The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus Family
by J. J. Thornber · English · Gutenberg #46155 · 360,730 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus Family
Author: J. J. Thornber
Frances Bonker
Release date: July 1, 2014 [eBook #46155]
Most recently updated: October 24, 2024
Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FANTASTIC CLAN: THE CACTUS FAMILY ***
BOOKS BY
FRANCES BONKER
AND
JOHN JAMES THORNBER
THE SAGE OF THE DESERT
DESERT FLOWERS
THE FANTASTIC CLAN
Copyright, 1932,
By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
All rights reserved—no part of this book may be reproduced in any form
without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer
who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written
for inclusion in magazine or newspaper.
Set up and electrotyped.
Published February, 1932
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
NORWOOD PRESS LINOTYPE, INC.
NORWOOD, MASS., U.S.A.
To the Memory of My Father
JAMES THORNBER
A Seeker After the Odd and
the Beautiful in Nature
J. J. T.
To My Aunt
LIDA PLANT TRUMBULL
A Collector of Rare and Unique Specimens
of the Weird Fantastic Clan
F. B.
[Illustration: MEXICAN NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; REINA DE NOCHE; SERPENT
CACTUS (Cereus serpentinus)]
THE FANTASTIC CLAN. _THE CACTUS FAMILY._
Studies of that unique and fascinating growth, the Cactus plant, treating
of all the most important groups of Cacti known, with scientific
accuracy, and depicting the charm of the desert land, its magic spell and
wondrous lure, in the great Cactus area of the world, the American desert
of the Southwest.
[Illustration: ]
_By_ JOHN JAMES THORNBER, A.M.,
Professor of Botany, University of Arizona
_and_ FRANCES BONKER.
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
NEW YORK MDCCCCXXXII
PREFACE
In this book we are going to introduce something new and interesting to
many, the weird cactus plant life of the Southwestern desert—strange and
marvelous growths which we call the Fantastic Clan; and to increase the
reality and charm of the subject we will take an imaginary trip into the
domain of the flowers of the desert. We shall explain here how to come to
know them, and how to grow them in gardens; and we hope that, after
reading, you will desire to have a cactus garden of your own, for the
desert cacti are so different and so beautiful, with their symmetry of
filigree and lacework, their fantastic shapes and marvelous colorings,
and in many cases with a perfection of design that seems to have just
come from the draughting board. We will not attempt to picture _all_ the
wondrous beauty of the Night Blooming Cereus, nor to tell how dainty the
Arizona Rainbow and the California Pincushion really are. We will try,
however, to treat in large measure about them, and about all the most
important groups of cacti known to man, here in Mexico and our own
Southwest, the great cactus area of the earth. We will show where they
live and how they live, and in what manner they grow; and when you
actually see them, in traveling across the Great American Desert, you
will appreciate the wondrous beauty of desert creations and the flashes
of brilliant color, gorgeous beyond description. No artist can paint nor
pen describe the weird Fantastic Clan, as they are glimpsed peering out
from under the rocks or gathered in clusters and patches surrounded with
their dead-looking, drab-colored neighbors; or rearing their stately
heads far above the ordinary walks of life in columnar pillars of
towering strength. There is a fascination away out there on the desert;
nevertheless, unlike the strange weird members of the cactus clan, we
come not to stay, but only to enjoy the charm of the desert, to study and
learn, and then to depart on our way.
Without help from the following persons and organizations, it would have
been impossible for us to make such careful study of these plants, so
widely distributed over the Southwestern deserts:
We thank Dr. James Greenlief Brown and Dr. Rubert Burley Streets of the
University of Arizona for numerous photographs; Professor Andrew
Alexander Nichol of the University of Arizona for rare species of cacti
collected; Dr. Forrest Shreve of the Carnegie Institution of Washington
for specimens of plants and photographs; Evelyn Thornber for pen-and-ink
drawings of cacti; Miss Frances Hamilton, Mr. William Palmer Stockwell,
Mr. Frank Henry Parker, and Mr. Barnard Hendricks for assistance in
making careful studies of the cacti; the University of Arizona and the
Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for help in
procuring specimens of cacti for comparative study.
We are deeply indebted to Mrs. John Wilmot Estill of Los Angeles,
California, for her exquisite paintings used in this book.
John James Thornber
Tucson, Arizona
Frances Bonker
Pasadena, California
October 1, 1931
FOREWORD
We believe that many readers are interested in the mysterious plants and
flowers of the desert, especially of the great Southwest. Here in our own
back yard, as it were, in sunny California and also over in that great
sand pile of southwestern Arizona, sometimes called the “Studio of the
Gods,” time has carved and chiseled out wonderful valleys and cañons, and
graced their floors with tiny streams of water like threads of molten
silver on burnished sands. This desert fairyland is brimful of Nature’s
most curious plants and flowers. Here in Nature’s workshop you will find
plants and flowers weird and marvelous, of fantastic shapes and grotesque
design, of glowing hue and exotic fragrance.
Out where rock and sand and gravel, and sagebrush and mesquite and
chaparral struggle hard to hold on to life, the giant cactus, Sahuaro,
the Old Man cactus known as _Cereus senilis_, the Prickly Pear Opuntia,
and the wonderful Night Blooming Cereus live on peacefully and quietly
and seem to smile down on man and beast and reptile, in the magnificent
splendor of their brilliant flowers and fruit in the spring. Drought or
rain in plenty seems to make but little difference to most of these, for
the reason that Nature, the Great Engineer, has given these plants a
unique structure which enables them to store up enough moisture in their
reservoir systems to last, in some cases, as long as _three years_, if
the rains should not come. It would tax man’s ingenuity to the utmost to
beat that!
Do you know how the Cursed Cholla gets its name? or why the cactus spines
are such a puzzle to the botanist? or the romance Time has woven round
the Night Blooming Cereus? or why the Barrel cactus is the Indian’s
friend in time of drought, the traveler’s friend when lost? or why the
Fishhook cactus is called by that name? Would you know a Pipe Organ
cactus if you saw one? Do you know that the Strawberry cactus or Hedgehog
is delicious for food?
“The Fantastic Clan” tells you about all these things. In this book we
take you on a pleasant journey through a wonderland of plant life,
stopping at lonely isolated spots to view the Night Blooming Cereus
cactus, whose ethereal beauty vies with the famous orchids of the South
American forests. And to see this lovely queen in all her pristine beauty
will make you forget the orchid and the rose! We also get a glimpse of
the Hawaiian Night Blooming Cereus, so exquisitely beautiful that, for
ages, in faraway Hawaii magnificent fiestas have marked the opening of
the buds and the blooming of the Night Blooming Cereus.
Then we take you into the presence of the giant cactus, Sahuaro, which in
a previous volume we have called the Sage of the desert; steadfast,
towering pillarlike fifty feet into the air, he gives a sense of power to
all who behold him, some certain realization of the grandeur and the
mystery of God’s creations here on Earth.
The Serpent cacti, with their grotesque angular arms projecting like so
many sinuous tentacles, claim our attention next; and the Prickly Pears,
advance guard for the entire cactus clan, pass before our gaze. Many,
many others, of fantastic shapes and distorted growth, freaks of nature,
also numbers of God’s glorious creations, flowers of ethereal beauty,
trees, majestic and noble, crowd into this picture stretched before our
eyes in one vast scene of limitless sand, the Great American Desert.
CONTENTS
PAGE
PREFACE vii
FOREWORD ix
I A DESERT FASHION SHOW 1
(_Cereus_)
II CACTUS SPINES AND PECULIARITIES 27
III THE BABY CACTUS 32
(_Pincushion_)
IV THE PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS 62
(_Hedgehog or Strawberry_)
V THE PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT 88
(_Prickly Pears_)
VI MINIATURE FORTRESSES ON THE DESERT 119
(_Cholla_)
VII A DESERT GRAVEYARD 153
(_Barrel or Bisnaga_)
VIII CONCLUSION 185
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY 187
INDEX 191
ILLUSTRATIONS
MEXICAN NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; REINA DE NOCHE; SERPENT CACTUS
(_Cereus serpentinus_) _Frontispiece_
PAGE
SENITA, ZINA, OR SINA (_Cereus Schottii_) 4
NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; GODDESS OF THE NIGHT; LA REINA DE NOCHE; THE
QUEEN OF NIGHT (_Cereus Greggii_) _Facing_ 8
SAHUARO OR GIANT CACTUS (_Cereus giganteus_); AND PALO VERDE ” 9
SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (_Echinocereus Bonkeræ_) ” 28
HORNED TOAD CACTUS (_Mammillaria Mainæ_) ” 40
SLENDER PINCUSHION CACTUS (_Mammillaria fasciculata_) ” 40
SUNSET CACTUS (_Mammillaria Grahamii_) ” 41
BENT SPINE PINCUSHION (_Coryphantha recurvata_) ” 41
GOLDEN SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (_Echinocereus chrysocentrus_) ” 66
TURK’S HEAD (_Echinocactus horizonthalonius_) ” 66
TRAVELER’S FRIEND; CANDY CACTUS; TRAVELER’S COMPASS (_Echinocactus
Covillei_) ” 66
DESERT STRAWBERRIES; FENDLER’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (_Echinocereus
Fendleri_) ” 67
INDIAN STRAWBERRY CACTUS; ENGELMANN’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS
(_Echinocereus Engelmannii_) ” 67
SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ) ” 72
SALMON FLOWERED HEDGEHOG CACTUS (_Echinocereus Leeanus_) ” 72
CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (_Mammillaria Johnstonii_) ” 73
SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (_Coryphantha aggregata_) ” 73
SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (_Mammillaria Oliviæ_) ” 73
CALIFORNIA PINCUSHION (_Mammillaria tetrancistera_) ” 73
RAINBOW CACTUS (_Echinocereus rigidissimus_) ” 84
PAPAGO FRUIT CACTUS (_Opuntia Blakeana_) 91
DELICATE PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia delicata_) 92
WHIPPLE’S CHOLLA (_Opuntia Whipplei_) 93
PURPLE PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia santa rita_) 93
SMOOTH PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia laevis_) 95
FOOTHILL PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia Toumeyi_) 96
DISCUS PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia discata_) 98
ENGELMANN’S PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia Engelmannii_) 99
BEAVER TAIL (_Opuntia basilaris_) ” 100
FLAPJACK PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia chlorotica_) ” 100
PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia hystricina_) ” 101
TEDDY BEAR CACTUS (_Opuntia Bigelovii_) ” 101
GOLDEN PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia Covillei_) 102
PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia hystricina_) 105
LONG SPINED PRICKLY PEAR (_Opuntia macrocentra_) 105
GIANT CACTUS OR SAHUARO (_Cereus giganteus_) ” 124
MEXICAN NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; SERPENT CACTUS; REINA DE NOCHE
(_Cereus serpentinus_) ” 125
DESERT CHRISTMAS CACTUS; TASAJILLO (_Opuntia leptocaulis_) 128
PROLIFIC TREE CHOLLA (_Opuntia arbuscula_) 128
MANY COLORED TREE CHOLLA (_Opuntia versicolor_) 131
POPULAR CHOLLA (_Opuntia tetracantha_) 131
THORNBER’S CHOLLA (_Opuntia Thornberi_) 135
MANY COLORED TREE CHOLLA (_Opuntia versicolor_) 135
JUMPING CHOLLA (_Opuntia fulgida_) ” 136
CURSED CHOLLA; DEVIL CACTUS (_Opuntia Stanlyi_) ” 137
BUCKHORN CHOLLA (_Opuntia acanthocarpa_) ” 137
CURSED CHOLLA; DEVIL CHOLLA (_Opuntia Stanlyi_) 138
JUMPING CHOLLA (_Opuntia fulgida_) 138
SPINY TREE CHOLLA (_Opuntia spinosior_) ” 140
CANDY BARREL CACTUS; FISHHOOK CACTUS (_Echinocactus Wislizeni_) ” 160
PINK FLOWERED VISNAGITA (_Echinocactus Johnsonii_) ” 160
MEXICAN FRUIT CACTUS (_Echinocactus hamatacanthus_) ” 161
GIANT VISNAGA; GIANT BARREL CACTUS (_Echinocactus Visnaga_) ” 161
THE FANTASTIC CLAN
CHAPTER I
A DESERT FASHION SHOW
Kipling once said, “When you’ve heard the East a-calling, you won’t have
anything else.” And this is true of the desert. The charm of the desert,
once it gets its hold on you, always brings you back. There are no fears
nor dreads out there; it is the place where mankind can go and rest.
When springtime comes it is time to be on the move, to see new places,
new things, to enjoy, to learn. Early in April we start on a trek or trip
by automobile across the Giant Amphitheater of the Sun, somewhere on the
great desert along the Mexico-California frontier and thence on into
Southern California; seeking out the plants and flowers which appear now
in gay spring tints and hues, scrutinizing their wondrous beauty, their
colorings and fantastic shapes, their scientific make-up and their
dwelling places, and occasionally their grotesque appearance.
The desert is an enormous caldron of burning sand, rolling and rising and
sinking here and there. But in the spring these arid lands present a
striking parade of beautiful flowers—a veritable fashion show! It is
early in the morning of a cloudless April day; the night dew is on most
of the blossoms, and they are fresh from its bath. There is no dust and
their colors are still bright as we inhale the fragrant scent. The desert
glow is brightening, for the sun is rising just over the eastern rim of
the foothills, and we stop to gaze upon the first of a colony of cacti
called the Cereus Group. The name Cereus is musical; we find that it is
from the Latin, meaning torch, and is given to this genus in the family
of Cactaceæ because of the beautiful candelabralike branching of some of
its members.
GROWTH AND HABITATS
They are trees, shrubs, or climbers, growing erect or spreading out with
ribbed branches; they are the tallest and largest of the Cactaceæ. The
flowers are funnel-form, some are elongated and very showy, and we find
that they bloom mostly in the darkness of the desert night. Perhaps this
night blooming accounts for the softness and brilliance of their delicate
colorings, as of the orchids, the most gorgeous of which as you know come
from the deep shaded forests of the South American jungles. The genus
Cereus is very large, comprising more than two hundred varieties. Their
native habitats are in South America, Central America, the West Indies,
Mexico, and southern United States.
Caterpillar Cactus (_Cereus eruca_)
_Lower California, Magdalena Island_
The first of these growths to attract our attention is the weird Creeping
Devil cactus! How apropos is this nomenclature! We see it here in Lower
California, _Cereus eruca_, creeping along the coastal lands and over the
fine drifted sands of the seashore like countless thousands of
caterpillars crawling over the ground, worming their way slowly across
the sandy plains to the sea. This remarkable cactus grows on the coastal
plains of Lower California and is abundant on Magdalena Island in very
sandy soil, preferring the softer sand for its habitat and particularly
the wind-drifted material, over small areas of which it forms a more or
less continuous covering, broken here and there by dead stems. In the
clumps of this cactus the desert foxes live; for in its natural habitat
it prevents the sand from drifting and offers homes for the little
animals of the region.
The stems lie flat on the ground with their tips somewhat upturned, thus
resembling huge caterpillars, head and body; they grow along on the
ground, rooting from their lower surfaces, elongating at the tips, and
dying back behind, which results in a slow forward movement of the whole
plant. When this cactus meets with a log or stone the stem with its
upraised tip gradually grows over this hindrance, up one side and down
the other, and by the dying back of the rear end, in time passes over the
obstruction. The stems, varying from three to nine feet in length and
nearly as large as a man’s arm, are very spiny, with fifteen to twenty
radial and central thorns of a dark brownish hue and dull tan, turning to
grayish white with age, the tips translucent yellow. The flowers are
bright yellow, the fruit delicious and relished by Indians and Mexicans
both as a salad and as a preserve.
