Give Us a Hug !

AlanLichty said:

Also known as the Jumping Cactus. This plant was the bane of my existence growing up in Phoenix and as a child I got impaled more than a few times through the years. The furballs are actually the seeds of this plant and the ends of the spines are impossibly thin (almost invisible) with a tiny hook at the end to insure that seed has a maximum chance at catching on something passing by. Each of the dead looking pods on the ground is capable of becoming the next plant. Its pretty easy to overlook the ones on the ground and then suddenly discover that you managed to catch one of the spines on your shoes/clothing/skin. That's when the really bad news kicks in. The spines are brittle and springy so as you try to dislodge the pod it acts like a spring action and rolls over to impale you with even more spines. The best approach to getting it off yourself is to get something under it from 2 sides and ripping it off. No fun when its on your skin.

Best of all is to get one on your shoes or boots since the ends of the spine will tear off as you remove the pod and will ultimately work its way through the shoe material and poke your foot at some random future date

All that aside they are photogenic with sunlight behind them to give off a halo like you have nicely captured in this shot.

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