Steve Hall found a colony of what he believes to be Teddy Bear Cholla recently while hiking in Nova Canyon. A plant expert from DVNP agrees with him and an outside expert will be checking out the colony to confirm that they actually are Teddy Bear Cholla (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) and not some other species of cholla. What makes this find exciting is that this may be the furthest north that Teddy Bear Cholla has ever been observed growing in a natural state. My feeling is that there's a very good chance that the plants in this colony are actually silver cholla (Cylindropuntia echinocarpa) or Buckhorn Cholla (Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa) or possibly some hybrid with Cylindropuntia bigelovii, but we'll have to see what the outside expert determines. There will most likely be an official press release from DVNP should the group of cholla indeed turn out to be Teddy Bear Cholla! One way or the other this is a neat find. BTW, check out my recent blog on
Silver Cholla by clicking here!
The reports will include 3 reports on the Nova Canyon area exploration which resulted in the co-discovery of the stunning Teddy Bear Cholla gardens. A press release may be issued on our discovery soon. I was told that an outside expert will travel to the park soon to visit our Teddy Bear Chollas and it has been confirmed that this is the farthest north that they have ever been found. The previous farthest north group of Teddy Bear Chollas is actually 200km to the south!
Steve's Blog: http://panamintcity.com/dvablog/?m=201403