Senita (_Cereus Schottii_)
_Lower California, Sonora, and Southwestern Arizona_
[Illustration: SENITA, ZINA, OR SINA (Cereus Schottii)]
The next growth to attract our notice is that called by botanists _Cereus
Schottii_ or _Lophocereus Schottii_. It is named also for convenience
Senita, Zina, and Sina. This is a remarkable cactus found in Sonora (a
state of Northern Mexico), southwestern Arizona, and Lower California
under the most arid conditions. It grows commonly in colonies and patches
in the mountain cañons and there enjoys protection that the individual
plants do not have. The young plants are equipped with silvery, short,
stout spines, and the old ones with slender, long, flexible bristles,
grayish or purplish gray, giving the appearance of old age—hence the
common popular name of Senita. At a little distance these bristlelike
thorns appear like fine purplish bands, from their symmetrically twisted
spiral arrangement on the five- to twenty-foot yellow-green stems, which
are supported by wooden cores or scalloped cylinders. Senita plants are
very striking on the arid mountain slopes, along the foothills, and in
protected valleys and cañons where the winter is warm and the summer hot,
their dense branches often interlocking in huge clumps twenty feet across
and twenty-five feet high. Their bristly stems resemble somewhat a
squirrel’s tail or bottle brush, and in Mexico the plants are grown for
fences which are unique and effective. The flowers are about an inch and
a half long and as wide, shaped like a bell, with very lovely cream-white
and pale pink petals shading into deep pink at the tips. The fruit is a
greenish brown changing to dull red when mature, and globose. The
blossoms and fruit of this species are rather small for the Cereus; the
flowers open in the evening and close in the morning, and while delicate
are not at all showy.
Prohibition Cactus (_Cereus Emoryi_)
_Lower California, Northern Mexico, and Southwestern California_
_Bergorocactus Emoryi_, as he is sometimes called, is a little fellow to
have such a long name. He is odd and rather humble, and very much
resembles the Hedgehog Cactus, another group of Cereus, entirely. He
grows well on the arid hillsides near the southern coast in San Diego
County, California, and in Lower California; perhaps we should call him
the “Prohibition cactus,” for he likes his home place dry. A foot or two
high, he grows in thick impenetrable masses ten to twenty feet across,
and covered with a dense spiny coating; fifteen to thirty slender,
yellowish, needlelike but stiff thorns, half an inch to an inch long or
longer; pale yellowish brown flowers, quite small and clustering toward
the tips of the stems. As we stop a moment here in Lower California to
view him, we see that he is somewhat interesting, but though a member of
the noble tribe of Cereus not attractive to us as a weird cactus, having
little to suggest the dignity and grandeur of the giant Sahuaro, the
uniqueness of the Pipe Organ with its finest of fruit, or the exquisite
blossoms of _la Reina de Noche_, queen among desert flowers.
Old Man Cactus (_Cereus senilis_)
_Mexico_
Next in line of our fashion parade comes the _Cereus senilis_, sometimes
called by the botanists _Cephalocereus senilis_ (a polite way of saying
“old man”). For a long time he has been one of the most popular of the
Cactus Clan. He grows well in cactus gardens and conservatories, here and
in Europe, and is greatly in demand on both continents; his habitat is
the limestone foothills and mountains in northern and central Mexico, and
is rather inaccessible. We find that the radial spines of the young
plants are transformed into coarse white translucent hairs from four to
twelve inches long, and, being deflexed like long gray hairs, suggest the
name of “Old Man Cactus.” In the varying conditions and locations where
he grows, he is sometimes called the “Bunny” or the “White Persian Cat”
cactus. All the spines are fragile and break easily, and hence the Old
Man cactus should not be handled more than is necessary. In maturity he
grows around his head a dense mass of tawny wool, sometimes longer on one
side suggesting a hat cocked to left or right, which gives the tall plant
a most grotesque and rakish appearance. This cactus is columnar and
little branched; in some instances he grows to a height of forty-five
feet, and is a very imposing sight in the landscape. The stems and
branches are pale green or yellow-green with a scurfy waxy coating over
the surface, are not tough, and sometimes a large tree can be cut down
with a small pocketknife! The rose-colored flowers are bell-shaped or
funnel-shaped and night-blooming, appearing only on the older plants. The
inch-long fruit is rose-colored and covered with scales and tufts of hair
or short wool! How strangely at times Nature does her work!
Pipe Organ Cactus (_Cereus Thurberi_)
_Lower California, Sonora, and Southern Arizona_
An aristocrat of the Cactaceæ claims our attention next, _Cereus
Thurberi_, called also the “Pipe Organ” cactus. It grows well in the arid
mountain regions, on the lower mountains and flats of Lower California
and from Sonora in Mexico to southern Arizona, usually in colonies,
seeking the rocky, gravelly soil in foothills and along the mountain
cañons. Notice how it branches near the base and grows from ten to twenty
feet tall; very erect and stately, the plant makes quite an appearance in
green armor with a thin waxy coat. Surrounded by smaller patches of cacti
where it towers well over them all, _Thurberi_ presents a very striking
picture in this setting of old Mexico or Lower California. We note that
its great columns of yellow-green cuticle look much like the pipes of a
giant organ silhouetted against the sky away out on the desert; hence the
name Pipe Organ cactus or Pitahaya. We might even fancy that the rush of
the wind through mountain and cañon, with its piercing shriek or duller
roar, the song of the desert, is music emanating from the giant pipes of
this great Organ cactus of Arizona and Lower California. The flowers,
like those of many others of its kind, bloom in the night and are usually
closed by nine o’clock in the morning; growing in the tops of clusters of
slender spreading grayish spines, lining the fifteen or twenty ridges of
the stems, and, it is to be noted, appearing only on the tips of the
stems; beautiful blooms three inches long with white margins, the
delicate petals light pink with green and white bands along their edges,
the innermost petals satiny white with some pink above, gradually toning
into the purple-red of the sepals. The fruit of “Pitahaya dulce” as the
Indians call the plant, globose, olive-green, with a crimson sweet fleshy
pulp when ripe, is a rare delicacy and is highly prized by Indians and
Mexicans for the making of jellies and jams, conserves, syrups, and
sweetmeats. From the syrup they also make wine.
Serpent Cactus (_Cereus serpentinus_)
_Mexico_
In one of the cultivated gardens of Northern Mexico we are introduced by
the hospitable natives (half Mexican, half Spanish), to that weird and
striking growth, the _Cereus serpentinus_, known also in the realm of
botany as _Nyctocereus serpentinus_. Any one of its long sinuous
tentacles, the six to fifteen entangled stems, might easily remind one of
the twisted body of a serpent springing at its intended victim! This is a
Night Blooming Cereus cactus, supposed to be a native of eastern Mexico,
where it grows half wild in hedges and over walls, but its habitat is
uncertain. The stems, eight to fifteen feet long, grow erect for about
ten feet, and then bend over or are pendent for several feet; on top of
the ridges running along them are clusters of slender spreading
cream-white and reddish brown spines, flexible and not stiff like those
of most cacti.
[Illustration: NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; GODDESS OF THE NIGHT; LA REINA DE
NOCHE; THE QUEEN OF NIGHT (Cereus Greggii)]
You must come to the desert in the soft shadows of the moonlit night to
see the ethereal beauty of this rare and exquisite flower. For only one
night in each year does the flower queen come forth into bloom, scenting
the warm sweet air of the desert land for miles and miles, while
thousands of people, Indian and white, gather for the brilliant spectacle
of hundreds of thousands of waxy white blossoms. Then no more may the eye
of man behold the lovely colorings, nor sense the exotic perfume of the
Goddess of the Night, until her appointed time comes yet again in the
Desert Land of Plants and Flowers.
[Illustration: SAHUARO OR GIANT CACTUS (Cereus giganteus); AND PALO
VERDE]
The noble “Sage of the Desert,” towering fifty feet into the air, oldest
and largest of the American Cacti, often attaining the age of two hundred
and fifty years, entwining with the Palo Verde.
Why are such names as _la Reina de Noche_ (the Queen of Night), Mexican
Night Blooming Cereus, _Junco Espinoso_, given to this Cereus? We see the
answer in the large bloom nearly a foot long and over _seven_ inches
wide, of a delicate tan-pink in background, shading into the soft
cream-white of the petals, then the corona of stamens, a symphony of pale
yellow and white; touches of green grace the bases of the sepals, and the
whole forms a lovely picture against the background of old adobe
dwellings, evanescent and brilliant in the white rays of the southern
moon. And the fragrance of this lovely Cereus! The perfume from a single
blossom will fill a large room or a whole yard: a pronounced spicy odor
somewhat like that of a tuberose. This beautiful flower resembles that of
the _Cereus Greggii_, our own Night Blooming Cereus. Its delicate
colorings and poignancy of perfume make it one of the finest blossoms of
the flower kingdom, much in demand for cactus gardens and window
decoration. The showy beauties are highly prized by Mexicans and
Spaniards as well, both in Mexico and abroad. Strictly night-blooming,
and opening but one night in a season, the beautiful blossoms begin to
unfold soon after sundown, having increased rapidly in size the day
before, the loosened sepals and petals giving the flower the appearance
of an inverted flask; the blossoms close soon after sunrise unless the
day is cloudy, when they remain open until late afternoon. This
blossoming, however, continues on different plants during April, May, and
even into June. With favorable conditions the weird serpent plants run
wild and grow luxuriantly, forming very striking hedges; and they are
most attractive as climbers over the Mexican adobe walls.
Giant Cactus (_Cereus giganteus_)
_Southern California, Southern Arizona, and Mexico_
That fellow over yonder is _Cereus giganteus_, or _Carnegiea gigantea_;
he is “old Sahuaro” (pronounced “sa-wáh-ro”), Saguaro, or Giant cactus.
Sahuaro is the “Sage of the Desert” because of the great age he attains,
often two hundred fifty years or more. He is the giant tree of the cactus
clan. There are Sahuaro out on the Great American Desert that were old
when the thirteen colonies became a nation in 1776. Proud and dignified
and stately they stand out there in the great alone, silent sentinels of
a long gone past still hardy in the towering strength of their great age,
with yesterday gone forever and looking to the day that is yet to come.
Near sunset we may fancy them in silent meditation as if determining some
mooted question of time or weather. For in case of long continued drought
the reservoir systems of these great trees store up enough moisture to
last them for three years, and they will blossom and fruit just the same
without fail and on time! Over the entire length of these giants, run
long ridges or flutings, which serve the plants as miraculous reservoirs
for water: as the ridges expand, the plant becomes water-filled; and as
the great tree uses up its moisture, these flutings contract into proper
position, thereby exhibiting but one of the many marvels in engineering
consummated by Nature, the Great Engineer. Along his twenty or
twenty-five flutings she has given Sahuaro a formidable array of long
sharp spikes which defy the approach of man and beast alike: grayish
black spines, clustering on the lower ridges of the plant and never
bearing flowers, and clusters of yellowish thorns, on the upper part of
stem and branches, that bear the blossoms and fruit.
Thirty to fifty feet tall, these sentinels of the desert tower above the
baby Pincushion, the Cholla, the Creosote and Desert Sagebrush, and the
other Cerei, which seem but tiny dwarfs in comparison. Columns of their
massive trunks grow singly for a distance of ten to fifteen feet, then
curve abruptly erect in candelabralike branches, terminating in masses of
waxy white blossoms, the whole giving strongly the effect of a lighted
candelabra in the dazzling sunlight. Full-grown Sahuaro weigh six tons or
more; they are very sturdily constructed, vigorous and hardy, caring not
for wind or weather or time. Woodpeckers make their homes in the waxy
green trunks of old Sahuaro, and the injuries made by birds are sealed
over by a coating of tissue from the plant itself. These coverings often
take form of water containers and are so used by the Indians. The spiked
armor causes Sahuaro to be feared by man and bird and beast, and the bold
woodpecker and the hawk are almost alone in venturing to nest in their
trunks.
In flower time the blossoms are produced in abundance on the tips of stem
and branches, large satiny blooms four inches or so long and half as
wide, growing solitary but in such great masses of waxy white bloom as to
give the effect of being clustered; as usual with the Cereus, remaining
open all night and closing in the forenoon. The Department of Commerce at
Washington is taking steps to develop the fruit of the _giganteus_ as an
article of commerce. Shaped like an egg and about the same size, its
crimson red pulp is made into wine by native Indians and Mexicans,
preserved as jam and fruit in clay ollas, and after drying in the sun
served as delicious sweetmeats to the whites trading near by. In June,
when the sun is blazing hot, the Papago Indians camp in forests and
harvest the fruit of old Sahuaro, while the dead plants furnish material
for the building of their huts and adobe dwellings, the “ribs” used for
rafters and poles, and even for fuel. The ceilings of many old buildings
in Tucson, Arizona, were made of Giant cactus ribs, several layers deep.
Many an Indian life has been saved by old Sahuaro in time of severe
drought. Is it any wonder that the Papago begins his New Year in June
with the fruiting of the Giant cactus?
The beautiful blossom of the Sage of the Desert is the state flower of
Arizona. A hundred miles west of Tucson, Arizona, is a great forest of
these noble cacti, the Papago Sahuaro Forest of Arizona, while another
forest of the great trees is a little to the east of the state capital,
Phoenix. The Giant cactus thrives best in the rocky valleys and foothills
along the low mountain slopes and cañons, and prefers a southern
exposure. He likes a sandy, rocky soil where the roots can go down deep,
or run long distances underground. He begins his life under the
protection of some other plant or shrub, and in time crowds out even his
protectors. Near Victorville in Southern California, in northern Mexico,
and through all of southern Arizona, “constellations” of huge massive
Sahuaro, viewed by the traveler for the first time in the ghostly light
of the moon, are a sight never to be forgotten. Like apparitions they
seem in the white rays, strange and noble figures of another world
appearing before us in these fantastic desert plants; it is as if a
graveyard had suddenly delivered its dead! Silent and mute and still they
stand; waiting and watching and never seeming to die. And here we must
leave these majestic plants to their heritage of the desert, above whose
blazing sands they tower serene and untouched by the life struggle
silently going on around them.
Night Blooming Cereus (_Cereus Greggii_)
_Southern California, Mexico, Southern Arizona, and Texas_
The fashion show of the desert is about to close, for we see approaching
us in southeastern California the _Cereus Greggii_, the typical night
blooming cereus. Have you been in the Hawaiian Islands? Have you attended
any of the early Spanish fiestas? Have you heard the stories of the Night
Blooming Cereus? If so, you have heard about the most beautiful, the most
fragrant of flowers! No flower garden or conservatory is complete without
this graceful queen of the desert, whose evanescent beauty surpasses the
orchid and the rose; for the delicate shadings and exquisite colorings of
the South American orchid are no finer than those of this night blooming
cactus. Pen or brush in the hand of the genius scarce can do justice to
the loveliness of Nature’s handiwork, the Goddess of the Night. Most
popular of all the cacti, she delights to grow wild on the desert mesas,
where the sensuous spicy fragrance of her beautiful blossoms perfumes the
air for miles around, along the _bajadas_ in western Texas and Southern
California, over the mesas of southern Arizona and far down into old
Mexico. Never in abundance, this rare flower grows in twos and threes
under a creosote, cat’s-claw, or other desert shrub, which affords the
flower goddess protection from the hot desert winds that at times sweep
over the mesas and down the cañons, and from the blazing heat of the
noonday sun. She prefers a deep sandy loam along the swales or draws of
the desert, at altitudes of twenty-five hundred feet and more, though
sometimes she appears on the mountains as far up as forty-five hundred
feet; and related varieties, _Cereus pentagonus_ and _Deeringii_, even
grace the plains at sea level in the swampy lands of Lake Okechobee down
in the south of Florida. Another cousin, the _Cereus undatus_, grows wild
all over the tropics, and is a great favorite among natives and whites in
Honolulu; around Punahou College there, in Punahou Valley, the hedge of
this Night Blooming Cereus is a half-mile long, and on a single night
five thousand blossoms have unfolded! This bloom, often twelve inches
long, is the best known of all the Night Blooming Cereus flowers.
