Saturday, November 28, 2009

The Old Man

This cactus is commonly know as "the old man" or "Mexican old man" because of the shaggy grey hairs that cover it. Its technical name is Chephalocereus Senilis. I kind of take offense at that "senilis" part of the name. A few grey hairs don't make us senile.

8 comments:

  1. We have several of these in our yard in Scottsdale. I never took offense at the name because I did not know the scientific name until I read your post. I will never be able to look at them the same again.

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  2. Ok, that made me laugh! I was thinking it kind of looks like the back of my head when I get up in the morning, but then it would have to be the the "old woman cactus".

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  3. Love these cactus - great picture and nice info, too =)

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  4. Thanks for stopping by this morning. Is this cactus in your yard? I was just watering a cactus this morning that my daughter received in Girl Scouts about 12 years ago and it has grown at least a foot. Not hairy, just prickly. I wonder if it will ever bloom.

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  5. Haha. I love this old cactus! I never knew its real name until now. How interesting!

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  6. You made me smile with the last paragraph! :-) I have some of these 'Old Men', but all species are so similar that I never know which is which...

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