Southwest Summer Beauty

The flower of the Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) blooms in August and early September here in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. It is... more

by Douglas Taylor

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Price

$200

Dimensions

45.000 x 30.000 inches

Title

Southwest Summer Beauty

Artist

Douglas Taylor

Medium

Photograph - Fine Art Digital Photography

Description

The flower of the Fishhook Barrel Cactus (Ferocactus wislizenii) blooms in August and early September here in the Sonoran desert of Arizona. It is also found farther east in the Chihuahuan desert of New Mexico, west Texas and down into northern Mexico. For such a heavily armed plant, the Fishhook Barrel produces some of the most colorful of all the cactus flowers, and it protects them well. The primary spines are two to three inches long with a definitive hook at the end which gives the cactus its common name. They are stout and sharper than any fishhook in a fly fisherman’s tackle box! The cactus also has an array of other straight, needle sharp spines to back up its main defense.

The flowers are vivid, ranging from the bright yellow seen here, to orange, to red, with many shades and variegations in between. They are found at the top of the cactus, and are generally between and inch and two inches in diameter. The Fishhook Barrel also only bloom in the hottest part of the day and under the brutal bright sun of summer. That makes them very challenging to photograph, but well worth the effort to capture their amazing color.

Uploaded

August 21st, 2021