Two to eight feet in height, the blackish green angular grotesque stems
bearing the lovely flower queen, almost like a crooked stick or dead
snake in their fantastic appearance, form a strange contrast to the
ethereal beauty and fragrance of her blossoms. Often mistaken for a dead
stick, these loosely branched and densely fine hairy stems of the _Cereus
Greggii_ are rarely noticed on the desert; but we who are fortunate
enough to have a guide can perceive that the thin half-inch base of the
trunk is narrower here than a few inches higher up, almost like the slim
neck of a snake. Each slender trunk consists of a central woody core
one-fourth inch in diameter, covered by a series of furrows to draw up
the moisture which is stored in the fleshy beetlike root, weighing fifty
to a hundred pounds and buried deep in the ground where it forms a
reservoir of water and food lasting for more than two years. Thus, rain
or shine, the delicate flower goddess may bring forth her lovely blossoms
at their appointed time. Then too, Nature has provided her favorite with
finely barbed, stout stiff hairy spines, about one-eighth inch long,
growing on the areola so as to resemble a small insect of the desert.
The flowers are from seven to ten inches long and about six inches
across, with a delightfully spicy fragrance, which at times is quite
strong. The colorings of the _Greggii_ are a wondrous harmony of tint and
hue. The background of color forms a corona of waxy white and rich creamy
yellow that looks as if it had been chiseled out of a rare old marble,
with no duplicate in all the world; shading beautifully into the white of
the petals, with their hint of pale lavender diffused throughout with
touches of tan and pink; sepals and petals recurving into a graceful
cornucopia.
It is no wonder that Indians and Mexicans revere their lovely “Queen of
Night,” _Reina de Noche_, or that, across the sea in Honolulu, a grand
celebration marks the opening of the blossoms of the Hawaiian variety,
which occurs but once a year! During Queen Liliuokalani’s reign many were
the ceremonies to Pau on occasions of the flowering of the Night Blooming
Cereus.
You must come to the desert in the soft shadows of the moonlit night to
see the ethereal beauty of this rare and exquisite flower. For only one
night in each year does the _Cereus Greggii_ come forth into bloom,
scenting the warm sweet air of the desert land for miles and miles with
poignant fragrance. When the shadows begin to lengthen and the deepening
glow of sunset approaches, the satiny blossoms begin to open (having
already loosened and expanded); in an hour or so they are fully opened,
and as one stands watching them curiously one can actually see them
moving and lifting from minute to minute, the petals seeming to tremble,
so forcibly is Nature causing them to expand. One can detect the lovely
fragrance as soon as the blooms start to unfold. During the night
thousands of people, Indian and white, gather for the brilliant spectacle
of hundreds of thousands of waxy white blossoms; others celebrate in the
popular fiestas of the Southwest in old Mexico, or the luaus of far-away
Hawaii. At sunrise of the day following, or shortly thereafter, the
goddess flowers begin to fold, and by nine or ten o’clock on a cloudless
morning they are entirely closed. No more may the eye of man behold the
lovely colorings, nor sense the exquisite perfume of the Goddess of the
Night, until her appointed time comes yet again in the Desert Land of
Plants and Flowers.
And now the parade of the Desert’s Fashion Show is over and night is
closing in. But if you wish to see the real show and to appreciate the
real beauties of the desert land in flower-time, you must go into the
silent sandy wastes when the sun is gone and the moon is coming over the
mountains, spreading its gossamer silvery sheen over the floor of the
desert in crazy shadow-patch, and watch the blossoms come slowly open,
one by one, to receive the kiss of the night dew and the gentle caress of
the newborn breeze. For you have not looked upon matchless beauty nor
sensed the sweetest perfume, till you have been out there in the great
alone, where Beauty comes and fades and dies, and is born again in the
ceaseless tide of God’s evolution of men and things, in the great
Eternity of Being.
HOW TO GROW CACTI
In general cacti like warm or hot sunny southern exposures; they grow
best in sandy, gravelly, or rocky loam or clay soils, according to the
habits of the species; they succeed best with good drainage, a moderate
or limited rainfall or a limited amount of moisture in the soil. They
should have occasional dry periods to harmonize growth with their
original desert habitats, and also all the summer heat possible. This
produces the contracted growth characteristic of cacti with all their
desert beauty and symmetry of colors and arrangement of spines, and their
fine large showy flowers. Cacti do best in regions of limited rainfall
and maximum sunshine, blazing-hot summers, and mild winters where the
temperatures keep well above zero.
The bad effects of heavy rainfall can be overcome largely by including in
the soil a large proportion of sand or gravel or cobblestones and by
growing the plants on ridges or raised borders. The effects of fog and
extreme humidity can be corrected somewhat by growing them in dry
conservatories. Where the temperatures fall below the lowest temperatures
given in the section on “How to Grow” for each species, cacti must be
grown in warm greenhouses in winter and preferably throughout the
year—with the exception of the hedgehog cacti, which rarely grow
successfully in greenhouses. With the specific information given under
the heading “How to Grow” for each species, it is possible to grow cacti
successfully in the tropics and over a large part of the temperate zone.
The important things are: warm sunshine, protection from too low
temperatures, the right kind of soil, and limited watering or irrigation.
LOCATIONS FOR CULTIVATION
Cacti may be grown out of doors in the entire southwestern section of the
United States, in Mexico, Central America, and South America (except the
southern part), where the temperatures are never colder than fifteen to
twenty-five degrees below freezing. Also, they can be grown successfully
out of doors in parts of Spain and Portugal, and in the region
immediately bordering the Mediterranean Sea, over much of Africa lying at
the lower altitudes, in Arabia, Persia, India, southern China, extreme
southern Japan, and the northern half of Australia, in addition to the
islands of the Pacific, nearly all of which lie between the 33°
parallels, north and south (except where the temperatures are modified by
mountains or other natural features).
They can be grown indoors generally in the north and south temperate
zones between the 34° and 54° parallels, north and south, where the
temperatures reach as low as twenty to thirty degrees below zero. This
includes the northern two-thirds of the United States, the lower half of
the Dominion of Canada, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria,
the northern half of the Chinese Republic, Japan, and the southern part
of South America.
The Cereus Group or Torch Flower Cacti (_Cereus_)
How to identify and how they grow
Many species of this group can be identified by the beautiful
candelabralike branching of the plants. They are trees, shrubs, or
climbers, and grow erect or spread out, the tallest and largest trees or
plants of the cactus family. They are the “torch flower” cacti, are
tropical or subtropical, the stems growing single or clustered, with
prominent ridges or flutes which in many instances expand or contract as
the plant fills with water or loses its moisture. The tubercles are not
conspicuous and grow in rows on the ridges. There are no leaves nor
spicules. The spines are of one or two kinds, sharp and dangerous in some
species, inconspicuous in others, growing from one-fourth inch to
_twelve_ inches in length. The flowers are funnel-form, of brilliant or
delicate colorings, large and showy, and unlike many cactus blossoms are
fragrant, often with a pronounced spicy odor. In some instances they
crown the candelabralike branches in a becoming aureola of light, giving
the effect of a lighted candelabrum; hence the designation “torch flower”
cacti. Most species bloom only at night. As a rule the calyx tube is
found to be very long. The fruit is usually quite large, has shallow
tubercles, and is covered with many scales, but is rarely spiny.
How to grow
Only a few of the different kinds of the Cereus Group grow well from
cuttings, including _Cereus serpentinus_. Set the cuttings of such plants
as this Serpent Cactus a few inches deep in moist sandy soil and irrigate
sufficiently to keep the soil moist. The cuttings grow best in part
shade. Cereus plants grow readily from seeds sown in sandy loam mixed
with a small amount of pulverized charcoal and some leaf mold; plant in
pots or flats one-fourth inch to one inch deep in the soil in partial
shade, and keep the soil moist. The young plants can be transplanted to
pots when one-half inch to one inch tall. They grow indoors or out; a
southern exposure is preferable, being warmer and more sunny.
Caterpillar Cactus; Creeping Devil Cactus; Chirinola (_Cereus eruca_)
(Named “eruca,” or “caterpillar cactus,” because the stems turn upward
at their tips, resembling a caterpillar, head and body)
How to identify and how it grows
The prostrate stems, three to nine feet long, lie flat on the ground with
their tips upturned, resembling huge caterpillars. They grow in light
sandy soils or sand, and root from below, the tips of the stems
elongating and growing forward, the bases of the stems dying; thus the
plant slowly moves forward over the sand. These prostrate stems, two or
three inches in diameter, are very spiny, with fifteen radial and four
central spines clustering an inch or so apart on the twelve to seventeen
ridges which run lengthwise on the stems. These fierce, sharp thorns are
dark brown and dull tan and turn white with age; the tips are translucent
yellow. The radials are less than an inch long and flattened, the
centrals grow to two inches in length, one very stout and strongly
flattened, resembling a dagger and with a white body. The large flowers
are bright yellow and grow four or five inches in length, narrow and
funnel-shaped, about two inches across. The fruit is very spiny; but the
thorns fall away at maturity, and it becomes quite edible and is relished
by Indians and Mexicans.
How to grow
Plant in sand or sandy soil, preferably fine sand, with the tips slightly
upward, and keep the sand lightly moist. The plant requires a hot, sunny
location and will grow out of doors in the Southwest where the
temperatures do not drop more than a few degrees below freezing, and in
hot dry conservatories and greenhouses where the temperatures drop lower.
Senita, Zina, or Sina (_Cereus Schottii_)
(Named from its appearance of old age, and for F. A. Schott, a botanical
explorer of western United States)
How to identify and how it grows
These plants grow in colonies or patches in the mountain cañons, twenty
to fifty stems in a clump, the dense branches interlocking in huge
clusters twenty-five feet high and twenty feet or more across. The
yellow-green stems are scalloped and cylindric, five or six inches in
diameter, growing four to twenty feet or more in height, with five to
nine ridges running lengthwise from top to bottom. On these ridges
cluster the spines, silvery stout thorns about one-fourth inch long on
the young plants; the older spines are really dense bristles, slender,
flexible, symmetrically twisted, appearing like fine purplish gray bands,
one and one-half to three inches long, and giving the appearance of old
age. The flowers are shaped like a bell an inch and a half long and about
as broad, pale pink and cream-white petals shading into deep pink at
their tips, opening only at night. The fruit is globose, an inch or more
in diameter, of a deep reddish tinge, and fleshy.
How to grow
Plants may be grown from seed in sandy soil in flats or pots; young
plants may be transplanted in spring in sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil.
Water during dry weather enough to moisten the soil well. The plants can
be grown out of doors only where the coldest winter temperatures are but
a few degrees below freezing. In other parts of the country, grow in hot,
dry conservatories or greenhouses.
Prohibition Cactus (_Cereus Emoryi_)
(Named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Emory, who was in charge of the
Mexican Boundary Survey)
How to identify and how it grows
This is a low-branched plant a foot or two high, growing prostrate with
erect branches in thick impenetrable masses ten to twenty feet across.
Numerous stiff, needlelike thorns form a dense spiny yellowish coating
over the entire mass. There are many pale yellow to yellow-brown flowers
an inch and a half long which cluster near the tips of the stems. The
fruit is globose and densely spiny, an inch or so in diameter. The plant
is not attractive nor very cereus-like.
How to grow
This species can be transplanted in the spring by digging rooted stems,
planting in gravelly clay soil, and irrigating sufficiently to moisten
the soil in dry periods; or by digging a shallow hole and partly covering
the stems with soil kept moist but not wet. The plants will grow out of
doors and endure only a few degrees of frost; where the temperature drops
more than fifteen degrees below freezing they must be protected outside,
or grown indoors or in a warm, sunny greenhouse.
Old Man Cactus; White Persian Cat Cactus; Bunny Cactus (_Cereus senilis_)
(Named from the long white hairs or beards found on young plants)
How to identify and how it grows
This cactus is columnar, and some mature plants reach a height of
forty-five feet. It is native to Mexico and not easily accessible. The
trunk is usually unbranched, cylindrical in young plants, two or three
inches in diameter, yellow-green with a scurfy waxy coating; and it is
not tough. A large tree can be cut down with a small pocketknife in some
instances. The twenty or twenty-five radial spines are changed over into
long coarse white hairs, four to twelve inches long or even longer, and
form a dense covering; hence the common and specific names, Old Man
Cactus and _senilis_. These radials are crooked, flattened, and twisted,
while the one to four central thorns are easily pulled out, all spines
very fragile. In maturity a dense mass of tawny wool appears around the
head of the plant. The rose-colored blossoms are two inches long, shaped
like a bell or funnel, and appear only on the older cacti. They open at
night and close in the early morning. The fruit is about the size of a
large strawberry; it, too, is rose-colored and covered with scales and
tufts of wool.
How to grow
Plants may be grown from seed in flats or pots, but the seed is rare and
difficult to get. Commonly young plants are purchased and grown in pots
in gravelly, sandy limestone soil. Water sufficiently to keep the soil
slightly moist. A bright sunny location is best. The plants are tender to
frost and thrive best in warm conservatories or greenhouses. The Old Man
Cactus is a popular plant for rock gardens and is found in many homes
both in this country and abroad.
Pipe Organ Cactus; Pitahaya (_Cereus Thurberi_)
(Named in honor of George Thurber, botanist of the Mexican Boundary
Commission)
How to identify and how it grows
These are large, columnar, symmetrical plants ten to twenty feet tall;
the large columns of yellow-green stems, in six to thirty branches
ascending from near the base, look much like the pipes of a great organ
at a distance. The stems are from six inches to nearly two feet in
diameter and are cylindrical, with fifteen to nineteen ridges lined with
clusters of slender, spreading, grayish spines. The flowers, which appear
only at the tips of the stems, are three inches long and half as wide,
and open always at night; their delicate pink petals are suffused with
green and banded in white or green, and their purple sepals are tinged
with red. The fruit is very delicious, sweet and juicy, olive-green,
globular, with scarlet fleshy pulp. The Pipe Organ Cactus is shown on the
cover of this book. It is one of the finest of the Cactus Clan.
How to grow
Sow seed in sandy soil in pots or flats with partial shade; young plants
may be transplanted in spring or early summer in rocky or gravelly soil
and watered during dry spells once a month to moisten the soil well. The
plants can be grown out of doors in the Southwest where the lowest winter
temperatures are only a few degrees below freezing. In other parts of the
country they may be grown indoors in rock gardens or in warm sunny
conservatories.
