Sunday 20th November

 

Revolution Day in Mexico, so no breakfast for us.  Straight onto the road, starting a long drive back down south again through Cuidad Del Maiz and ending up at Jalpan (HAL-pan).  Weather was awful – drizzling all day with intermittent fog and mist depending upon altitude.  Found a great hotel – Jalpan is a pretty smart place by Mexican standards.  

 

Monday 21st November

 

Carried on with our progress back down south with a slow drive towards the mountain slopes at Pinal del Amoles.  On the damp side of the mountain we saw a hillside of wild bamboo, Otatea sp, growing alongside Agave celsii – a bizarre combination. 

 

Further along and into the drier regions we saw what looked for all the world like a large colony of Agave horrida, though Gentry doesn’t list this as a location for it. 

   

Dasylirion glaucophyllum was evident along these hills. 

The terrain became drier and drier, and amidst some pretty spectacular scenery we found the most impressive group of yuccas I have seen, aside from the Y. queretaroensis.  They conformed even less than others we have seen to Yucca filifera, with fatter smoother, less branched trunks, softer, grey-green leaves with less filiferous margins – yet still had a drooping inflorescence.  The fruits were at least 8cm long – nearly twice as large as they ‘should be’ for filifera.  Again, is this just an extreme form, a hybrid, or intergrade with one of the southern species?  It again has strong affinities with Yucca periculosa, especially the fruits.  Whatever it is, I like it.

   

 

In the same spot we saw a couple of really spectacular agaves, too – one was very scabra-like, the other was a blue and very compact protamericana form with really pronounced teeth and teats – we called it TNT.  

  

Moved on to our stopover town – Tequisquiapan (Teh-kees-kee-A-pan)

 

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