SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Euphorbia schoenlandii at the mouth of the Oliphants River was perhaps the best plant of the trip. This may be my last SS post here as I finally have my IG going, and will post them (and birds) there in the future: the.jaan

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Checking out a young saguaro near our new land. Somehow this grew on the very peak of a hill. And for some reason the wind temporarily died down and I was able to shed a couple of layers :-)

MARIANAS MONDAY: Arrived at Saipan this morning. Still a lot of damage - commuter terminal was wiped out, and the check-in desk for the flight to Rota is at a container under a tarp.

MARIANAS MONDAY: Arrived at Saipan this morning - Tuesday here. Airport is back in operation, but not fully. Awaiting our flight to Rota.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Echinocereus roetteri from New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico. The hedgehog cacti are spectacular in bloom.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: MR. HAWAII ! That's what my friend Linda down in Fresno calls her 3-headed Brighamia insignis, a Hawaiian succulent in the lobelia family that is often described as a "cabbage on a baseball bat" :-)

TORTOISE TUESDAY :-) Time for the girls to come out for the summer. Hedwig leads the way while Brunhilde follows. We took them from their hibernation boxes in the garage into their hut, and within 5 minutes they were out.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Cannibalism in Lithops :-D. It only looks like one living stone eating another! It's really an odd growth problem. The new leaves should push up between the old ones, which then wither away. Instead, this one cracked its top.

SUCCULENT SUNDAY, Easter edition. A flowering Euphorbia multifolia from the Karoo region of South Africa.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Encephalocarpus strobiliformis, a rare cactus from Mexico. Come to this year's first show and sale today and tomorrow in San Juan Bautista behind the historic Mission to see more amazing plants. Free admission :-)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Stapelia kwebensis, a carrion flower from Zimbabwe and northern South Africa. They may smell bad (fly-pollinated) but they have beautiful structures in the middle!

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Hoodia gordonii in southern Namibia. Because of the Hoodia weight-loss craze, they have become rare in the wild, so we were delighted to find a bunch of huge flowering specimens.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY. Brunsvigia grandiflora: The Next Generation. If you remember my earlier post (bodyspace.bodybuilding.com/fitboard/item/id/59bd9ab8e6dce16c2f45cf61), my paintbrush pollination was successful and we now have 5 pots of seedlings :-)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Dudleya brittonii of Baja California. Related to Echeverias, this Dudleya is characterized by the pale powdery film on its leaves. Don't touch - or you'll leave fingerprints!

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Agave utahensis v. eborispina with its seed stalk at the Grand Canyon on my 50th birthday in 2013. Nearly the same weight then (during my big cut) but I think my composition is better now :)

Who saw this morning's eclipse? It was a beautiful sight in Cancer - if you click on the image, you can see Asellus Australis (Delta Cancri) to the right and the twin Omicron Cancri to the left :)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Yucca brevifolia, the Joshua tree. Along with creosote, the Joshua tree is one of the defining species of the Mojave Desert, just as the giant saguaro is one the defining species of the Sonoran Desert.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY HAT TRICK: Echinocereus engelmannii (strawberry hedgehog cactus), Agave utahensis v. eborispina (ivory-spined Agave), and Echinocactus polycephalus (cotton-top barrel) at the Grand Canyon with a Common Raven :)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Carnegia gigantea, the giant saguaro again, this time looking down at a young plant about 3 feet tall and maybe 10 years old (depending on the rain it's gotten)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Carnegia gigantea, the giant saguaro, at our land in Arizona on my 50th birthday trip 5 years ago. Saguaros are characteristic of the Sonoran Desert, needing the summer monsoon rains to thrive and to germinate.

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Because it's still Saturday somewhere past the orbit of Pluto :D Meet Cheiridopsis namaquana - these are seed capsules, not flowers! The segments unfold in the rain, and the seeds are scattered by the drops. Pretty cool, huh?

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Crassula (I think) in the Riethuis quartz fields near Soupatsfontein, along with a dead millipede. The stress of full sun and drought has made it turn bright red. SO many plants still to identify from the trip!

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Argyroderma dalaetii. As promised last week, a close-up of this delightful South African plant. Argyroderma means "silver skin". It's smooth and hard like alabaster :)

SUCCULENT SATURDAY: Argyroderma delaetii in the famous Knersvlakte quartz fields of South Africa. It's those two smooth greenish balls in the middle of the picture - they are pretty well camouflaged!