Serpent Cactus; Mexican Night Blooming Cereus; Reina de Noche (_Cereus
serpentinus_)
(Named specifically from the snakelike stems)
How to identify and how it grows
The six to fifteen entangled stems of this weird cactus resemble a
serpent. They are eight to fifteen feet tall, about an inch in diameter,
generally growing erect for about ten feet, then bending over and
climbing for several feet. Each bears a dozen or so low ridges lined with
clusters of slender spines a half-inch or so long, translucent white or
dull cream color. The large brilliant blooms are eight to nine inches
long and when fully open five to seven inches across, with soft
cream-white petals and pink and tan sepals touched with green, both
strongly reflexed. The strong spicy fragrance is much like that of a
tuberose. Each plant blooms at night and only one night in the year. The
different plants blossom from April into June. The plants run wild in
Mexico and form a luxuriant growth; they are prized as rare beauties by
the Mexicans and Indians.
How to grow
Set cuttings about a foot long in moist soil, and water weekly; or lay
the stems down and cover with moist sand or soil. When grown outside in
sunny exposures but in the protection of dwellings the plants are not
injured by twenty degrees of frost. In colder weather than this they may
be grown in warm, sunny conservatories.
Giant Cactus or Sahuaro; Sage of the Desert (_Cereus giganteus_)
How to identify and how it grows
These are majestic trees thirty to fifty feet tall, with columnar massive
trunks which grow singly ten to fifteen feet, then curve sharply erect in
branches like a giant candelabrum. Twenty to twenty-five ridges run the
entire length of the trunk, and these flutings expand as the plant fills
with water and contract as it loses its moisture. They are covered with
long sharp spikes which stick out like diminutive swords closely packed
along the tops of the ridges. The flowers are night blooming, four or
five inches long and half as wide, growing solitary but in such masses as
to appear clustered, with large satiny, waxy white petals strongly
reflexed. The fruit is about the shape and size of an egg, with crimson
pulp, palatable and prized highly by the Indians. The Giant Cactus is one
of the largest cacti in the world and can blossom and bear fruit for
three years without rain, using the reservoir of water that Nature
provides.
How to grow
The plants grow readily from seed sown in sandy soil in pots or flats and
may be transplanted when a half-inch tall. The soil should be kept moist
but never wet. Transplant young plants one to six feet high in spring,
taking two feet of the roots with care not to injure them, and set in
gravelly clay soil, irrigating once a month during dry seasons. Giant
cactus plants one foot tall or taller thrive out of doors and will endure
a temperature twenty degrees below freezing without injury. Where the
weather is colder than this they must be protected in winter, or grown in
dry sunny conservatories or indoor rock gardens.
Night Blooming Cereus; Reina de Noche; Queen of Night (_Cereus Greggii_)
(Named in honor of Dr. J. Gregg, student of cacti and plant explorer of
Northern Mexico)
How to identify and how it grows
One of the most beautiful of all cactus flowers. The plants grow two to
three feet tall, rarely eight feet, the blackish grotesque stems densely
fine hairy and loosely branched, resembling a crooked stick or a snake.
They are very slender, a half-inch or so in diameter, and are fluted with
four to six blackish gray-green ridges, lined with spines less than a
fourth-inch long. The latter are arranged in such manner as to resemble a
small insect, and have thick bulbous bases. Each slender trunk is
supported by a central woody core. There is a fleshy root a foot or so
below the ground, weighing fifty to a hundred pounds, which acts as a
reservoir for water and food, so that the _Greggii_ blossoms every year,
rain or no rain. The flowers are from seven to ten inches long and about
six inches across, showing a beautiful combination of coloring, a
background of soft waxy white shading into pale lavender in the forty or
more petals, with touches of pink and tan in the sepals, forming into a
cornucopia. The stamens form a corona extending beyond the petals. The
fragrance is delightfully spicy, strong, and persistent; the plants
blossom only one night each year, generally in the latter part of June.
This most beautiful of all the cacti in our Southwest usually grows in
the lee of a creosote or other desert shrub in sandy loam.
How to grow
Grow plants from seed in pots or flats, in sandy loam with partial shade,
or transplant without injuring the large fleshy root, setting the top of
the root about a foot below the surface in loamy soil in the protection
of shrubs; mature plants will blossom within two years of transplanting.
Water well during the growing season, in dry weather about once a month.
Do not cultivate. Plants grow out of doors or indoors and will endure a
temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing without injury. In
localities where the winter weather is colder than this the plants must
be protected or grown under glass.
CHAPTER II
CACTUS SPINES AND PECULIARITIES
And now we will pause in our trip across Cactus Land to take up the many
peculiar features which characterize and differentiate these odd desert
plants, and to tell of those individual and unique growths, the terrible
swordlike thorns of the strange Fantastic Clan.
PECULIARITIES
Cacti are not closely related to any other family of plants, and there is
no certainty as to which group of plants they developed from. Their
immediate ancestors perhaps have disappeared in the hazy past. They
stand, therefore, alone. In this respect few other plants resemble them;
only one or two other families, for instance the Ocotillos or
Fouquieriaceæ, are in a like position.
Cacti are generally thought of as limited to North and South America and
the outlying islands. However, about eleven species of one genus,
Rhipsalis, grow, apparently native, in South Africa, Madagascar, and
Ceylon, though these are identical with the same species growing in South
America. There is a strong belief that these species were distributed in
Africa by birds eating their ripe fruit in South America and then flying
across the ocean to Africa, and there dropping the seeds, which
germinated and grew into plants on another continent. The most widely
distributed of the various groups of cacti is the prickly pear group of
the genus Opuntia. The prickly pears grow wild from Argentina through
Central America, Mexico, and the United States to British Columbia,
within four or five hundred miles of the Arctic Circle. Prickly pears may
be regarded as the advance guard of the cactus invasion of the United
States from Mexico, and there are nearly as many kinds in our country as
in Mexico. Prickly pears are most abundant in the temperate zones; the
species grow larger in tropical parts than in cooler temperate regions.
All told, there are more than twelve hundred species or kinds of cacti,
of which about two hundred twenty-five occur in the United States and the
rest in Mexico, Central America, South America and outlying islands. Of
the two hundred twenty-five species occurring in the United States, about
one hundred are native of Arizona, the premier cactus state, and nearly
two hundred grow in the four southwestern states, California, Arizona,
New Mexico, and Texas, with a few in Nevada and Utah. Arizona contains
almost one-tenth of the cacti of the entire earth. Our four southwestern
states together with Mexico constitute the great cactus area of the
world, not alone in numbers but in variety and weirdness of types,
containing many of the most peculiar and fantastic forms of these
grotesque plants.
Doubtless because the cacti are such odd, weird, fantastic growths, they
have been popular with mankind since the earliest times. To-day forty or
fifty species are known only in cultivation; and they have been under
culture so long that their native habitats and original distribution have
been forgotten, and are no longer known. This is due largely to the fact
that several very popular species have been dug up and removed from their
own haunts to cultivated lands, or planted in gardens to such an extent
that the last specimens have been taken and they no longer grow wild or
under natural conditions. This uprooting is taking place continuously,
doubtless much faster now than formerly, and in future we shall have many
additional instances to record, as it is quite likely that new species
are originating under experimentation through careful selection and
ingenious plant breeding.
[Illustration: SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)]
A new and handsome little strawberry cactus, named in honor of Frances
Bonker for her writings depicting the beauty and charm of the desert
land.
SPINES AND FLOWERS
The spines of cacti are ever an interesting subject for study, and the
very name “cactus” is suggestive of thorns. It is generally known that
cactus spines develop from their bases and that they are impregnated with
resin or a resinlike substance, while the spines of nearly all other
plants (as for instance the plum) grow from their tips and are not
resinous in character. A young growing cactus spine has a very soft
yielding base while the tip is hard and sharp, and the sides retrorsely
barbed. Because of their resinous nature the thorns persist on the desert
long after the cactus body has disappeared, and often fragments of the
thick cuticle remain with them, still firm, sharp and translucent. Such
spines about a spot where a noble Sahuaro or Giant Cactus has fallen and
gone back to Nature as dust may persist for a long period unchanged,
without crumbling or otherwise disintegrating; this is true also of those
of the bisnaga or barrel cactus. Thorns grow on the Giant Cacti for a
hundred, even two hundred years, unalterable, sharp and hard and
dangerous. Some species of cactus have as many as three kinds of spines:
centrals, the inner thorns, usually the largest and stoutest; radials,
the outer spines; and what are termed “bristles” but are more accurately
described as “antennalike” spines. In some groups, as the bisnaga, the
spines are cross-ridged or marked transversely, with the tips smooth,
straight, or hooked. Many cactus spines are marked with brilliant
colorings, and some are transversely banded with bright variegated
“zones” of color. When held to the light they are translucent and show
beautiful colorings: red, orange, yellow, brown, and purple. Generally
cactus spines are glabrous, that is, smooth and without hairs, but the
spines of some cacti are densely fine-hairy or distinctly hairy; and this
can be seen easily with a pocket lens or the unaided eye: their
pubescence commonly produces a grayish layer overlying the true color of
the spines beneath. The thorns of Cholla differ from those of other cacti
in that they are covered with sheaths which can be removed very easily,
and then are not replaced. The significance of these sheaths is not
clear, except that they help form a barrier against the intense heat of
the sun and the burning desert sands.
We find, too, that the cacti with most pronounced thorny growth live in
the hottest parts of the desert, where the thermometer often registers
130° Fahrenheit during the long summer days and sometimes up to 150°!
Their dense layer of spines becomes a shield of lacework, protecting the
plants by cutting off over twenty per cent of the light, and reducing the
terrible heat by raising the humidity within the network of spines, which
in turn reduces evaporation from the plant. If it were not for their
thorns and sheaths cacti would be scalded by the burning temperatures of
even one summer day in the great desert amphitheater of the sun. Being
resinous, cactus thorns are very inflammable, and if ignited they all
burn to a cinder before the fire ceases, for one cluster of spines will
set others aflame and so the fire sweeps over the entire plant, rapidly
changing the beautifully colored, symmetrical and translucent spines into
ugly charred masses.
The cactus is encased in a thick cuticle which is continuous over the
whole surface of the plant, except at the numerous, small, rounded or
oval areas of growth called areolas. In the cactus all growth, of leaves,
spines, spicules, flowers, and even roots (in the case of cuttings) and
branches, takes place from these areolas, which are truly areas or
centers of growth; and if all these areolas are cut away on the stem and
its tip cut off, the plant ceases to grow and dies. Spines are generally
understood to represent branches, since they grow from the tissues of the
plant under the epidermis and not from the epidermis. The inordinate
multiplication of spines in cacti is not well understood by botanists.
Some cacti add thorns to their spine clusters in the areolas each year,
and thus in time the cluster may come to have as many as fifty or even a
hundred spines on old stems and large branches. Occasionally cactus
spines replace themselves in areolas after the former thorns have been
destroyed or burned off. The thorns of some cacti may grow as long as six
inches and even longer, and as broad as one-fourth inch at their bases.
After they complete their growth toward the close of the season and the
bases become hard and firm, they do not elongate farther nor make further
growth.
The flowers of cacti are generally large and showy and are quite
responsive to light in their opening and closing. They have many stamens,
from thirty or fifty to as many as three thousand in the Giant Cactus.
This development of stamens is rare among flowering plants, and is due to
a splitting process that takes place early in the development of the
stamens of the embryo flower. The stamens of many cacti are sensitive to
touch and when being worked by insects for pollen are constantly moving
backward and forward. Cactus flowers differ also from nearly all other
flowers in the number of sepals and petals, which is variable and
relatively large, and in the fact that their sepals and petals are not
distinct in character. Rather there is a gradual transition between the
bracts of the ovary, if such are present, and the sepals; and likewise a
gradual gradation in form, color, and size between the sepals and petals.
There are usually several whorls or circles of petals in the flower;
commonly such flowers are spoken of as being double.
CHAPTER III
THE BABY CACTUS
Out in the vast desert land in ages long gone by, the stifling sun had
burned everything to a cinder. This seeming annihilation was but part of
that great plan wherein the desert regions of the earth have been
transformed into the greatest flower garden of all creation; where Time
has chiseled out the filigree of lacework and pattern for the hills and
valleys; where erosion has painted the beautiful pictures on the faces of
mountains and hills; where volcanic action has juggled the rocks and
mountain sides into fantastic shapes and designs, piling them up and
leveling them out again for ages untold, until the Divine decree was
accomplished. For God has walked amidst all this seeming turbulence, and
with infinite patience has brought forth verdure and flowers the like of
which do not exist anywhere else on earth; and to-day when Man ventures
into the great arid wastes it would seem that he little anticipates the
hidden loveliness to be found there—the wonder of desert creations,
flowers and then more flowers, blossoms of rare and seductive beauty, of
exotic and sensuous fragrance. Flowers that cannot be painted by brush or
in coloring to do justice to the delicate waxlike originals. Flowers that
seem like delicate souls wrapped in somber lifeless bodies, trying to
gain expression through their beautiful colorings and evanescent perfume
in the dry atmosphere of their monotonous existence, out in the great
stillness of the arid spaces with only the midnight blue of the heavens
to caress them, and the dew of the night zephyrs to kiss them when the
torrid sun has gone.
Early in the morning of a fine April day near Needles, California, on the
Arizona border, we continue our journey into the desert. Before us
stretches a panorama the like of which few among us have ever beheld; a
picture majestic, tremendous, suggestive of the grandeur of Nature’s
workshop, the vastness of those great sweeps of arid lands, covered with
symmetrical, cross-patch, lacework, fantastic growths, of every size and
shape and color imaginable. The Cholla are there, Giant Sahuaro rear
their great trunks high into the air, and fantastic Joshua Trees lean
toward us, their weird grotesque arms with long grasping fingers all
pointing in one direction as if to guide the weary traveler on his way.
And peering forth from among rocks, in the lee of a Giant Sahuaro or
growing in a forest of the grotesque Joshua whose fantastic arms seem to
engulf these tiny cacti, we find the Baby Pincushion, our Mammillaria
(Coryphantha) or _Cactus Mammillaria_. He is a funny little ball-like
plant, two or three inches in diameter, full of star-shaped spines, with
an extra-long one in each star cluster and rather hooked over on the
ends. These little aristocrats of the desert often cling together in
groups, like a colony of sea urchins, and are very dainty when in bloom
in the balmy month of April, when all the desert life is arraying itself
in gay spring color and blossom.
Out on the desert mesas and along the _bajadas_, or mountain slopes, we
find so many fantastic objects that it is hard to decide just where to
start. Nature has provided many wonderful mysterious growths for her
desert land of plants and flowers, and she has been careful to place them
where they will be able to thrive and to evolve. Many will be found
hidden away under rocks and in deep cañon recesses; others out on the
foothills, where it would seem that the sun would burn them up; still
others are placed boldly on the mesas where wind and rain and sandstorms
play hide and seek around them. Naturally the question of growth, which
is next to the most vital problem of all “Where do they get their
moisture?” now presents itself. We will begin at the bottom of the
ladder, to-day, and will select the Baby Pincushion, the smallest of the
cactus family.
