Thursday, April 5, 2012
Cactus Flowers
While we were at Laguna Atascosa, we saw plenty of cactus. Just before we left, the Prickly Pear came into bloom and surprised us with their variety of colors. Everywhere else we've seen Prickly Pear bloom yellow, but in Cameron County, Texas, they show a range of colors from yellow to red to purple. In fact, folks have started transplanting the Cameron County cactus to get these colors elsewhere!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I noticed the same thing about the prickly pears. Do you guys have any idea what changes the colors. Could it just be the type of soil?
ReplyDeleteGood question. "Plants of Deep South Texas" by Richardson and King states that "Flower color is highly variable in Cameron County" and that "Elsewhere the flowers are mostly yellow unless transplanted from Cameron County". So it sounds as if the variable flower color will persist even if the Prickly Pear is transplanted elsewhere and presumably into different soils. Maybe they just have special genes!!
ReplyDeleteMark