Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Wednesday Vignette, strange fruit

I took this photo on a Christmas Day hike along the Powerline Trail in the hills above Thousand Oaks, CA. It was opuntia heaven up there let me tell you! This pad stood out though, for it's unusual shape...

It looks as though the pad grew around a flower bud or the base of a yet-to-form fruit. This sighting kind of reminded me of the way a tree can slowly envelop an object, like a fence built too close.

Weather Diary, Feb 11: Hi 44, Low 33/ Precip trace

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2020 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

10 comments:

  1. Made me think of teenage acne... a zit ready to pop, right in time for prom - LOL! What a strange phenomenon that ability to grow around obstacles is. And the temporal expanse over which it happens is quite otherworldly, when you think about it. It takes years to do! The chainlink in our backyard still has bits of cut-off trunks perpetually woven into the fence. Not sure how to remove it, short of burning it off...

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  2. Is it just me? As I looked at that Opuntia, I swear it was staring right back at me, daring me to judge it!

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  3. Definitely a bit of the 'alien' look to it. Wondering if it could be the start of a monstrose form of growth?

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    1. Hmm, maybe? It definitely has the shape of flower or fruit though.

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  4. If you go out in the hills in Wisconsin you often see Opuntia but you won't miss many Agavaes by not attending the Madison Fling. The opening Mark made in the Tea House roof for the nearby Honey Locust tree is getting a little bit tight. Interesting to see what happens next.

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    1. Before the DC Area Fling Tammy warned me there wouldn't be an agave in sight. She was wrong. There were many, some at the gardens on the mall, others in private gardens. You've certainly got me wishing I were going to be there so I could conduct an agave hunt!

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  5. Looks like it thought briefly about making a flower but decided there was enough moisture to do more foliage instead. Some Opuntias in the neighborhood will produce a valentine heart shaped pad now and then--those are fun!

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    1. I've seen opuntia valentines a few times, I love them.

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