GROWTH
Several natural groups or genera go to make up the Pincushion Cacti, and
of these the two most important in the great desert of the Southwest are
the interesting plants of Coryphantha and Mammillaria. The name
“Coryphantha” alludes to the plant’s habit of bearing the flowers at its
top; Mammillaria is from _mammilla_, a nipple, referring to the tubercles
or knobs of the plant. They are the smallest of the large and important
cactus family (Cactaceæ), the Fantastic Clan, and their stems are single
or in clusters and from one to twelve inches in height and diameter,
often as broad as long, or broader. Often, too, the upper surface is
almost flattened, while the main part of the plant is a carrot-shaped
fleshy root, which Nature, the great Builder, has made a reservoir of
food and water for this, her baby of the Fantastic Clan, to withstand the
drying desert winds that sweep across the mesas and up the cañons, and
the months of drought and fiery heat in the desert sun, when no rains
come to freshen and beautify the earth and to gladden the hearts of
native dwellers on the desert. The stem is studded with tubercles
spirally arranged, and each crowned with an areola bearing a cluster of
slender but stout spines, often hooked like the tines on a spear; and
usually with hairs. This spiral arrangement gives the plant a very
attractive appearance. Some species have a thick milky juice in their
stems, others a colorless watery sap.
The flowers are day-blooming, both opening and closing with surprising
rapidity. Mammillaria blossoms are relatively small, while those of
Coryphantha are much larger, often two or three inches across; yellowish,
white, pink, rose, red, or purple. There are usually many sepals, petals,
and stamens, all beautifully and symmetrically arranged, and the harmony
of color in the flowers is often commented upon with delight. While the
flowers last at most but a few days, many of the different plants are in
bloom for a considerable length of time, and some blossom two or three
times a year during the spring and summer. The fruit of Pincushion Cacti
are naked and smooth, rarely with a few scales in some species, and when
mature red, green, yellowish, or dull purplish, and club-shaped or nearly
globose. They are borne at the bases of the tubercles; in Coryphantha, at
the bases of young tubercles near the top of the plant, so that they
appear terminal; in Mammillaria, at the bases of old tubercles some
distance from the top of the plant.
Pincushion Cacti are very popular for window gardens and miniature cactus
gardens on account of their smallness, their symmetry and beauty, their
fantastic shapes and designs, and their bright-colored dainty flowers.
They are considered to be among the most highly developed of the cacti,
inasmuch as the greatest reduction of the plant body has taken place, the
plants having no leaves nor even trace of leaves. In the evolution of
cacti the tendency of the different groups and species is to become
leafless, and most cacti either are without leaves or have leaflets that
soon disappear.
Baby cacti grow readily from seed, preferably new seed, which is Nature’s
method for their reproduction. For this gallon tin cans or large flower
pots, with holes in the bottom for drainage, half or two-thirds filled
with gravel and sand and the remainder with light sandy soil, or wooden
flats twelve by twelve inches or larger and three inches deep, filled to
a depth of two and a half inches with fine light sandy soil, answer well.
The soil must be free from alkali, but may contain some finely divided
organic matter. Level the surface of the soil firmly to prevent water
from collecting, sow the seed an eighth of an inch deep, cover carefully,
set in a sunny location, and give just enough water to keep the surface
moist but not wet. (Out in the open, cover the frame with glass painted
white or with white cheesecloth, and raise the glass slightly to insure
ventilation.) The seeds should be sown in warm weather, and they should
begin growth within one to three or four weeks. After the plants have
grown a half-inch or more, transplant to two-inch pots, using paper pots
or the usual flower pot, and with the soil somewhat heavier but drainage
good. From this time their growth is more rapid and far more interesting,
and they should be kept in a sunny location and given frequent light
waterings, and, later, less frequent but heavier waterings. Do not
attempt to force growth by heavy watering or heavy fertilizing. Once
established and having grown to a considerable size, many of the
Pincushion Cacti propagate by means of offshoots from the axils of
tubercles below the surface of the ground, and thus form clumps of
several larger plants with numerous smaller ones about them.
Foxtail Cactus (_Coryphantha deserti_)
_Southern California, Northwestern Arizona, and Southern Nevada_
The desert is noted for its many forms of mirage, and because of the
rarefied or clear atmosphere due to lack of moisture, things are not
always what they seem there. In the distance ahead numberless baby foxes
appear to be moving slowly toward us, their heads and bodies hidden from
view, their white and reddish tails waving in the hot desert breezes. Now
our guide smiles, and as we drive closer and stop he points out several
clumps of short cylindric Foxtail Cacti, covered with dense masses of
stiff radiating spines, white or whitish with darker tips, and stout
central spines white at their bases, then black, shading into reddish
brown, the whole resembling a fox’s tail and creating a striking
appearance. Light pink are the dainty flowers, and when full open (only
in the brightest sunlight) nearly an inch and a half wide and long, the
sepals hairy and the beautiful petals narrowly lance-shaped. It is no
wonder that our baby cacti are so popular for winter rock gardens with
their almost perfect symmetry, and their wonderful uniformity of spines
so often beautifully mottled, with exquisite patterns of color and
design, brilliant, cross-patch, symmetrical, running through the
individual thorns. Care should be taken that such rock gardens are _arid_
gardens, and that the soil is not enriched, with just sufficient water to
encourage a natural, compact, symmetrical growth. A heavy flooding
occasionally is good. If over-watered, or fertilized too much, or if
shaded, these tiny cacti make a rapid artificial growth, usually
non-symmetrical in part, called “storied” or “zoned.”
Cream Cactus (_Mammillaria MacDougalii_)
_Western and Southern Arizona, and Northern Sonora_
Especially is this true of the Cream Cactus, a very odd and interesting
Pincushion, with a thick conical fleshy root which transplants easily and
grows with little care from the hand of man. This fellow is broader than
he is tall, four to ten inches in diameter, only two to six inches high,
having a flat head around which radiate his clusters of thirteen or so
cream-white short stout spines, and one or two pale red central thorns
with purplish brown curved tips and yellow bulbous bases; into this
harmony of color come the flowers in bloom, twenty-five or more
cream-colored or light yellow petals recurving into a lovely cornucopia
effect, very pretty in the dazzling sun of spring and summer on the
desert. When injured by small rodents or other enemies, _MacDougalii_
yields a thick creamy fluid which immediately heals the wounds, and is
pleasant to taste. Hence his name.
Recurved Spine Pincushion (_Coryphantha_ or _Mammillaria recurvata_)
_Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora_
Hidden under a crevice in the rocks along our dusty track, we spy that
little fellow, _Coryphantha recurvata_, with his dense coat of
interlocking thorns, stout but slender and often hooked on the ends,
recurving downward and inward toward the plant body with yellow and
orange-brown hooks, and almost hiding the plants from our view. Rightly
are the Pincushion Cacti named: with their tiny compactness and beautiful
symmetry, they resemble nothing so much as an old-fashioned pincushion,
with twenty or more sharp stout needles stuck into each brilliantly
colored, soft downy cushion. Although among the larger Pincushion Cacti,
this little fellow grows only six inches tall, more often four inches,
and is three to six inches wide, a broad and rounded dwarf, flattened and
depressed on top; often as many as fifty of his companions, their heads
occasionally peering over one another, grow in a clump two or three feet
across and half a foot high. The blossoms with their tan and brownish
sepals and the inner petals lemon-yellow, tone into the brown and
orange-brown spines, the sharp needles of our pretty pincushion; the
whole producing a happy symphony in brown and orange, so that many feel
tempted to purloin this prize and take it back to adorn conservatories at
home. And how many are transported and grown in our homes in lovely rock
gardens! For _recurvata_ is much in demand for cactus collections and is
very easy to transplant. Plant him in sand or among rocks, and let him
have plenty of bright sunshine and occasionally a little water, and he
will thrive with neither care nor trouble to any one.
Devil’s Pincushion (_Coryphantha_ or _Mammillaria robustispina_)
_Southern Arizona, Southwestern New Mexico, and Northern Sonora_
The Devil’s Pincushion is our largest and finest, resembling a pineapple
in color and appearance, with his cone-shaped stems three to nine inches
tall and three to six inches across, his big tubercles in spirals of
thirteen or more rows, coarse yellowish thorns, and large fruit and
seeds. The dozen or so spines in a comb-like radial arrangement from a
common center, the areola, and graduated, are not alone beautiful and
symmetrical, but provide a coat of mail for _robustispina_ protecting him
against excessive light or heat and cold. It is from this armament of
stout wide-spreading thorns that he is so aptly named “The Devil’s
Pincushion.” However, this cactus is endowed not only with a strong set
of needles, but with lovely patterns in flower array as well: beautiful,
showy blossoms, two or three inches long and wide, of a brilliant yellow
against their reddish brown background of thorns, coming forth in one
glorious splash of color for but a day, then fading away from eye of man,
and no more to be seen until another year has passed.
Slender Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria fasciculata_ [_Mammillaria
Thornberi_])
_Southern Arizona_
The Slender Pincushion Cactus, typical native of the desert, is commonly
so called because of the tiny slender stems an inch or less in diameter
and seven or eight inches tall, growing in dense clumps of fifty to two
hundred or more plants of all sizes; some growing from seed, some from
offshoots of the axils near their bases. Out from the dozen or so rows of
tubercles spring the white thorns with their black tips, and the central
hooked spine twisted from its bulbous base; then the funnel-shaped pale
purple and pink blossoms, giving a decidedly pinkish cast to this whole
lovely pincushion. The bright scarlet berries, while they are odd, are
pretty and also are edible. This plant was first discovered by Lieutenant
Colonel Emory in 1846; it was never seen again until 1902, when it was
rediscovered by one of the writers and Mr. Orcutt, along the Gila River
in Arizona, from which the Gila monster is named.
Cream Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria Johnstonii_)
_Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora_
This gayly decorated Pincushion we see peering over solitary rocks and
gladdening the hearts of the tired travelers along the desert track, with
his pink and white daintiness of blossom and comb of brown and white
thorns is another “Cream Cactus”; for it is said many an Indian has owed
his life to the thick milk-white fluid which this unique growth yields to
those who know the secret. This fat fellow looks like a huge coconut,
with a green body, and stout thorns curved both upward and downward.
Little bells are the flowers peeping out in a circle at the bases of the
old tubercles and laughing up at us gayly as we motor slowly along the
hot dusty road.
[Illustration: HORNED TOAD CACTUS (Mammillaria Mainæ)]
[Illustration: SLENDER PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria fasciculata)]
[Illustration: SUNSET CACTUS (Mammillaria Grahamii)]
The bright pink and rose tints of the bell-like blossoms tone into the
pink glow of the desert sunset in a circle of full open, brilliant
flowers, their many brightly glowing segments spreading out like so many
iridescent rays of the setting sun.
[Illustration: BENT SPINE PINCUSHION (Coryphantha recurvata)]
SUNSET CACTUS (_Mammillaria Grahamii_)
_Southern Arizona, Western Texas, Southern California, Southern Utah,
and Mexico_
We have come more than two hundred miles on this second springtime trek
across the ocean of sand and sagebrush and mesquite, with its brilliant
flashes of color and fragrance, and still the clumps of dainty
pincushions attract us almost against our will. As the sun completes his
journey across the western skies, one of the most beautiful of all
Nature’s creations claims our attention; this pincushion has earned a
title appropriate to its lovely self, the bright pink and rose tints of
its bell-like blossoms toning into the pink glow of the desert sunset in
a circle of full open brilliant flowers, their many brightly glowing
segments spreading out like so many iridescent rays of the setting sun.
What name could be more apropos than “Sunset Cactus”? With her evanescent
beauty and delicate perfume she is one of the most popular as well as the
most abundant of the Mammillaria, ranging from Mexico through Southern
California and Arizona to southern Utah. From two to ten inches tall,
only a little more than two inches in breadth, she grows more slender
than her brothers; her twenty rows of compact tubercles are set in a
beautiful gray-green symmetrical spiral, and bear twenty or so slender
grayish white radiating spines with dark tips, a half-inch long or less,
and two central thorns sticking out stouter than the others, their bodies
pale pink and their sharp tips curving upward in a transparent golden
fringe of color.
Brown Pincushion (_Mammillaria Wilcoxii_)
_Southern and Southeastern Arizona_
The Brown Pincushion is one of the most attractive of the southwestern
cacti, and is a rare creation indeed. This tiny cactus is two or three
inches tall and about as broad, with a beautiful halo of red-brown thorns
covering the whole plant, the hooked central spines and whitish radials
slender, sharp, needlelike, with pointed tips. Through these the tiny
flowers peep in two rows of thirty-five or forty bright purple or pink
petals, recurved into the pretty cornucopia effect that we have seen so
often among the clumps of Pincushions on our way across the desert. But
beware of pressing the fingers against this dainty pincushion too hard,
for if the sharp points of the central spines get hooked into the hand it
is only with great difficulty and discomfort that one can get free. When
the first offenders are released other spines hook into the flesh, and
the plant seems to play with the victim for some time to see just how far
it can go in provoking one so lacking in desert knowledge.
Horned Toad Cactus (_Mammillaria Mainæ_)
_Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora_
This rare little cactus was found in Arizona for the first time in 1931.
Two or three inches high and nearly as broad, he seems to be sitting up
in front of us like a horned toad, looking us over, his head flattened
out in a slightly grotesque posture, pale green tubercles in thirteen or
more spiral rows covering his flabby body, from which spring the dozen or
so white and yellow radial thorns and the hooked central spines, also
forming into a regular spiral twist. The brown and red striped flowers,
an inch or so long, are not the lovely showy beauties of his brother baby
cacti. Perhaps his easy life in grassy lands away from hottest sun and
arid habitat needs not the compensation of the beauty afforded his less
fortunate brothers and sisters. Does Nature make up for the hot aridity
of the desert and the barren wastes of sand and more sand, by brilliance
of flower and wealth of fantastic design? It would seem so, for nowhere
else in the world are to be found the weird, grotesque shapes, the
flaming splendor and fragrance of blossom, the kaleidoscopic changes of
color and pattern which are created far out on the dry expanses, under
the burning sun and during seasons of inconceivable drought.
Snowball Cactus (_Mammillaria Oliviæ_)
_Southern Arizona_
Next we see _Oliviæ_, the rose-tinted Snowball Pincushion, clad in a
white coat of twenty-five or thirty radiating spines crowded together in
a comb-like arrangement pressed closely against her body and looking like
a snowball lying on the hot sand before us; the delicate rose-colored
blossoms edged with a narrow band of white form a beautifully designed
pincushion; even the stamens are deep rose, the styles light pink with
olive-green stigmas, the fruit bright scarlet, and the seeds black. Is it
any wonder that this riot of color, a rare desert form of the
_Mammillaria Grahamii_, is also called the Sunset Cactus?
Green Flowered Pincushion (_Mammillaria viridiflora_)
_Southeastern Arizona_ (_Globe_)
The Green Flowered Pincushion would make a lovely addition to my lady’s
bower in a window rock garden. Not a desert species, it inhabits the
higher mountain levels, often in oak woodlands; it is a rare beauty,
difficult to find. Two or three inches in length and diameter, its stem
and tiny bell-like flowers are both green, the radial spines loosely
interlocking over the body of the plant, slender flexible thorns, white
or reddish brown with sharp hooked tips. It is a near cousin to
_Mammillaria Wilcoxii_.
Showy Pincushion (_Coryphantha_ or _Mammillaria aggregata_)
_Southern Arizona, Western New Mexico, and Northern Sonora_
A handsome baby cactus, _aggregata_ occurs usually in clumps, is two to
five inches tall and almost as broad, with twenty or forty sharp
needlelike thorns a half-inch or so long, tan or light pink, their ends
forming twisted tips of white or reddish brown, and intermixed with
fifteen or more rows of angled tubercles which bear the spine clusters.
Beware of getting a “retrorsely barbed” thorn into the hand! Laceration
ensues and much difficulty in extraction, for Nature has given these, her
baby cacti, sharp and relentless protectors. A popular fellow for rock
gardens is _aggregata_ on account of his symmetrical and globose head,
forming a cushion of bright pink or rose-purple blossoms which come forth
to greet the world for but a day, then fold their dainty petals and are
no more.
