Re: [pct-l] ..Cholla Cactus

[reynolds@ilan.com]

Back in my B-A-D younger days it was well known to motorcycle dirt bike
riders that cactus, Yucca Trees and Pucker Bushes could jump 5-10 feet
instantly to get in the way fo raging motorcycles that had obviously left
enough room to get by. Now that motorcycles are largely banned from the
desert the cactus have developed the ability to extend their sharp spine
1-2' to spear wayward vagabonds in gortex and their dogs.

You fools from back east probably plan to hike the desert in shorts!


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Cc:            pct-l@edina.hack.net
From:          "Jeffrey J. Olson" <jjolson@u.washington.edu>
Date:          Wed, 03 Feb 1999 17:18:17 -0600
Subject:       Re: [pct-l] ..Cholla Cactus
Content-type:  text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I know that jumping cholla aren't supposed to jump, but while
hiking in the Superstition mountains near Phoenix one March my
girlfriend was swinging her arms and a cholla ball did seem to
jump from its bush to her wrist.  i was behind her and while I
didn't see her get attacked, I did see that she wasn't near the
plant; at least six inches away.  Maybe she was closer, and
actually brushed it.  She swears she wasn't close to it because
we too had been warned of the "JUMPING CHOLLAS" and how painful
they are...

Jeffrey Olson
Seattle, WA...where at 3,000' there is over 10' of snow...

Charcholla@aol.com wrote:
> (From "Colorado Desert Wildflowers" by Jon Mark Stewart)
> 
> Teddy-Bear Cholla  Opuntia bigelovii
> 
> Teddy-bear cholla is commonly and inappropriately also called "jumping
> cholla." The stems, which are heavily covered with straw colored spines,
> readily detach from the parent but do not "jump" off the plant. An easy way to
> remove a piece of cholla if you should get stuck by one is to place a comb
> beneath the joint and launch it in an uninhabited direction. This cactus grows
> 2 to 5 feet tall, and its flowers are a light, clear yellow. Teddy-bear cholla
> is usually prolific on alluvial fans and benches, propagating itself from the
> joints that fall to the ground.
> ~~~~~~~~~~
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