{"id":408,"date":"2014-11-28T19:35:37","date_gmt":"2014-11-29T00:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?page_id=408"},"modified":"2025-09-27T04:10:48","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:10:48","slug":"about-oblog","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/about-oblog\/","title":{"rendered":"About Oblog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/h2>\n
\"Joe\"
Joe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few years ago, I launched Oblog (\u00f3h-blog) to share my writing and photography on cacti, succulents, and other xerophytes\u2014to show how they look, where they grow, and how they interact with the world around them.<\/p>\n

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 \u201csucculent\u201d? It\u2019s 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\u2014their biology and their beauty\u2014and to translate complex ideas into clear, approachable explanations.<\/p>\n

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\u2014how to thrive when water is rare.<\/p>\n

Diversity also reflects the way these plants negotiate place: climate and soils, animals and neighboring plants, sun and wind. Those interactions\u2014pollinators at dawn, shade cast by rocks, dunes shifting around a rooted clump\u2014are 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.<\/p>\n

Write to me:<\/strong> jshaw@opuntiads.com<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

THE OTHER STUFF<\/h2>\n

Reproducing Photographs<\/h3>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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Collecting Personal Information<\/h3>\n

I\u00a0do not collect any personally identifying information, nor do I wish to. If\u00a0 you leave your email in a comment or “blog follow” form it will never, ever be shared with anyone else.<\/p>\n

Terms of Use<\/h3>\n

I strive to provide accurate information, but errors may occur. Your use of this Website acknowledges that errors may occur.<\/p>\n

Software etc.<\/h3>\n

I use WordPress as a platform because WordPress is (sort of) easy for the HTML- and SQL-impaired (like me), and I can always get help from the WordPress forums when I run into a small problem. I use free WordPress plugins and change some out now and then.<\/p>\n

Reusing<\/h3>\n

If you copy text from this blog, be sure to give credit to www.opuntiads.com\/oblog and be sure to make photographs are in the public domain (ask me).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction A few years ago, I launched Oblog (\u00f3h-blog) to share my writing and photography on cacti, succulents, and other xerophytes\u2014to 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-408","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6212,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/408\/revisions\/6212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}