New Subspecies on the Llano?

NOTE: This observation has been further identified as ssp perbellus. So what follows is overenthusiastic reliance on a wrong ID. However, the specimen observed was quite unlike the Echinocereus reichenbachii var perbellus 3 feet away. Different in size and color. It may still constitute a different variety, despite falling within the perbellus range in radial spine count. I let what I posted earlier stand, as follows.

I saw this today on Lubbock Lake Landmark land near the eastern edge. https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/17045482 If the ID holds up, this is the first iNat report of this subspecies on the Llano Estacado. Not uncommon off the Plains; there are many observations of this variety 150 miles east or southeast, but not around here.

Why here, why now?

Of course it may have just been overlooked, though if you have seen many Lace-Hedgehog cacti it does look different at first glance, as though it is endowed with hybrid vigor or better fertilizer. There could be more nearby.

Or, considering this specimen is near the eastern edge of the Lubbock Lake Landmark and near a parking area for the Berl Huffman athletic complex, a seed might have been carried in the mud stuck to a vehicle or on the floor mats of the interior, and washed or blown onto the caliche slopes where the seed germinated. Or a seed could have been carried by a bird or a coyote.

It is something to watch for as you roam the area. Keep a weather eye out for more.

הועלה ב-ספטמבר 30, 2018 03:03 לפנה"צ על ידי thebark