"So grand and dreary" | First Encounters | Saguaro
"Failing to procure the provisions, in search of which Santa Cruz was visited, a small party, which I accompanied, proceeded to Ures, the present capital of Sonora, taking the road by Magdalena, Cucurpe, Rayon, and other small towns. In a canon near the deserted mission of Cocospera, Cereus giganteus was first met with. The first specimen brought the whole party to a halt. Standing alone upon a rocky projection, it rose in a single unbranched column to the height of some thirty feet, and formed a sight which seemed almost worth the journey to behold. Advancing into the canon, specimens became more numerous, until at length the whole vegetation was, in places, made up of this and other Cactaceae. Description can convey no adequate idea of this singular vegetation, at once so grand and dreary. The Opuntia arborescens and Cereus Thurberi, which had before been regarded with wonder, now seemed insignificant in comparison with the giant Cactus which towered far above them.“
Mexican Boundary Survey (1848-1855)
When you gain new land – map and explore the natural resources, report all findings. No satellite imagery at that times, it will take years to finish the task.
A picture worth a thousand words, but how do you draw something you never saw.
“The first botanical illustrations of the saguaro, or Cereus giganteus as named by George Engelmann in 1848, were drawn by Paulus Roetter for Engelmann’s “Cactaceae of the Boundary”, part of the U.S.–Mexican Boundary Survey Report (1859). With no living plant to use for reference, Roetter worked solely from specimens of spines, dried flowers, and fruit preserved in alcohol. These had been collected in Arizona by George Thurber in 1851 and sent to Engelmann in St. Louis for his work in describing the cacti of the borderlands. To depict the habit, or growth form, of the saguaro, Roetter relied on field sketches from the survey party’s artist, Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen. Without ever having seen the gigantic saguaro in its natural setting, Roetter nonetheless created a magnificent interpretation of the plant that Engelmann chose as the frontispiece for his report.” Quoted/Read More
They are close to flowering …