Illustration by Nicholas Konrad / The New Yorker

Cactus is an infrequent topic in these pages, sometimes with attention to their beauty–and that leads to an environmental problem we had not been aware of:

Inside the Illegal Cactus Trade

As the craze for succulents continues, sometimes the smuggler and the conservationist are the same person.

The succulent Dudleya pachyphytum is known as the Cedros Island live-forever. It has also been called the panda bear of plants, on account of being so cute. It has sweet, chubby leaves, is pale, and is powdered as if with confectioner’s sugar, and its shape is most often that of a rose. D. pachyphytum grows slowly, as succulents generally do, and many specimens would fit in your coat pocket. Continue reading →