Things we saw

 

'Teddy bear' Cholla 

This is my final Arizona vacation post, and it is mostly pictures of plants and landscapes we saw on our various hikes.  I am not much of a botanist but I knew most of the common cactus names off the top of my head.  But the yellow flower seen below did stump me and I tried to find it on the internet.  

I also was not sure of the fishhook pincushion cactus and looked it up too.  We ate some of the fruit on that one, and I wanted to check on this.  It turns out that the fruit is fine - the barrel cactus supposedly has good fruit too.  So next time I'll try that one.  Here is a link to commonly eaten cactus fruit (but does not include the small fishhook pincushion)  https://matadornetwork.com/read/can-you-eat-cactus-edible-cacti/

Here is a link to the Fishhook pincushion cactus and and their edible fruit.   https://skyislandalliance.org/2021/10/friday-flora-feature-arizona-fishhook-pincushion-mammillaria-grahamii/

What's ironic is that while we were in Arizona we bought a few dragonfruit at Safeway.  It turns out they are a cactus fruit!  I had no idea.

Saguaro and Ocatillo 

Hedgehog cactus

Not sure what flower this is - Narrow-leaf Goldenbrush? Ericameria linearifolia? 

I did not look very closely at the rest of this plant while taking the picture.  But it does seem to have narrow leaves and the little bristly seed pods (see upper right in photo), blooms in the fall, and it is in the right habitat.  Here is a link where I found it described:  http://www.arizonensis.org/sonoran/fieldguide/plantae/ericameria_linearifolia.html

Barrel Cactus close up

Cottonwood trees

Date palm tree

Greasewood, Staghorn (in middle) and Palo Verde trees

'fishhook' pincushion cactus (Mammillaria grahamii) - we ate some of the red fruit

Blue Tank Canyon - That's 'Red Peak' peeking up behind hill in middle

Wickenburg Mural