Anita’s Blog — Merry Christmas from the Park

In our Rio Grande Valley native plant realm, we have a Christmas cactus.

Fellow Master Naturalist Barbara Peet and I never get to show it off during our December guided native plant walks because it’s not done what all the books say about it, at least not since we’ve been giving our walks in Harlingen’s Hugh Ramsey Nature Park.

This year we were elated to find it doing the very thing that’s earned it the Christmas cactus moniker.

It’s also known as Tasajillo (Opuntia leptocaulis). In the Al Richardson, Ken King book, Plants of Deep South Texas (PDST) page 171, the authors state, “Around Christmas time, the fruit become bright red, hence the common name.”

VOILA! This year they are and they’re quite striking!

We’ve speculated about what’s different this year. The most obvious difference is the half day of snow this month and the extended cold temperatures. I’m open to explanations if our surmise is incorrect.

Tasajillo is a pencil-thin, slender, jointed cactus with long, golden, very sharp and obvious spines. Nearly invisible to the naked eye also are hundreds of other tiny spines in surprising parts of the plant.

The plant grows upright or sprawling on the ground. If you see just one by itself, it won’t stay that way for long. Tasajillo can quickly form large colonies. It is readily spread by birds depositing seeds, and the jointed branches take root easily as segments drop to the ground where animals inadvertently break them off as they travel. There’s a lovely crop of this cactus hidden away at the end of one of the little trails in the Betty McEnery Memorial Garden off Ebony Loop in Ramsey.

Tasajillo also is called rat-tail cactus, turkey pear, pencil cactus and desert Christmas cholla.

During our native plant walks, we caution participants to keep their distance from this pretty little delicate-looking plant because another name for it is jumping cactus. We tease them that it will jump out and cling to their clothes. In truth, the thin, multi-jointed, thorn-encrusted plant easily detaches when disturbed.

After an encounter, it’s best not to pick the nodules off clothing with bare fingertips because you’re sure to get an invisible spine imbedded in your skin. Many of us Thursday morning Ramsey volunteers carry a good set of tweezers, which, along with strong light and a magnifying glass, are helpful in removing cactus spines from clothing and body parts.

Wildlife don’t have the problems humans do with the pesky spines. Tasajillo fruit is a treat for northern bobwhite quail, mockingbirds, curved-billed thrashers and many other songbirds. Coyotes and rodents also eat the fruit. The larger plants provide cover for quail, small mammals and lizards.

Tasajillo isn’t the only plant decorating the thorn-scrub forests for the holidays.

The bright yellow flower clusters of Mexican caesalpinia (Caesalpinia Mexicana) that sometimes bloom into December have all turned into nice golden bunches of seed pod “ornaments,” giving the tree a festive look.

The interesting thing about these seed pods is that when dry, they twist open with a resounding “pop” that sounds like distant gun fire, loud enough to get your attention if you’re working close to the tree. The seeds are shot out of the pods to rain down where they are flung. Before long, tiny upstarts will surround the mother plant. Leave them in the ground until they get about 10 inches tall before trying to pot them up to give as gifts or transplant elsewhere.

In PDST page 232, the authors describe the legumes’ strong propulsion: “The seeds are thrown with such force that when they hit a building, it sounds as if someone were throwing gravel.” The seeds also are spread by birds and the wind. Little caesalpinia trees can pop up in amazing places — like flower pots on patios.

Mexican Caesalpinia is a popular native tree for home landscapes. The blooms attract hummingbirds, bees and butterflies. The tree is a host for the curve-wing metalmark butterfly

Not to be out done, one of our favorite Ebony Loop shrubs (PDST page 150) Mexican tournefortia (Tournefortia volubilis), is making googly-eyes at all the girls and boys. Also called googly-eyed vine, when the berries are ripe, it’s just a fun bush to see. You just can’t help smiling. Not exactly the famed “Silver Bells,” but fun decorations to come upon in a native setting.

With somewhat of a stretch of the imagination, the cold snap has turned a unique vine, (PDST page 381) Mexican Urvillea (Urvillea ulmacea), into bronze garlands, decorating the trees and shrubs it uses to twine itself through. This particular vine is on Ebony Loop between the Butterfly Garden and Owl Pond. An easy identifier is that the seed pods are shaped as tiny footballs.