1. Thank you to Laraaji for a bliss inducing performance at the CS studio and greenhouse in LA last weekend. Some video here
2. We just added some new clothes to our little shop in the cloud, please take a gander and buy your worst enemy a little something. 
    

HYDNORA AFRICANA
This heinous hamadryad from South Africa siphons its vital essence from the roots of an innocent Euphorbia tree like some ravenous parasitic alien worm. But as they say, one soul’s predator is another soul’s prey, as this execrable villain also emits a foul stench making it irresistible foodstuff to the lowest common denominator of scavenger such as the dung beetle, the jackal, and the modern hominid.



 

HALF-PLANT HALF-WORM
In Brittany on the northwest coast of France bordering the English Channel lives a most unsavory miscreant. At first glance, Symsagittifera roscoffensis appears benign, like some sort of marine vegetation. Upon closer inspection, one learns that these counterfeit gulfweeds aren’t plants at all but millions of wretched and writhing worms. Or are they? Increase magnification 10x and you’ll discover that these unholy atrocities have neither mouth nor anus, and are probably more aptly described as plant-worms.

The worm’s green coloration comes from a symbiotic micro-plant living in its belly. As this micro-plant leaks photosynthetic products, it feeds its worm host from the inside. The plant then recycles the worm’s waste as nutrients for itself, making this duo an ecosystem in miniature. A true chimerical lusus naturae.


 

GHOST PIPE
“Ghost Pipe” is the phytological equivalent of a vampire; a parasite that gets all of its nutrients by feeding upon its fungal host underground instead of by photosynthesis, giving the plant a ghastly spectral translucence. In botanical parlance, this grewsome survival strategy is known as obligate mycoheterotrophy.

And though she grows in many an eerie North American wood, sightings of this eldrich sylph are rare. Wayfarers be warned: if roving you happen upon this haunted vegetable, do not consume her flesh, as she's been known to induce non-ordinary states of consciousness such as visualizations and deliria.


 

ORCHIDS
Few plants have gathered so many closet-skeletons as orchids have. During the 19th-century, the bounty on orchids in England had become so excessive that orchid hunters would do practically anything to get their greed-deranged hooks into the rare stuff, including slaughtering anyone who stood between them and their reward. But as they say, the payoffs of greed rarely-if-ever exceed its costs.

Because orchids thrive in places that are inhospitable to people, such as in primeval swamps and jungles, it wasn’t unusual for these poachers to enter the forbidden lands never to re-emerge, for such are the wages of Karma; a life for a life.

Some spooky orchids to google:
Black Bat
Bog candle
Blood spider
Hairy shadow witch
Dracula 
Medusa
 

Hello from Hell, Grand Cayman Islands
 

French philosopher of science, anthropologist, and sociologist, Bruno Latour, has died at the age of 75. Considered one of France’s most influential and iconoclastic contemporary thinkers, a significant portion of Latour’s work focuses on attitudes toward nature, science, and politics, at a time when the climate emergency is front and center.

“Termites should be our role models because they do not lay waste to the Earth, nor are any of them insect Elon Musks who seek to relocate to another planet. That’s escapist, but when you think in terms of the critical zone, you cannot escape.” By “critical zone”, Latour meant a space 2-3 km thick (both above and below Earth’s surface) within which all life recycles itself.

On October 9th, Bruno returned to the earth wherein he will be composted by Gaia to continue the great work of pushing up daisies. Rest in peace Bruno!


 

Human Fertilizer T-shirt

As Susan Orlean recounts in The Orchid Thief, an orchid poacher in New Guinea “found some good orchids growing on human remains. He collected the plants and sent them to England still attached to ribs and shin bones.”

Society for the Appreciation of Home Depot Plant Hat
Rarity is as common as potatoes. In fact, it is believed that of the 435,000 plant species on Earth, there are more rare species than common ones. We don’t have an exact fraction for this, but we know that a whopping 36% of all plants are in the “exceedingly rare” category. Case in point, even Bolivian endemic potatoes, although once abundant, are today in decline. Of course, we love the rare stuff, it’s what makes this big blue marble biodiverse, but does scarcity necessarily confer value?

Malcolm Wilkins, president of S.A.H.D.P.  has a refreshing take on this question. “The scarcer a thing is, the more humans want to own it, but plants aren’t Pokemon cards; they’re beings. Our guild celebrates plant abundance, not plant rarity.”  Well said! Malcolm, we made this one for you, because green thumbs come in every shade, including 5 gallon bucket orange.

Oculos Tuo de Via T-Shirt
Keep your eyes Off the road....the treasures are on the edges
🌱 👁️ 👁️

Laraaji Live at Cactus Store Studio 
A shirt commemorating the wondrous Laraaji's performance at Cactus Store Studio on Oct 23, 2022.  Laraaji has been inducing bliss since the 1970's, a flowing guide into the finer regions for those lucky enough to listen.

The color orange, which Laraaji wears exclusively, is the "color significant of transformation, fire energy, positive psychology." Tap in.

Back from the Dead:
A RESTOCK of a few classic CACTUS STORE chemises pour le jardin!

PURCHASE


 

Thank you for reading,
Feel free to drop us a line with any questions, comments or compliments: boss@hotcactus.la

Wormly,
C.S.