Arizona Pincushion (_Coryphantha_ or _Mammillaria arizonica_)
_Northern Arizona_ (_Kingman_, _Phoenix_)
We have traveled over halfway across the premier cactus state, and are
approaching the mighty Grand Cañon of the Colorado, that great fissure in
the earth’s surface worn by water erosion throughout the ages. Hereabouts
several new colonies of cacti are to be seen. The Arizona Pincushion is a
conspicuous but not at all common fellow, easily recognized by his
abundant dark-colored spines, in fact almost hidden by this dense growth
of stout dangerous-looking reddish brown and black thorns, borne on the
tubercles and about half an inch long. _Arizonica_ is the tiniest of all
the baby cacti, scarcely more than an inch tall and just as broad;
occasionally reaching the height of two or three inches. The flowers,
clustering in groups of three and five blossoms, are like a dainty bell,
the petals and sepals narrow and lance-shaped, occurring in attractive
rose or rose-purple and tan shades.
California Pincushion (_Mammillaria tetrancistera_)
_Northern and Central Arizona, Southern California, Southern Utah, and
Southern Nevada_
Heading southward from the Grand Cañon we find in the area north of
Phoenix, Arizona, a most beautiful distinctive Pincushion which we
recognize as native to California. Indeed so abundant is it in the
foothills back from Los Angeles, on the road from Big Bear Lake and out
on the Mojave Desert, that this round cactus is known as California’s
Pincushion. Two to twelve inches tall, about two and one-half inches
broad, it has eight rows of tubercles set in a symmetrical spiral over
the pale green body, protected by forty to sixty delicate white radial
thorns, slender as a needle, covering the entire plant, and one to four
reddish brown hooked central spines, surrounded by a dark halo of deep
purple blossoms. Bright scarlet is the fruit, but not edible as are the
fruits of several related species.
Black Spined Pincushion (_Mammillaria Milleri_)
_Northern Arizona_ (_Phoenix_, _Kingman_)
Again the sun is fading over the western rim of the foothills, leaving a
flood of glory in his wake, and we are glad to sight the famous old
Superstition Mountains, which are not far from Phoenix, Arizona. We hope
to find one more baby cactus before the twilight passes into the
deepening shadows of night, for then the end of our long hot trek is at
hand. _Milleri_ is a handsome fellow of mesa and foothill, boasting
rose-purple or pink flowers, a showy Pincushion, reflecting the
brightness and beauty of Nature around him, especially the flaming rays
of a gorgeous desert sunset; indeed, he most clearly resembles our Sunset
Cactus. Seldom alone, he and his companions form in symmetrical clumps,
two to nine inches high and two or three inches across, encased in weak
slender white spines with swollen pink bases, often curved and bent on
their dozen or so spiral rows of interlocking tubercles, the firm hooked
central spines of a rich brownish red, appearing black at a distance.
HABITATS
Along the highway from Lake Arrowhead in Southern California toward
Victorville and Palm Springs, out on the Mojave Desert, southward to San
Diego and old Mexico, we may find these odd little baby cacti blossoming
forth in early spring into striking clumps of variegated bloom, dotting
the landscape far and wide—their only mission in life, to look beautiful.
For above the ordinary tourist trails as high as five thousand feet,
farther down in sandy and gravelly places on the foothills and _bajadas_
or mesa-like mountain slopes, and along the lower levels around Los
Angeles, California Pincushions make their homes. In sunny exposures
where Nature’s boon of rain is scarce, preferring common sand and rock,
these tiniest of the Fantastic Clan thrive best.
Out on the great Arizona desert the Pincushion Cacti appear in abundance;
the vast stretches contain a surprise for the tourist and the wearied
student in these bits of desert growth, peering from between rocks and
cobblestones or lying in clumps in crevices of the rocks among the
foothills. All colors of the rainbow, it would seem, are woven into
exquisite patterns by Nature in her baby cacti, their brilliantly painted
flowering segments spreading out in spring array like so many gilded rays
of the spectrum and creating the mirage of a gayly tinted rainbow,
dazzling the eyes of the traveler as he speeds along the highway across
the desert. Deep in the recesses of the Grand Cañon of the Colorado,
northward into southern Utah and Nevada, and southward again around the
Superstition Mountains in Arizona and the Santa Ritas (near Tucson),
these dainty cacti, when in bloom, color the landscape far and near, on
the mesas and along the bajadas into Southern California, and far south
into old Mexico, where they come forth in dozens of flowering varieties.
And here we must leave our tiny symbols of the Cactacea clan, for the
shadows are beginning to lengthen; the sun has finished his journey
across the western heavens and we bid farewell to our baby cacti,
beautiful rainbows of the desert, for to-morrow we continue our journey
over sandy arid lands, and travel a different way among the weird
Fantastic Clan.
The Pincushion Group; Baby Cacti (_Mammillaria_ and _Coryphantha_)
How to identify and how they grow
These are funny little ball-like plants, an inch to a foot in diameter
and height, often broader than they are tall, the upper surface almost
flattened, while the main part of the plant is a carrot-shaped fleshy
root. The stems are mostly simple, sometimes branched; they grow singly
or occasionally in clusters, and are not ribbed but studded with numerous
tubercles spirally arranged. These are the smallest of the Cactaceæ,
hence called the Baby Cacti, and are full of star-shaped spines with an
extra-long one in each cluster, all thorns hooked over on the ends. The
spines are slender but stout, mostly of two kinds and generally less than
a half-inch long, sharp and needlelike, and usually with hairs. There are
no spicules nor leaves. The flowers are small or medium-sized and open in
the forenoon, closing in the afternoon of the same day. The fruit is
rather small, is smooth and has no tubercles, scales, nor bracts. These
dainty cacti often cling together in groups, and the symmetrical
arrangement of the flowers and spines, the brilliant harmony of colorings
in both, and the spirally arranged tubercles give the plants a most
attractive appearance.
How to grow
Transplant at any season, preferably early in spring, to a southern
exposure if possible, in soil similar to that of the native habitat of
the plant, irrigate once in two or three weeks sufficiently to keep the
soil lightly moist but not wet. Provide some shade for species growing in
their native habitats at high altitudes or in partial shade. These plants
grow easily from seed sown a quarter- to a half-inch deep in sandy soil
mixed with a small amount of ground charcoal and leaf mold in flats or
pots, kept slightly moist in part shade. When a half-inch tall they may
be transplanted to small pots. They grow indoors and outside.
Foxtail Cactus; Desert Pincushion (_Coryphantha deserti_)
How to identify and how it grows
The Foxtail Cactus grows as a single stem or in clumps. The stems are
cylindrical and two or three inches in diameter, with tubercles nearly an
inch long and also cylindrical. The whole plant is covered with a dense
growth of white radial spines with dark tips, and a group of six to a
dozen central spines whitish below, and with the upper half black shading
off to a reddish brown. This gives the plant a striking appearance. All
of the spines are very stiff. The flowers are straw-colored, about an
inch and a half long, and have light pink tips. The petals are
lance-shaped and narrow.
How to grow
Plants may be grown out of doors where the temperatures in winter are not
lower than fifteen or twenty degrees below freezing, that is 12° to 17°
Fahrenheit. In colder climates than this the plants must be protected in
winter or grown in sunny, warm conservatories. They may be grown from
seed in pots in sandy soil with partial shade and with enough watering to
keep the soil moist but not wet. Transplant larger plants in sandy or
gravelly soil in bright sunny exposures and give only occasional
irrigation during dry periods.
Cream Cactus (_Mammillaria MacDougalii_)
(Named for Dr. D. T. MacDougal, collector of western plants and
Director of the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution)
How to identify and how it grows
The Cream Cactus grows from solitary stems or heads, and in many
instances in clusters four inches high and six inches in diameter. The
tops of the plants are flattened with the centers depressed, or often
growing level with the ground. The older plants are much taller and
broader. The tubercles are placed spirally and are a half-inch long. If
injured they yield a white creamy fluid. There are eleven to thirteen
radial spines with one to three centrals whose bases are yellow and
bulbous. The spine body is a pale red with brown or purple-brown tips.
The flowers are a little more than one inch long and one inch wide, and
of cream color to light yellow. The fruit is a deep rose-red and the
seeds are reddish purple. This plant likes the gravelly clay loam soils
best.
How to grow
These plants can be grown nearly anywhere with temperatures no lower than
twenty degrees of frost; but with zero temperatures protection should be
given, or the plants grown in rock gardens in sunny conservatories. They
grow easily from seed in sandy or gravelly clay loam soil with partial
shade and enough irrigation to keep the soil moist. Plants transplant
readily to rocky or gravelly clay soils at almost any season, if the
thick fleshy roots are not injured in digging. Water moderately once a
month, and where convenient set plants among rocks.
Recurved Spine Pincushion; Bent Spine Pincushion (_Coryphantha
recurvata_)
(Named _recurvata_ from the spines, which are bent down against the
plant)
How to identify and how it grows
The Recurved Spine Pincushion grows in clumps about three feet across,
sometimes less, and has several stems four to eight inches long, which
are globose, that is, longer than broad. These stems bear twenty-seven or
so spirally arranged rows on which appear the angled tubercles. These
rows or ridges also have the twenty-five radially grouped spines and one
light yellow or translucent grayish yellow central spine. This
arrangement of the spines forms a dense impenetrable mass or layer over
the surface of the plant. The flowers are about the length of a walnut
and have lemon-yellow petals and brown sepals. The fruit is quite small
and is light yellow-green. This species differs from the others of the
group in that the flowers are borne in a circle two or three inches in
diameter about the center of the plant.
How to grow
These plants will endure twenty degrees of frost without injury; where
the winters are colder than this the plants should be covered or grown
indoors, preferably under glass. They may be grown from seed in sandy
soil or sandy loam in pots with partial shade and with enough watering to
keep the soil moist. Field plants may be transplanted at almost any
season in gravelly or clay loam soils and given enough water to moisten
the soil during dry spells.
Devil’s Pincushion; Pineapple Cactus (_Coryphantha robustispina_)
How to identify and how it grows
The Pineapple Cactus is the largest of the Pincushion cacti, with its
large tubercles and coarse spines. It grows as high as nine inches, and
six inches in diameter, single or several stems in clumps. They form in
hemispherical mounds as wide as eighteen inches, with the larger stems
suggesting a pineapple. The spines are straight and stout and slightly
curved, and grow in groups of eleven to fifteen, one of which, a central,
is a little longer than the rest; erect, and of a dull straw color fading
to yellow-tan. The bases of the spines are bulbous. The flowers, about
two inches long, are yellow or straw-colored or yellow-brown and are very
showy, remaining open all day. The fruit is large, about two inches, and
narrow or oblong and of a yellow-green with large light brown seeds.
How to grow
Plants will endure twenty degrees of frost without injury; where the
winters are colder than this, protection must be given or the plants must
be grown under glass. They grow readily from seed in sandy or clay loam
in pots or flats, with just enough water to keep the soil moist, not wet.
Large plants transplant with difficulty; the roots should not be injured
in digging, and the plants should be set in gravelly clay and watered
occasionally during dry spells.
Slender Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria fasciculata_—_Mammillaria
Thornberi_)
(Named _fasciculata_ from its habit of growing in clumps; _Thornberi_ in
honor of one of the authors of this book, who rediscovered it)
How to identify and how it grows
The Slender Pincushion Cactus grows in the form of slender stems in dense
clusters of fifty to two hundred plants of many sizes, all crowded
closely together. The stems are four to seven inches tall, and an inch or
so in diameter. They seem to be thickened a bit in the middle and taper
off toward the bases and tips. The tubercles are arranged in eight to
twelve spiral rows, all less than a quarter of an inch long, and somewhat
four-angled in shape. The flowers are an inch or more wide and as long,
with the inner petals broad and acute and of a purplish pink color. The
fruit is club-shaped, a half-inch or so in length, and of a scarlet hue.
How to grow
This Pincushion is difficult to transplant. Plant in partial shade or in
the protection of shrubs in very sandy soil. Water frequently to keep the
soil barely moist. It is best set in clumps as it grew in the field. The
plants will endure twenty to twenty-five degrees of frost without injury;
with colder winters they must be protected or grown under glass or in
conservatories.
Cream Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria Johnstonii_)
(Named for Ivan M. Johnston who collected the plant in Sonora)
How to identify and how it grows
The Cream Pincushion Cactus grows from solitary stems having several
thick roots, which, however, are not deeply implanted. In outline the
stems are hemispherical or depressed globose and have a deep green color.
There are many angular tubercles, all spirally arranged, and as many as
thirteen white radial spines with brown tips. The central spines are
about a half-inch long and red-brown; one is directed upward, and the
other downward. The flowers are bell-shaped and are formed in a circle
about the center of the head, having white margins and pink or pink-tan
centers. Like _Mammillaria MacDougalii_, the tubercles when injured exude
a thick white milky fluid.
How to grow
Plants may be grown out of doors where temperatures are not lower than
twenty or twenty-five degrees below freezing; where the winter weather is
colder than this, the plants should be grown in conservatories. They grow
from seed in clay loam in pots with enough water to keep the soil moist,
preferably with part shade. Large plants transplant quite readily if the
roots are not injured. They grow well in gravelly soil or among rocks and
should be watered once a month.
Sunset Cactus; Common Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria Grahamii_)
(Named in honor of Colonel J. D. Graham of the United States Corps of
Topographical Engineers)
How to identify and how it grows
The Sunset Cactus, or Common Pincushion Cactus, is one of the most
popular of the Pincushion Cactus species, perhaps because of its wide
range from Texas to California and into old Mexico. It is quite
symmetrical and small. It grows as a stem from two to ten inches tall and
as much as two and one-half or three inches in diameter, in single stems
or several together in a clump. They are cylindrical or globose and bear
the tubercles closely set in a spiral arrangement of twenty to
twenty-three rows; these tubercles are about a quarter-inch long and
gray-green. There are about seventeen grouped radial spines a half-inch
or so long, of a dull white with darker tips, and one or two central
spines which are longer and stouter, whitish, with purple-brown or
red-brown tips which are curved sharply upward. The flowers are formed in
a circle near the tops of the stems and are about an inch long. The
petals are rose-pink with pink or white margins, while the sepals are
purple-brown with pink or white ciliate edges. The fruit is club-shaped
and scarlet, about an inch long.
How to grow
These plants are not injured by temperatures of twenty or twenty-five
degrees below freezing, and where the winter temperatures drop as low as
zero they grow easily in warm, sunny conservatories. Plants grow readily
from seed in pots or flats in moist clay loam, with part shade, and
transplant easily at any season, growing well in sandy or gravelly soils
with watering once or twice a month during the dry periods.
Brown Pincushion (_Mammillaria Wilcoxii_)
(Named in honor of General Timothy A. Wilcox of the United States Army,
who collected many plants in Arizona and other western states)
How to identify and how it grows
The Brown Pincushion Cactus grows with flabby stems, two or three inches
tall with as great a diameter. It is hemispherical or subglobose, and
somewhat depressed at the top. The tubercles are loosely set and spirally
placed, narrow and conical. There are eighteen to twenty sharp, slender,
needlelike, wide-spreading radial spines which interlock with those of
the other spine clusters; they are white with the tips a bright reddish
brown. There are two to six slender but much stronger central spines
which are spreading and erect with the hooked ends turned in several
directions. These are a translucent red-brown throughout, which gives to
the plant a reddish brown halo over the mass of the white radials. The
light pink flowers are a little more than an inch long, and when full
open are wider than they are long. There are from thirty-five to forty
petals, narrow lance-shaped and somewhat recurved. The fifteen or twenty
white sepals form in fringes.
