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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2018 18:16:58 GMT -5
I've shown some photos of dragon fruit (Pitaya) before, but these photos I just took. It has a huge fragrant flower, which opens for only one night, closes the next morning. The bees are usually hitting the flowers pretty heavy early in the morning.
Fruit just about ripe. Dried brown stuff coming out of top is remains of flower. 
Picked the fruit today. 
Peeled and sliced. The almost fluorescent coloring reminds me of cooked beets. 
Cubed, ready to eat (for dessert tonight!)
A few other plants in the yard - These are the seed pods on a Euphorbia grandicornis. The more blue-green leaves to the left belong to an ocotillo (Fouquieria splendens) that came up from seed, dropped from another plant.
Epidendrum AKA reed-stemmed orchid 
Aloe capitata. The seller called it parachute or parasol aloe, something like that. Native to Madagascar. I picked this one up in Quartzsite a number of years ago. 
You don't see this everyday - "Dog vomit slime mold." Fuligo septica. Seriously, that's what it is called.
Growing on Dymondia ground cover underneath the avocado tree. It looks pretty disgusting, but by the time I first saw it, it was already dried out. 
Close-up. I suspect it was growing where it was because I had been watering the avo tree a bit, because of the hot weather. The slime mold likes dampness. 
Lastly, I need some help identifying this plant. This was found growing in the Mojave Desert, south east of 29 Palms. It was in an area of small sand dunes.
A low growing shrubby plant, maybe ten inches tall and a foot wide. Succulent leaves covered with hairs. The flower is about one inch across, the shape reminds me of a petunia. I could not find a photo in any of the books I have, or online.
Anybody have any ideas? Thanks in advance. Jean |
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Post by fantastic5 on Aug 21, 2018 20:12:54 GMT -5
Love the pictures of your yard Jean! You grow things I can only see in books. Your unknown reminds me of the Morning Glory blooms around here, which is a vine, so not possible.
I did download an app, PlantSnap, to my phone that a coworker swears by. I used it to search the picture you posted an it came up with Ipomoea linosepala. This is the first time I've used the app. The first few choices didn't batch, but this was further down the list. See what you think.
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Post by victor1941 on Aug 21, 2018 20:16:55 GMT -5
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2018 20:48:10 GMT -5
Thanks for looking, but that's not it. That one has five lobes/petals to the flower, mine has a strait edge, like that of a funnel. And the leaves of yours are more spiney. But thanks for the link to that website, I will look through it when I gave a little time. Thanks, Victor! |
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Post by taylor on Aug 21, 2018 20:48:33 GMT -5
Wow! Very cool! Thank you for sharing. Is the dragon fruit a cactus?
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2018 20:54:23 GMT -5
Love the pictures of your yard Jean! You grow things I can only see in books. Your unknown reminds me of the Morning Glory blooms around here, which is a vine, so not possible. I did download an app, PlantSnap, to my phone that a coworker swears by. I used it to search the picture you posted an it came up with Ipomoea linosepala. This is the first time I've used the app. The first few choices didn't batch, but this was further down the list. See what you think. Thanks, Ann. The flower is closer, but don't know if the leaves are fleshy enough. By hook or by crook, I'm confident we'll come up with an answer! It just seemed so out of place in the desert. |
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Post by Jugglerguy on Aug 21, 2018 20:57:51 GMT -5
I get that slime mold on my compost pile sometimes. It’s the only thing you posted that I recognized.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 21, 2018 23:04:31 GMT -5
Jean, love the pictures of your yard! Can't help with the ID, but maybe someone on the www.cactiguide.com forum can. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2018 23:32:00 GMT -5
Wow! Very cool! Thank you for sharing. Is the dragon fruit a cactus? You are welcome. Yes, it’s the fruit of a climbing cactus (making it related to prickly pears), native to Mexico and South America, but it’s now grown in many other tropical locales. Hylocereus costaricensis is the red fruiting variety that I have. Link to Wiki page. The plants can grow up trees, but really should have some kind of support system. Mine was growing on a hibiscus tree, until it was killed by termites. I really need to build a pole framework for it, those plants are heavy. Photo from Chowhound.com.  I've already had more than a few flowers this year, but so far only the one fruit that I picked today. We ate it this evening, it was very good. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 21, 2018 23:39:11 GMT -5
Jean, love the pictures of your yard! Can't help with the ID, but maybe someone on the www.cactiguide.com forum can. Thanks, Robin. I do have a whole bunch of cactus growing here, but the one I am trying to ID (with the white flower) I don't think is a cactus. I have used cactiguide before to put a name to some others in my yard. |
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Post by fernwood on Aug 22, 2018 4:30:19 GMT -5
Lovely flowers.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Aug 22, 2018 8:54:00 GMT -5
Jean, love the pictures of your yard! Can't help with the ID, but maybe someone on the www.cactiguide.com forum can. Thanks, Robin. I do have a whole bunch of cactus growing here, but the one I am trying to ID (with the white flower) I don't think is a cactus. I have used cactiguide before to put a name to some others in my yard. Since they have a succulent section, too, thought maybe they could help. Otherwise, I've used Dave's Garden to get id's on plants before with good success. |
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Post by opalpyrexia on Aug 22, 2018 10:03:48 GMT -5
You don't see this everyday - "Dog vomit slime mold." Fuligo septica. Seriously, that's what it is called.
