San Juanico Cove, Baja California
Cacti are the signature plants of the American deserts. Baja California supports 92 separate species, many of them endemic (found only here), ranging from the giant Cardon to tiny fishhook cacti poking out of cracks in the rocks, from the pencil-thin Rajamatraca to rotund Barrel Cacti. Our walks on the islands of the Gulf of California and, as today, on the Baja California Peninsula at San Juanico Cove, introduce us to some of this diversity. Here we find the Old Man Cactus, named for the shock of gray spines atop the taller columns. The flowers appear among these spines, gaining protection from rodents and other animals that might eat the developing flower buds. Many desert birds and mammals eat the fruits of cacti; in the process the cactus seeds are dispersed. The fruit of the Organ Pipe Cactus, Pitaya Dulce (dulce = sweet), was an important food for the Indians of the Baja California Peninsula. The Missionaries recorded that the Indians were generally hungry except during the season of the Pitaya, when they gorged on the wild harvest. They further report that the Indians spent this season in a state of euphoria, and that the young men would pursue the young girls while they were gathering the fruit. The Indians liked this season. The Missionaries did not. Now, the Indians of the Peninsula are gone and Pitaya sorbet is served aboard the Sea Bird. We wait to see its effect.
Cacti are the signature plants of the American deserts. Baja California supports 92 separate species, many of them endemic (found only here), ranging from the giant Cardon to tiny fishhook cacti poking out of cracks in the rocks, from the pencil-thin Rajamatraca to rotund Barrel Cacti. Our walks on the islands of the Gulf of California and, as today, on the Baja California Peninsula at San Juanico Cove, introduce us to some of this diversity. Here we find the Old Man Cactus, named for the shock of gray spines atop the taller columns. The flowers appear among these spines, gaining protection from rodents and other animals that might eat the developing flower buds. Many desert birds and mammals eat the fruits of cacti; in the process the cactus seeds are dispersed. The fruit of the Organ Pipe Cactus, Pitaya Dulce (dulce = sweet), was an important food for the Indians of the Baja California Peninsula. The Missionaries recorded that the Indians were generally hungry except during the season of the Pitaya, when they gorged on the wild harvest. They further report that the Indians spent this season in a state of euphoria, and that the young men would pursue the young girls while they were gathering the fruit. The Indians liked this season. The Missionaries did not. Now, the Indians of the Peninsula are gone and Pitaya sorbet is served aboard the Sea Bird. We wait to see its effect.
