Blooming Beavertail

Larry's FIRST cactus-bloom sighting of 2008 ! The Beavertail cactus is a member of the Prickly Pear family. The plant typically blooms between March - May and produces pink to magenta flowers to 3 inches in width, followed by an oval fruit to 1" in length. Fruits and pads were eaten by Native Americans. The Beavertail grows in sandy or gravelly soils in desert areas between 200 - 4,000 feet in elevation. This paticular cacti was found just off Lake Mead NRA's Northshore Road, close to Mile Marker 15. (Nevada) Though the Beavertail Cactus does not have regular spines, it does have GLOCHIDS: (small, hair-like barbed spines that are very sharp and brittle, and very easily detached by a passing Wild Burro or Desert hiker. March 31, 2008 in full sunlight, because I didn't arrive too early ! The Mojave desert is heating up ! Please bring lots of water.