, but can't think of it...
a nice little community including
Packera cana, Phlox hoodii, and Eriogonum flavum
another unknown, this one is blurry, as it just refused to stop moving in the wind!  i had no idea before, but since Chenopodiaceae came up, it seems this could be
Atriplex falcata (nutallii)
though i haven't found a good picture to confirm that; i'd like to grow this, since its edible, neat looking, native, drought resistant--what more could you want?? don't know if i will get back for seeds though

[cohan]

last one for site 2:
my holy grail for this trip, the ball or 'Pincushion Cactus'
Escobaria vivipara
i didn't get far enough south or find any good stopping sites, in order to find the larger populations of this species that exist---it is quite common in southern alberta.. BUT  at least i found 1 plant! not in flower, unfortunately, and no seeds...oh well, another time..
and one of the most exciting finds of the day, unexpected, was
Eriogonum flavum
semi common at this site, often in very exposed, harsh locations, cliff edges and odd spots that were hard to get to to shoot, so not many close-ups; i assume the plant with different colours i the flowers has older flowers, or maybe just  a colour variation..

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Fascinating stuff Cohan !!! Simply fascinating !! 

A really "odd" area you're making us discover !!

Can't wait to see more.