A tour to Desert Botanical Garden

On Friday, April 12th, the S-STEM Scholars with our mentors Matt, Josh and Dijana led by John Schampel, a Biosciences Department faculty member went to the Desert Botanical Garden (DBG) for a tour. We left the the Biosciences Department around 12:30 pm and arrived there around 1:15 pm. Once there, we got our admission tickets which was paid by the S-STEM and started a quick tour to one side of the garden while waiting for a presentation at 2:00 pm given by Dr. Kim McCue, Interim Director of Research at Desert Botanical Garden. She gave us an overview of all the different types of research that are going on at the Desert Botanical Garden and also talked to us about the research and internships opportunities that are available there.
After that, we continued our tour to rest of garden. During the tour, we saw different types of plants that grow in a desert.

We also took a tour to the Butterfly Exhibit where we got to see various types of butterflies. They were very cool.

 While we were touring this beautiful garden, there was a plant that I saw more than once that capture my attention. This plant was Opuntia sulphurea aka Pricklypear.

Pricklypear also known as nopales or paddle cactus belongs to the kingdom of Plantae, the order of Caryophyllales and the family of Cactaceae. It is the only genus in the cactus family.
Pricklypear are native only to the Western Hemisphere. They were first introduced to Australia in 1788 and then to the rest of the globe later. Pricklypear species are found in abundance in Mexico and in the Mediterranean region of Northern Africa especially in Tunisia. They are found in the Sonoran Desert located 25.3 degrees to 33 degrees North and 105 degrees to 118 degrees West. Pricklypear typically grow with flat rounded cladodes that armed with two kinds of spines. Most of the species are cold tolerant in general extending then into western and southern Canada. They produce a fruit that is commonly eaten in Mexico.
They are many adaptations that they Pricklypear has to the Sonoran Desert. They reduced their leaves to spines to reduce water loss and also to protect the cactus. Their roots are also made for very dry environment to help adapt to the deserts hot weather. Usually plants in the desert do not require much water or they need a way to store it for a drought. For the case of Pricklypears, they used thier pads to store water and then used it when they need in a drought.