Very interesting! I learned about slime molds just a few months ago. One morning I saw some bright yellow plastic on the ground among the trees in our front yard. I walked over to pick it up but was surprised at what I saw. It looked similar to yours except for its bright yellow color. It lasted a few more days but eventually dried up as the weather became drier.
I had to look them up. and discovered that they're actually single-cell organisms.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 22, 2018 10:41:35 GMT -5
I really miss eating cacti fruits. We had a prickley pear in our yard in AZ. Rescued it from road grating. The local grocery store, Basha's, always had an assortment of cacti fruit.
Wisconsin has no cacti fruit, unless one grows it themselves in a greenhouse that is heated all year.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2018 11:17:26 GMT -5
Dog vomit slime mold  I noticed a Dragon Fruit in the local supermarket a couple weeks ago that was nearly a foot long. What do they taste like? I'm thinking fresh picked would be better/sweeter than anything bought from a grocer, but you got me curious. |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 22, 2018 11:34:08 GMT -5
Dog vomit slime mold I noticed a Dragon Fruit in the local supermarket a couple weeks ago that was nearly a foot long. What do they taste like? I'm thinking fresh picked would be better/sweeter than anything bought from a grocer, but you got me curious.
There are three different varieties - Red fleshed, white fleshed and white flesh that has a yellow outer covering. (Actually, there are more than that, but I am simplifying.) 
I have only had the red fleshed. It is only mildly sweet, but I understand that it has more flavor than the others. It tastes something like watermelon, although the texture is smoother, not grainy. The seeds are soft, and eaten along with the rest of it. Some would consider it bland.
After cutting up the one fruit yesterday, I put it in a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge. After dinner, took it out and shared it with mrrockpicker. I think chilling it enhanced the flavor.
I'm going to say you are right, home grown, or ones picked up at a farmer's market or swap meet would be better than store bought. To be shipped to market, they need to be picked before they are ripe (just like avocados!), so there's no way they can taste as good as one picked when fully ripe, and eaten within a day or so.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 22, 2018 12:57:14 GMT -5
Another pic of the plant for ID - Photo taken 10/6/17 on prospecting trip to the Mojave. 
The area it was found, the sandy area. Saw maybe half a dozen of them. 
Still looking at ID sites
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2018 13:04:21 GMT -5
It tastes something like watermelon, although the texture is smoother, not grainy. The seeds are soft, and eaten along with the rest of it. Thanks, that gives me a better idea. I might try a store-bought piece, but will keep in mind that something from a farmer's stand further south will likely be tastier. Another pic of the plant for ID - Photo taken 10/6/17 on prospecting trip to the Mojave. That looks very much like what we used to call "Desert Bindweed" (I think it is a variety of Morning Glory). |
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Post by rockpickerforever on Aug 22, 2018 13:31:42 GMT -5
The flowers look much like bindweed flowers, but this does not have the yellow stamen extending out the middle of the flower as in bindweed. And convolvulus is a vining plant. This one has a woody stem.
Lastly, the leaves of bindweed are not hairy.
It was far enough off the beaten path not to have been a garden escapee or dumped by a passing motorist. Maybe an undescribed plant?
Thanks for your input, r2d. I will probably submit the photos to a plant ID site, let the experts take a look.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 22, 2018 13:40:35 GMT -5
The flowers look much like bindweed flowers, but this does not have the yellow stamen extending out the middle of the flower as in bindweed. And convolvulus is a vining plant. This one has a woody stem. Lastly, the leaves of bindweed are not hairy. It was far enough off the beaten path not to have been a garden escapee or dumped by a passing motorist. Maybe an undescribed plant? Thanks for your input, r2d. I will probably submit the photos to a plant ID site, let the experts take a look. Yes, probably good to have someone familiar with the area ID. The bindweed I'm recalling was a sub-shrub, so woody and had hairy leaves (of varied shape). Definitely not the common morning glory from irrigated pastures. |
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