"Grow tall, don't branch and keep your pseudo-cephalium outta the sun." That's the ethos that Cephalocereus columna-trajani live by, and that's the focus of today's episode of CPBBD.
Looking closely at this cactus forest, you'll see they bend away from the sun, towards the North/Northeast. The benefit of this is that it keeps the side with the hairy patch (pseudo-cephalium) where the flowers are produced out of the sun so the small flowers last longer, the nectar inside doesn't dry up, and the tepals don't get fried and what-the-shit. Flowers will not form on the sunny side. How this is regulated genetically would certainly be a great object of study for any student of botany who needs an excuse to spend more time in this sacred little valley.
It's an ingenious mechanism, if I can anthropomorphize a little bit, and to stand amongst these viejitos and wonderful beasts is an absolute fucking privelege.
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