{"id":1162,"date":"2025-10-27T08:33:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/?p=1162"},"modified":"2025-10-27T08:33:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T13:33:17","slug":"cacti-of-mexico-in-danger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/cacti-of-mexico-in-danger\/","title":{"rendered":"Cacti of Mexico in Danger"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photograph:\u00a0Ferocactus gracilis gatesii, Christian Defferrard)<\/sup><\/p>\n

The Details<\/h2>\n

Mexico is a country of mountains, steppes, tropical jungles, beaches, and deserts. It stretches from the U.S. border in Texas to California and south to the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula. It has the greatest number of cactus and succulent species in the world. Many species occur in small areas and are endangered by over-collecting, uses in gardens and as food, conversion to rangelands, and expanding cities.<\/p>\n

The Details<\/h3>\n

From BBC News, by Duncan Kennedy<\/p>\n

\n

The world of smuggling covers a wide range of goods. Botanists warn poaching is threatening Mexico\u2019s floral heritage. Drugs, guns, alcohol, tobacco.
You name it. But in Mexico, organised crime has moved into a different market: cactus plants. It has become a multi-million dollar business, so sought after are some of the species. To understand why, it helps to meet Doctor Leia Sheinvar. An expert in cacti for 40 years, she leads invited guests into her special, locked room in Mexico City. Behind the padlocks and keys is a unique world of cacti, protected because they are so rare and so valuable. The colours range from green to pink to blue; some plants are as tall as a tree while others, like one Dr Sheinvar picks up, are the size of a baby\u2019s finger \u2013 Ariocarpus kotschoubeyanus. \u201cSome time ago,\u201d she says, looking at the plant, \u201cthis cactus sold in Europe.
Weight for weight, it was more valuable than gold.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Additional Reading:\u00a0Baja California Map Guide<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Agave <\/a>
Agave shawii in Baja California, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div>
\"Ferocactus <\/a>
Ferocactus emoryi rectispinus, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pachycereus <\/a>
Pachycereus pringlei, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Stenocereus <\/a>
Stenocereus thurberi, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pachycereus <\/a>
Pachycereus schotii in Baja California, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Stenocereus <\/a>
Stenocereus gummosus, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div>
\"Stenocereus <\/a>
Stenocereus eruca, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div>
\"Agave <\/a>
Agave cerrulata, in Baja California <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Bergerocactus <\/a>
Bergerocactus emoryi, Christian Defferrard <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Photograph:\u00a0Ferocactus gracilis gatesii, Christian Defferrard) The Details Mexico is a country of mountains, steppes, tropical jungles, beaches, and deserts. It stretches from the U.S. border in Texas to California and south to the Yucat\u00e1n Peninsula. It has the greatest number of cactus and succulent species in the world. Many species occur in small areas and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[34],"class_list":["post-1162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cacti","category-other-topic","tag-mexico"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/ferocactus-gracilis-gatesii-cd.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"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=1162"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6968,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1162\/revisions\/6968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opuntiads.com\/oblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}