How to grow
These plants will grow outside in temperatures nearly as low as zero.
With colder winter weather they should be covered or grown in greenhouses
or conservatories. Plants grow easily from seed in fine sandy soil in
pots or flats, with part shade and with occasional watering to keep the
soil moist. They transplant readily in gravelly clay with watering twice
a month during dry spells, and should be set in partial shade.
Horned Toad Cactus (_Mammillaria Mainæ_)
(Named for Mrs. F. M. Main, who first collected the plant near Nogales,
Mexico)
How to identify and how it grows
The Horned Toad Cactus grows from single stems, or several in loose
clumps and is depressed globose or hemispherical, growing as short as two
or three inches, with a diameter of three or four inches. The tubercles
are of a pale green, arranged in thirteen spiral rows with compressed
bases tapering above and upturned. The texture of the plant is flabby and
loose. There are not many spines in this species, twelve wide-spreading
yellowish radial spines and one central which is much stronger than the
radials and somewhat twisted and curved. The flowers are quite slender
and about one inch long, both sepals and petals pointed. The former have
a brownish center while the latter have reddish centers with
white-fringed margins. The style is much longer than the stamens. This
plant is not conspicuous because it grows quite close to the ground and
is not easily seen with its light-colored spines.
How to grow
Plants grow outside in twenty degrees of frost, but with colder weather
than this they must be protected or grown in warm conservatories. They
grow easily from seed in the usual way in pots with part shade and with
occasional watering to keep the soil moist. They may be transplanted at
any season in sandy or gravelly clay, and given enough water to moisten
the soil well once in two or three weeks during dry months.
Snowball Pincushion (_Mammillaria Oliviæ_)
(Named _Oliviæ_ in honor of Mrs. C. R. Orcutt, who shared her husband’s
interest in these plants)
How to identify and how it grows
The Snowball Pincushion is covered with a dense coat of white spines,
looking much like a snowball lying on the ground. It grows on solitary
stems or in some instances in clumps, is globose, and has twenty-five to
thirty-five thorns. The plant is covered with radially placed spines
about half an inch long, translucent white and somewhat twisted. There
are four centrals in the spine groups. The flowers of this plant resemble
those of the Sunset Cactus, and are pink and pink-rose with the margins
fringed in white. They are very showy and about an inch long. The pink
flowers contrast well with the glistening white spines, making this
cactus one of the handsomest of its kind, growing on the deserts and
foothills of southern Arizona.
How to grow
The same care and treatment is suggested as for the Sunset Cactus.
Green Flowered Pincushion (_Mammillaria viridiflora_)
(Named from its green flowers, which are very uncommon among cacti)
How to identify and how it grows
The Green Flowered Pincushion Cactus grows from single stems or in small
clusters and is cylindrical or globose. The stems are two to four inches
long and as much as three inches in diameter. This plant, also, has a
flabby texture, with the tubercles arranged in eight to twelve spiral
rows, which are disposed rather loosely. The radial spines, slender and
needlelike and wide-spreading, loosely interlocking with those of the
other spine clusters, are white with brown tips. The central spines are
hooked and slender, longer and stouter than the radials, about two inches
in length, brown and brown-red. The flowers are not at all showy and are
less than an inch long and wide; the sepals and petals are green. The
fruit is ovoid and less than an inch long, with a dull purplish or
green-purple color.
How to grow
Plants will endure outdoor temperatures of twenty or twenty-five degrees
below freezing. In colder climates they will thrive in warm, sunny
conservatories. Plants grow readily from seed in sandy loam with
occasional watering and part shade. Transplant older plants in gravelly
clay with enough water to keep the soil moist. Watering once in two weeks
during droughty spells is sufficient. This cactus is very attractive as a
potted plant, and outside should be given some shade.
Showy Pincushion Cactus (_Coryphantha aggregata_)
(Named from the plant’s habit of growing in clumps)
How to identify and how it grows
This plant is a fine and showy Pincushion cactus growing from single
stems or in clumps, six to fifteen inches in diameter across the top of
the clump, the stems globose or cylindrical, two to four inches in
diameter. The tubercles are arranged spirally in fifteen to seventeen
rows, with twenty to forty radially placed spines in two series like the
teeth of a comb. They are less than a half-inch long. There are six
central spines in the more mature plants, and all the spines are of a
translucent white, toning into the reddish brown tips. The flowers are
very showy and are formed around the center of the plant, two or three
inches in diameter and bright pink to rose-purple. They remain open all
day, and are quite abundant in southeastern Arizona and New Mexico on
prairie lands and _bajadas_.
How to grow
Plants grow outside and are not injured by temperatures as low as zero.
They grow easily from seed in sandy or clay loam in flats or pots with
some shade; transplant at any season in almost any soil; give enough
water to keep the soil moist during dry spells, about five gallons of
water at a time.
Arizona Pincushion Cactus (_Coryphantha arizonica_)
How to identify and how it grows
This cactus grows in dense clumps six inches to two feet or more across,
with the heads close together. They are shortened, globose or
cylindrical, one to two inches in diameter, and as high. The plants are
almost hidden by the dense growth of reddish brown or almost black
spines. There are from fifteen to thirty radially placed spines and three
to seven stouter central thorns, all of which have yellowish bulbous
bases, with red-brown or almost black tips. The flowers are about an inch
and a half long and as wide. The petals and sepals are narrow and
lance-shaped, and from tan-purple to rose or rose-purple. The fruit is
oval and light green. This cactus grows in the prairie lands and on
foothill slopes, and needs a little modern irrigation.
How to grow
This Pincushion is not injured by temperatures of twenty to twenty-five
degrees below zero and hence is well suited for growing in cactus gardens
throughout the country. It thrives also in the warm Southwest. Young
plants grow readily from seed in pots or flats, in sandy or loamy soil,
with enough irrigation to keep the soil moist; part shade is desirable.
Large plants prefer sandy or loamy soil, especially limestone soil with
irrigation about once a month, and some shade.
California Pincushion (_Mammillaria tetrancistera_)
(Named _tetrancistera_ in allusion to the four central spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The California Pincushion grows from single stems a foot high and two and
one-half inches in diameter, or several in a cluster. Sometimes the stems
are branched and cylindrical with a loose flabby texture. The root is
narrow, conical, and fleshy. The tubercles are usually less than a
half-inch long and loosely set in eight spiral rows. There are from forty
to sixty-five radial spines placed in two whorls, slender and white with
red-brown tips; also one to four central spines which are strongly
hooked, dark reddish brown or blackish. The flowers are usually about two
inches long and are purplish. The sepals and petals are ciliate and
covered with many fine hairs.
How to grow
This pincushion is not injured by temperatures fifteen or twenty degrees
below freezing and hence grows indoors or out; it thrives in hot, sunny
conservatories or greenhouses. The plants grow easily from seed sown in
sandy soil with partial shade, the soil moist but not wet. Plants may be
transplanted at any season in sandy, stony, or gravelly soil, and watered
once in two or three weeks during dry spells.
Black Spined Pincushion Cactus (_Mammillaria Milleri_)
(Named for Dr. Gerrett S. Miller, Jr., who first collected it near
Phoenix, Arizona)
How to identify and how it grows
The Black Spined Pincushion, another of the _Mammillaria_ genus of
Cactaceæ, grows from single stems or several stems in clumps which are
sometimes branched, and from two to nine inches high, two to three inches
in diameter. The stems are globose or cylindrical with the tubercles
crowded close together on their lower parts. These tubercles are about
one-third of an inch long, and are arranged symmetrically in eleven to
fourteen rows. There are from seventeen to twenty radially placed spines,
widely spreading and about a half-inch long, with a white body and
reddish brown tips; also one to three central spines with upturned hooks,
brownish red appearing black at a distance. The flowers are purple fading
out to a pink, and bell-shaped. This handsome desert species strongly
resembles the beautiful Sunset Cactus, but has much stouter and darker
central spines.
How to grow
This plant should be treated similarly to the Sunset Cactus. Young plants
grow readily from seed in moist sandy or loamy soil in pots or flats in
part shade. Older plants may be transplanted at almost any season in
rocky or gravelly soils and watered once or twice a month during dry
seasons. They are not injured by temperatures twenty or twenty-five
degrees below freezing, but with greater cold than this must be protected
or grown in warm sunny conservatories.
CHAPTER IV
THE PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS
The lover of plants and flowers which thrive on the desert wastes has
often but little conception of the mystic beauty which lingers there,
wrapped up in the delicate waxlike coverings of these wondrous blossoms.
Exotic and strikingly beautiful, some of them are. It would seem that
Nature, the Great Gardener, has caused the mountains to grow their huge
trees bedecked in evergreen, snow-crowned and haloed in gorgeous golden
sunsets with tints of spectral beauty; the humid plains to grow their
grasses, somber and uninviting, the providers of mankind, and their
trees, low and squatty, with shade for the tired herd and the dusty
traveler, and also their velvet grassy slopes lovely to look upon.
But what of the desert! Well, we do not intend to paint you a picture of
desolation, where no living thing can grow. Out of the débris of worlds
in the making, so to speak, there was left the great Amphitheater of the
Sun where the scorching rays beat down. In this hot caldron of alkali and
sand and rock Nature went to work, and soon there appeared tiny spiny
shoots, leafy but devoid of color. All were hungry and thirsty, and soon
rain came, and then the transformation! Water appeared under the surface,
and slowly rose saturating the tiny roots. The hot winds of the day
turned to cooling zephyrs of the night which gently kissed each plant and
flower until the coming of the sun. With each kiss of the dew-laden night
air came the delicate perfume and the wonderful color scheme which make
all the cacti so attractive to the eye and so stirring to the senses.
From crannies and nooks, crevices and rock-cracks, along the foothills
and on the slopes, began to appear the haciendas of the flowers; in time
they thrived and multiplied. To-day on the great deserts of the Southwest
along the Arizona-California line and eastward, there are vast stretches
of cacti of every weave and pattern imaginable, as symmetrical in design
as though each were first wrought on the Infinite Draughting Board and
then carefully and wisely planted by the Great Gardener to live forever.
Our third trek starts from one of the beautiful California or Arizona
sites that dot the Colorado River bounding these two states, leading into
the gullies, draws, or cañons that are so numerous there, in search of a
peculiar and striking growth commonly known as the Hedgehog Cactus. Since
the species are very thorny, the comparison to the little animal so full
of bristles is an apt one. The scientific name, _Echinocereus_, taken
from the Latin _echinus_, hedgehog, and _cereus_, torch, or the
Hedgehog-Torch.
GROWTH AND HABITATS
The Hedgehog cacti are of the easiest culture in out-of-door gardens,
blossoming and fruiting profusely, but in greenhouse cultivation they
rarely flower; they thrive in any ordinary clay loam with some gravel or
coarse sand and with good drainage, and the desert species will even
tolerate some alkali. The fruit looks like a mass of enormous bright red
strawberries, and when cooled in the refrigerator, sliced and served with
cream and sugar is delicious, and sought after as a great delicacy by the
Indians and Mexicans. This marked resemblance has earned for
_Echinocereus_ Cacti the common name, also, of “Strawberry Cactus.” When
the berries ripen, their spine clusters fall away or may be removed with
the least effort. The writers have tasted this delicious fruit served
cold and also as a sauce and made into jam.
Strawberry Cacti are among the most popular plants for southwestern
cactus gardens and rock gardens because of their fine showy flowers, and
their profuse blooming and fruiting. A single plant in the University of
Arizona Cactus Garden during the present year had fifty full-blown
flowers at one time and continued in blossom for fully two weeks. In
culture the plants may be watered regularly once a month in the absence
of rain during the growing season; they require little other care. They
may be transplanted at any season provided the roots are not seriously
injured, and when transplanted early in spring they blossom during that
same season. Like other desert cacti, the Hedgehog or Strawberry Cactus
grows best in sunny locations. The plants grow with single stems or in
clumps, and from three inches to a foot and a half tall; others are
solitary, and some in large flat masses or hemispherical mounds. The
flowers are crimson and scarlet and pink and deep purple, and grow in
heavy masses; some are funnel-shaped and bell-shaped.
As we start on our journey early in May, we travel down a long, broad,
well paved highway, straight toward the rising sun. It is still quite
cool, but the day will be blazing-hot before long. In the distance a blue
haze hovers over Superstition Range for whose almost roadless cañons and
draws we are bound. As we proceed along the highway, the cacti get
thicker and thicker, and as far as the eye can see are many kinds of
Cholla, Pincushion, and Barrel cacti. Here and there is a stranger to us.
We are at last in a veritable museum of desert cacti and their flowers.
It might be called the “Parade of the Cactus Flowers,” for they are all
around and about us. We are hunting for the little Hedgehog, and indeed
we find him in plenty. There are about sixty different varieties of this
particular group of the Cactus Family—all very beautiful and interesting,
and some of them hide away so carefully and select such forbidden haunts
that it takes a long time to find them.
California Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus mojavensis_)
_Southeastern California, Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, and
Northwestern Arizona_
The California Hedgehog Cactus, or the Mojave Hedgehog, we espy first,
and how could one miss seeing the scarlet bloom suffused with nopal red
of this strange and beautiful Strawberry Cactus? The flaming blossoms,
two or three inches long and an inch or so across, with short broad thick
petals, borne singly though many grow on a single stem, remain open for
several days at a time, and cause the California Hedgehog to become one
of the most brilliant of the Strawberry group. The massive mounds of
white-spined stems, two to six or seven inches long, often several
hundred in a clump, covered with flashes of crimson flowers form a
bright-colored zone which in full blossom is a splendid sight, and at a
distance suggests a fire burning, with nothing to burn and sans smoke.
This species is called the Desert-Afire, or Burning Cactus, or the Mojave
Hedgehog as it was discovered on the Mojave Desert, and the name
_Echinocereus_ or Torch Cactus was first given to it. A close cousin is
the Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus of northern Arizona and New Mexico
and Utah.
Golden Spined Strawberry Cactus (_Echinocereus chrysocentrus_)
_Southeastern California, Western Arizona, and Northern Mexico_
Here in Southern California thrives the Golden Spined Albino, a foot or
so in height; the two-inch stems are furrowed with a dozen or so ridges,
on the sides of which appear interlocking scallops, of a yellow or medium
deep greenish cast. It has golden or light yellow spines like the pale
yellow or cream-colored hair of the albino, hence the common name is
quite apropos. It is to the circle of eight to thirteen radial spines
with their lovely golden hue that the specific title _chrysocentrus_
refers. The Golden Spined Strawberry Cactus with its pink and
lavender-pink flowers is a rare and beautiful sight on the desert here
before us, set in the dull tan or brown background of sand and rocks, and
with scarcely a green leaf or other color now in sight. The inch-long
fruit is densely spiny, covered with long, slender golden thorns, edible
and sweet; it ripens in August, a month or so later than the fruit of the
_Echinocereus Engelmannii_, its nearest relative.
Indian Strawberry Cactus (_Echinocereus Engelmannii_)
_Western Arizona, Northern Mexico, Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, and
Southern California_
Here is the _Echinocereus Engelmannii_, or Engelmann’s Hedgehog Cactus.
