Desert Flowers


Just sending along some photos of some of the beautiful plant life we've seen here in West Texas. These are some of the most common plants of the Chihuahuan desert.

Century Plant

The Century plant (Agave Scabra) derived it's name from the fact that it takes so long for it to produce a blossom. Under favorable conditions, it takes only 12-15 years! 


Flowering Cane Cholla

The Cholla (Cane Cactus) is probably my favorite cactus thus far.  It frequently grows up to 8 feet tall and produces both magenta-purplish-red flowers and also yellow fruit that is eaten by deer and cattle.



Prickly Pear

The Low Prickly Pear (or Smooth Prickly Pear) is the  most widespread of all the cacti in the United States and is found all over Texas. The flowers are 2-5 inches across with pale yellow to orange-yellow flowers.

Ocatilla

The Ocatilla (pronounced oca- teeyuh) is not part of the cactus family, but grows in the same habitat as cactus and does have thorns.  It's part of the Ocotillo/Candlewood family, which consists of shrubs with erect, wand like stems.  The Ocatilla's we've seen in the park are quite tall and after a rain suddenly sprout a fur of tiny green leaves. When we first arrived, we caught them as they were flowering deep orange - almost red clusters of tiny flowers at the tips of the stems.  Quite beautiful!