Sunday, March 29, 2015

HIGH DESERT FLORA

Some plants I found on a short hike recently.




I have no idea what this stuff is but it's pretty. I'll bet one or more of my commenters can identify it.


These leaves look very defensive.




Speaking of defensive. One of the first things one learns on moving to Arizona: keep a distance from the cacti.

These are called prickly pear in the Estados Unidos. Down south of the border the pads are harvested, de-thorned, cooked and eaten. They're known as Nopales there and, when pickled, are quite tasty.

4 comments:

  1. It must be labor intensive to prepare those cacti.

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    1. It's not that bad to cook, actually like you would do for mushrooms, and to trim the pads you will ask? With a peeler and... gloves...

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  2. I don't think I've ever eaten cactus, bt I'm willing to give it a try.

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  3. The prickly pear were grown in patches to serve as fences around cattle lots. We see evidence of them still on ranches around here.

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