E. missouriensis in Lubbock County, Texas's Journal

Finding an uncommon lizard (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41468432) near the most abundant cluster of these cacti helps support the supposition that they are found only in area undisturbed by human activity and likely never plowed or graded. If I knew more about the age and growth rate of E. missouriensis that conclusion would be more firm.

But E. missouriensis is not a perfect index of never-disturbed land because it will not grow just anywhere; it needs the caliche graveled slopes of canyonsides and outcrops for their drainage and possibly soil pH. It only seems that E. missouriensis is such an index because virtually every part of the South Plains has been plowed or scraped and developed except in some instances the caliche canyonsides. The Yellowhouse Canyon in the City of Lubbock has mostly in its 130 year history of European occupation been subject to scraping, digging, and filling, except in the few places where E. missouriensis is found.

Starrgirl this day found a cluster of 8 E. missouriensis cacti on the East side of Amarillo on the old air base property. This is a first iNat report of the species in the Texas Panhandle. So far on the Llano Estacado the species has been found only there and in and around the Yellowhouse Canyon in Lubbock. See https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/41634134

Most if not all Missouri Foxtail Cacti in Lubbock are in bloom today. One outside the city was reported by kayakqueen eight days ago. Interestingly, of three Horse Crippler cacti I observed today, two had single flowers and the third small buds looking like flowering will not be immediate.