Fragrant and beautiful blossoms on this Mamillopsis Cactus.

Tenacatita Climbing a steep embankment above a secluded bay - Jalisco, Mexico - February 28, 2002.

Tenacatita is a small beachfront settlement on the Costalegre (coast of Jalisco) located about 27 miles northwest of Barra de Navidad. The area has recently acquired electricity and plumbing. A 9km paved road leads from the intersection with coastal highway 200 (GPS 19°20.78'N 104°52.75'W) to Tenacatita. It's 30km from the highway intersection to Melaque.

Tenacatita, like several other little towns in this area, has a beautiful, tranquil, gently sloping beach. Tenacatita Bay is one of largest bays of the Mexican Coast. This zone is known for being the ideal site of crab, snail, clam, lobster and squid fishing, following the time of the year. Due to it's geography, it is one of the very few places where you can watch the sun's dawn and set on the sea during winter. It is actually composed of seven different beaches: Manzanilla, Boca de Iguanas, Los Ángeles Locos, Punta Serena, Tenacatita and Tecuán. It is rumored to be an excellent whale watching area during the Pacific Coast whale migrations.

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The distinctive feature of the genus is the specific development of an areole, that is split into two clearly separated parts, one occurring at the tubercle's apex, the other at its base. The apex part is spine bearing, and the base part is always spineless, but usually bearing some bristles or wool. The base part of the areole bears the flowers and fruits, and is a branching point. The apex part of the areole does not carry flowers, but in certain conditions can function as a branching point as well.

The plants are usually small, globose to elongated, the stems from 1 cm to 20 cm in diameter and from 1 cm to 40 cm tall, clearly tuberculate, solitary to clumping forming mounds of up to 100 heads and possess radial symmetry. Tubercles can be conical, cylindrical, pyramidal or round. The roots are fibrous, fleshy or tuberous. The flowers are funnel-shaped and range from 7 mm to 40 mm and more in length and in diameter, from white and greenish to yellow, pink and red in color, often with a darker mid-stripe; the reddish hues are due to betalain pigments as usual for Caryophyllales. The fruit is berry-like, club-shaped or elongated, usually red but sometimes white, yellow or green. Some species have the fruit embedded into the plant body. The seeds are black or brown, from 1 to 3 mm in size.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Cactus (plural, cacti or cactuses) is a type of succulent plant belonging to the dicotyledonous flowering plant family, Cactaceae. The Cactaceae has (depending upon the authority) between 24 and 220 genera, with around 90 genera being the most widely accepted count, and with anywhere from 1,500 to 1,800 species. Cacti are recognized natives of the Americas, mostly in desert areas. Some are also rainforest epiphytes, growing on tree branches where, despite the high rainfall, water drains off quickly so that "dry" conditions prevail much of the time.

Cacti are almost exclusively New World plants. This means that they are native only in North America and South America. There is however one exception, Rhipsalis baccifera; this species has a pantropical distribution, occurring in the Old World in tropical Africa, Madagascar and Sri Lanka as well as in tropical America. This plant is thought to be a relatively recent colonist in the Old World (within the last few thousand years), probably carried as seeds in the digestive tracts of migratory birds. Many other cacti have become naturalized to similar environments in other parts of the world after being introduced by man.

Although many other succulent plants exist in the Old World, even a few with spines, they are not cacti because they lack areoles (specialized structures unique to cacti and identify the family).

Cacti are believed to have evolved in the last 30 to 40 million years. Long ago, the Americas were joined to the other continents, but separated due to continental drift. Unique species in the New World must have developed after enough the continents had moved apart. Significant distance between the continents was only achieved around in the last 50 million years. It is assumed this explains why cacti do not occur in Africa; the continents had already separated when cacti evolved.

Like other succulents, cacti are well-adapted to life with little precipitation. The leaves have evolved into spines, which in addition to allowing less water to evaporate than regular leaves, defend the cactus against water-seeking animals. Photosynthesis is carried out by enlarged stems, which also store water. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of a true cactus where this takes place. Very few members of the family have leaves, and when present these are usually rudimentary and soon fall off; they are typically awl-shaped and only 1-3 mm long. Two genera, Pereskia and Pereskiopsis, do however retain large, non-succulent leaves 5-25 cm long and also non-succulent stems; they are possibly primitive genera, thought to be closely similar to the plants that cacti evolved from.

(an excerpt from - http://www.redorbit.com/education/reference)

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