darkecologist's Identifications

Wright's Fishhook Cactus (Mammillaria wrightii) -- I think.

Growing naturally (not cultivated) in pinyon-juniper woodland at Quarai, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument, Torrance Co., New Mexico, USA.

After the area was ditched, it's clear almost all the tamarack died and the rich soil was invaded by a solid wall of buckthorn. Canopy trees are almost non-existent and native swamp species just barely hang on. A travesty of "land management".

Past changes to the water table (ditching) altered this tamarack swamp so much that all of them died and were replaced by red maple. The understory is glossy buckthorn with just a few natives hanging on, like this grizzled sumac.