This tall cylindrical thing is in the cactus/succulent garden in Balboa Park in San Diego, and it's very cute in a Dr Seuss sort of way. The body looks like a tall thin and tapering cactus, with what look like areoles, but it has lots of what look whispy but are stiff branches of two types: the ones lower on the body have just spikey thorns and what look like thorns with spoon tips. On the upper body are also branches with spikey thorns and rosettes of small (2cm) leaves with no petioles. At the top are several inflorescence branches. I can't tell if I'm seeing the fruit or flower buds. It's not really a cactus, right? What is it?
Fouquieria columnaris -- same trees as you photographed can be seen in this blog posting: balboa park’s desert garden
Thanks, Daniel. I love that blog posting. It identified something else I was uncertain about, and mentions a garden I hadn't known about.
