About Oblog

Introduction

A few years ago, I launched Oblog (óh-blog) to share my writing and photography on cacti, succulents, and other xerophytes—to show how they look, where they grow, and how they interact with the world around them.

Cacti, succulents, and xerophytes form a broad set rather than a neat botanical category. They vary so widely that a crisp one-sentence definition is elusive. What is a “succulent”? It’s easier to recognize than to pin down: tissues built for holding water, forms tuned to scarcity. Through Oblog I aim to convey what makes these plants remarkable—their biology and their beauty—and to translate complex ideas into clear, approachable explanations.

Their extraordinary adaptations to arid and semi-arid environments drive much of this diversity. Over millions of years, these plants have evolved water-saving strategies that produce an array of shapes, sizes, and traits: waxy cuticles that curb evaporation; leaves modified into armor or reduced entirely; fleshy stems and leaves that store water; and root systems designed to capture brief, sporadic rainfall. Each adaptation is a different answer to the same problem—how to thrive when water is rare.

Diversity also reflects the way these plants negotiate place: climate and soils, animals and neighboring plants, sun and wind. Those interactions—pollinators at dawn, shade cast by rocks, dunes shifting around a rooted clump—are as captivating as the plants themselves. Through images and short essays, I try to reveal these many facets of cacti, succulents, and other xerophytes in their habitats, showing not just what they are but how they live.

Write to me: [email protected].

THE OTHER STUFF

Reproducing Photographs

Some photographs are available under a creative commons license or are in the public domain and can be reproduced with attribution. Other photographs cannot be reproduced because they belong to others. If you want to use a photograph, write to me and I’ll help you if I can.