This fine Strawberry Cactus may be found clinging to the foothills and
low mountains in arid, sandy or gravelly desert land, growing in clumps
of a few to twenty or more stems, six inches to a foot or more high and
two or three inches through, rather cylindrical. This fine species is
very appropriately named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis,
one of the greatest authorities on cacti. Deep purple-pink flowers appear
in early spring, seeming at times to be clustered because of the masses
of brilliantly tinged blossoms three to four inches long; though in
reality they grow singly on the stems, and bloom for several days,
opening in the forenoon and closing toward evening. The thirteen to
seventeen stiff awl-shaped radial spines, one-fourth inch to one inch
long, and the three or four stout firm central thorns remind one of stiff
tousled medium brown hair partly turned gray, the colors being grayish,
tan, and brownish, all mixed together. The fruit, enormous
“strawberries,” is covered by many spine clusters which at maturity are
easily rubbed off, leaving it quite smooth, of a deep purple-red, with
many small black seeds set in a pinkish mass of sweet tender pulp. The
Pima and Papago Indians are very fond of this luscious cactus strawberry
when fully ripe and served with cream and sugar or cooked into the most
delicious conserves and jam; they gather it in considerable quantities
and occasionally one can buy the fruit or preserves in their markets, in
Arizona, Southern California or old Mexico. And so Dr. Engelmann’s
Strawberry Cactus has earned the name, also, of the Indian Strawberry
Cactus, or “Desert Strawberry.”
[Illustration: GOLDEN SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus
chrysocentrus)]
Lovely strawberries on the end of an armored stick, delicate colorings,
enticing, inviting.
[Illustration: TURK’S HEAD (Echinocactus horizonthalonius)]
Quite like a Turk’s head when in flower with the pinkish purple tassel at
the tip.
[Illustration: TRAVELER’S FRIEND; CANDY CACTUS; TRAVELER’S COMPASS
(Echinocactus Covillei)]
If one gingerly cuts off the top of the plant, crushing the fleshy part,
cool refreshing water is revealed.
[Illustration: DESERT STRAWBERRIES; FENDLER’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS
(Echinocereus Fendleri)]
A large plant bears one or two quarts of delicious “cactus strawberry”
fruit.
[Illustration: INDIAN STRAWBERRY CACTUS; ENGELMANN’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS
(Echinocereus Engelmannii)]
The Pima and Papago Indians are very fond of this luscious cactus
strawberry when sliced and served cold with cream and sugar or cooked
into the most delicious conserves and jam.
Spiny Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus polyacanthus_)
_Northern Mexico, Southern Arizona, and Texas_
It is in Northern Mexico that we glimpse the Spiny Hedgehog Cactus, or,
as the scientist names him for his many spines, _Echinocereus
polyacanthus_, a fierce thorny little fellow. He has fifteen sharp stout
spines, somewhat flask-shaped at the bases, and spreading, at first pale
yellow, then becoming pinkish gray or grayish purple with the tips mostly
darker, deep yellow to blackish shades. His flame-red blossoms, sometimes
tinged with orange, are called single though they seem to be clustered
when abundant—large striking flowers, several blooming at one time in
early and late spring, and remaining open for days, not closing up at
night. Though not specially abundant, _polyacanthus_ is one of the
commoner varieties of the low mountains and foothills on the desert.
Salmon Flowered Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus Leeanus_)
_Northern Mexico_
A lustrous mass of flame-colored blossoms attracts our attention next, as
we speed along the highway intent on making camp for the night across the
United States line from Mexico. It is the Salmon Flowered Hedgehog
Cactus, whose large, wide-spreading petals (two or three inches across
the flower), are of a brilliant salmon hue, showy and attractive, and
remain open for several days at a time in the spring, not even closing at
night. The blossoms are borne near the tips of the stems, and as many as
ten or twelve are in bloom at a time. Though not native to the United
States, the Salmon Flowered Hedgehog is occasionally found in cactus
gardens in Arizona and California, and is well known to cactus
connoisseurs and gardens in Europe. The species was named _Leeanus_ in
honor of James Lee of England, who presented the type specimen to the
Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842.
Rose’s Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus Rosei_)
_Southeastern Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, and Northern Mexico_
We have crossed the boundary line into the United States at Nogales,
Arizona, and now in the early morning sunlight are approaching the low
Gila Range in southeastern Arizona. We have come to study a cactus which
closely resembles that fierce little fellow, the Spiny Hedgehog Cactus,
from which it differs in having very short and sparse hairs on the fruit
and calyx tube. It has been described only recently, and thrives in
western Texas, southern New Mexico, old Mexico, and southern Arizona,
along the _bajadas_ in rocky or gravelly soil, sometimes in sandy soil on
the dry mesas and low mountain sides. Growing in clumps of fifteen to
forty stems, four to ten inches tall, pale green or blue-green, it has
fourteen or more firm needlelike radial and central spines, pinkish and
brownish gray, and bright scarlet flowers bearing six hundred or more
stamens, purple anthers, and dull scarlet filaments. Unlike most cactus
flowers these blossoms remain open for several days and nights in
succession, in April, occasionally blooming into May. The berries ripen
in June, dropping their spine clusters then. The fruit of Rose’s Hedgehog
Cactus is about an inch long, greenish purple when ripe, edible, with a
pleasant, tart, gooseberrylike taste.
Fendler’s Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus Fendleri_)
_Southeastern Arizona, Mexico, Western Texas, Utah, and New Mexico_
Like many of his kind Fendler’s Hedgehog Cactus blooms during the day and
folds up his petals at night. There are eight to thirteen stout radial
spines, spreading and occasionally appearing comb-like in arrangement,
white fading to gray, and usually tipped with brown; also a very stout
central thorn or two, sometimes an inch and a half long, dark-colored and
curving upward. He has deep pink, rose and rose-purple bloom nearly four
inches long and about as wide, appearing in April and May. This is one of
the finest and most abundant of our Strawberry or Hedgehog Cacti;
occasionally plants will have as many as fifty blossoms open at a time.
Amidst desert surroundings with the gray or brown of the great arid
spaces for a background they make a glorious sight, and one wonders how
it is possible for so fine a flower to grow on the sandy gravelly
foothills without any attention or care from the hand of man. Here again
it is Nature, the Great Gardener, with her marvelous science and daring
ingenuity, who enables her plants to receive life and sustenance through
the miraculous reservoirs of root and stem, even amid the burning sun and
drying winds of the great desert of the Southwest.
The fruit, about an inch and a half long, is armed with numerous clusters
of short brown-tipped spines. When ripe it is light yellow, pink, or
purple-red, and the thorns, then, are easily rubbed off leaving the
surface entirely smooth. The mature fruit served with cream and sugar is
delicious and suggests strawberries; it is used as an article of food and
for barter among the Indians and Mexicans. A large plant bears one or two
quarts of the luscious fruit, in late May or early June. Hence this
cactus, too, is called the Indian or Desert Strawberry Cactus. The
species is named in honor of August Fendler, who collected extensively in
New Mexico and Arizona in the early days.
Rainbow Cactus (_Echinocereus rigidissimus_)
_Southeastern Arizona and Sonora_
Here is a real beauty, _Echinocereus rigidissimus_, the lovely Rainbow
Cactus, so called from the many colors of her spines arranged in bands a
half-inch to an inch wide, one following another in quick succession
extending around the plant. This beautiful desert growth is a great
favorite in cactus collections, but unfortunately, when removed from her
natural habitat, she pines away and is short-lived. The scientific name
_rigidissimus_ refers to her spines, which are noticeably stiff.
Among rocks and stones on hillsides in exposed and sunny locations, we
find the beauteous Rainbow, her bright rose-purple flowers with their
yellowish eyes, large and showy and funnel-shaped. Solitary they are, and
grow only a few on a plant; and the rose-pink and purple petals and
stamens, with their orange-red anthers forming a circle about the
rose-purple style and olive-green stigmas, are a sight truly admired by
every one fortunate enough to see it in full bloom. The Mexicans have
nicknamed her _Cabecita del Viejo_ because she clings to the foothills
and rocky mountain slopes. Four to fifteen inches tall, at a little
distance she appears banded with white or cream-colored, yellow,
rose-purple, pink, or maroon-purple bands, while the two dozen or so
ridges appearing vertically around the stems about a half-inch apart are
green and yellow-green in hue. The beautifully mottled thorns, a
half-inch or so long, are pressed closely against the plant, arranged
mostly in two comb-like groups and forming a continuous dense spiny layer
over the entire growth. The last spines of each season are rose-purple or
maroon, the earlier ones pink, yellowish, or whitish; and thus are formed
the zones of color extending around the plant, the brighter or deeper
hues of the spines appearing during periods of slow growth, the yellow or
whitish coloring during the time of faster growth in the spring. The
inner part of the stems of _rigidissimus_, along with the sweet and pulpy
ripe fruit, is relished and eaten by Indians and Mexicans, who consider
it a rare delicacy.
Short Spined Strawberry Cactus (_Echinocereus Bonkeræ_)
_Southeastern Arizona_
We are nearing the beautiful Pinal Mountains in southeastern Arizona,
nearing also the end of our journey over the broad expanse of the
Arizona-California desert. After all it is one desert; California,
Arizona—what are mere geographical lines or names in the desert land of
plants and flowers, in that vast natural amphitheater of the great
Southwest? Here in the long low rays of the afternoon sun we see at a
distance the purple haze gathering over the mountain peaks, and we know
that our day’s work is nearing completion with the coming of the
beautiful sunset hour. And here it is, four thousand feet up in the rocky
foothills, that we espy the rare little beauty _Echinocereus Bonkeræ_,
named for Frances Bonker, one of the authors of this book. It is a new
Strawberry Cactus, growing in the foothills and low mountain ranges of
southeastern Arizona, and was discovered only last year in the Pinal
Mountains and also near Oracle, Arizona. It differs from all other
species of its kind in that all the spines are very short, and its fruit
is sweet and more nearly the size of a strawberry than any of the others;
also the spines do not suggest the Hedgehog Cactus, so that the common
name of Short Spined Strawberry Cactus is given to _Bonkeræ_, as more
nearly resembling a strawberry in its fruit than any other of the
Strawberry Cactus clan. The juicy, luscious berries, less than an inch
long, are delicious as jam or served cold with cream; they are always the
first to appear in the spring.
Often but two inches tall, sometimes reaching six or eight inches, this
little Strawberry Cactus grows in clumps of two or three to ten stems
which are densely ridged and tubercled. The flowers, nearly three inches
long and about the same in width, are a deep rose-purple, and appear in
April, the first of the purple-flowered species to bloom. It is easily
recognized by its many ridges and very short spines, all less than a
half-inch long, which are whitish or yellowish when young and reddish
brown when mature, and by its bright purple blossoms, borne well up on
the stems, which open in the forenoon and close in late afternoon,
lasting for several days. Under cultivation the larger plants grow as
much as three inches in a season.
[Illustration: SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)]
A new Cactus species named in honor of Frances Bonker.
[Illustration: SALMON FLOWERED HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Leeanus)]
A lustrous mass of flame colored blossoms. The species was named in honor
of James Lee of England who presented the type specimen to the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842, and is well known to cactus
connoisseurs and in gardens in Europe.
[Illustration: CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria Johnstonii)]
[Illustration: SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (Coryphantha aggregata)]
[Illustration: SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (Mammillaria Oliviæ)]
[Illustration: CALIFORNIA PINCUSHION (Mammillaria tetrancistera)]
Our journey is almost ended, and our notebooks are filled with much
interesting matter about cacti heretofore unknown; we have found and
studied many interesting specimens of the cactus family perhaps never
before seen by the majority of travelers. We know now that it is
necessary to see them from both far and near to appreciate the loveliness
of these weird desert growths; and it seems very strange to us that so
much glorious color and beauty has to be hidden away out here underneath
the midnight blue of the sky, for only a privileged few to enjoy.
Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus coccineus_)
_Northern Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado_
Yet one more of the lovely Strawberry group must be added to our list,
growing far up in the towering mountains of northern Arizona and hence
not included in this present trek. The Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus
is this flaming cactus flower, which grows generally at altitudes of five
to seven thousand feet, its scarlet blossoms flashing here and there over
the mountain slopes, or dotting the oak, juniper, and pine formations in
dense masses of brilliant hue, compact clumps one to six feet across of
twenty to three hundred stems all closely set together; usually growing
in rounded mounds which exclude all other growth, and sometimes
comprising an important part of the pine and juniper plant coverings. The
stems are five to seven inches high, green and yellow-green, forming a
pleasing contrast to the crimson blossoms. The translucent whitish
spines, about a dozen in number, are flask-shaped at their bases and
spreading, while the flowers are slightly fragrant, a rare characteristic
among the _Echinocereus_ group. The fruit is spiny, and grows from
densely felted masses which remain as scars on the stems for years. This
Hedgehog Cactus may be easily distinguished from _Echinocereus Rosei_ by
its white or yellowish white spines.
And now the desert flower parade of color and beauty has passed in
review. One is not sorry to have come, for even when the days are hot and
dusty, the cooling desert winds appear with the approach of night. We
recall having read a great deal about the magic and lure of the desert
and its wondrous plants and flowers, and we realize now that one must
come and _see_ them to appreciate the beauty that lives and thrives away
out there underneath the stars, forever guarded by that All-seeing
Providence which placed them there so carefully and wisely that they
might tell us something of His Plan of things entire, wherein the
smallest blade of grass receives from Nature as does the wisest seer; for
the Infinite Mind of Nature is no respecter of persons or things, and
treats plants and animals and humans without favor or prejudice,
portraying therein God’s eternal care and watchfulness over all.
The Hedgehog or Strawberry Cactus Group (_Echinocereus_)
How to identify and how they grow
Plants grow with single stems or more often in clumps from three inches
to a foot and a half or so tall, sometimes in large flat masses or in
hemispherical mounds. The stems are simple, rarely branched, tubercled,
and covered with a series of ridges running lengthwise from top to
bottom; these ridges are almost hidden by a dense network of spines
spreading out over the entire plant, and causing such a marked
resemblance to the hedgehog that the group is named the “Hedgehog Cacti.”
The Hedgehog Cacti can be distinguished from young Sahuaro by the fact
that the thorns of _Echinocerei_ form a lacework extending across the
ridges, almost hiding them, while in the Sahuaro the network of spines is
along the tops of the ridges and does not extend across them. The thorns
are mostly of two kinds, centrals and radials, growing from less than
half an inch to three inches long. There are no spicules. The flowers are
funnel-shaped and bell-shaped, crimson and scarlet, also occurring in
pink and deep purples, large and showy, and growing in heavy masses. They
open in the forenoon and close in the afternoon, lasting several days, or
remain open for three or four days or longer without closing. The fruit
looks like a mass of enormous bright red strawberries and is delicious
served with cream and sugar; hence the name “Strawberry Cacti.” The
unripe fruit is exceedingly spiny, the thorns generally falling off at
maturity or easily dislodged. It has small tubercles which bear the spine
clusters and bracts.
How to grow
The Hedgehog Cacti are of the easiest culture in out-of-door gardens,
blossoming and fruiting profusely; in greenhouse cultivation they rarely
flower. They thrive in any ordinary clay loam with some gravel or coarse
sand (even tolerating a little alkali), and with good drainage. The
plants may be watered regularly once a month in the absence of rain
during the growing season; they require little other care. They may be
transplanted at any season provided the roots are not seriously injured;
when transplanted early in spring, they blossom during the same season.
Sometimes Hedgehog Cacti can be grown from cuttings made from the stems;
the cut surface should be allowed to dry and the cutting set about two
inches deep in moist sandy soil. The usual method is to grow these plants
from seeds sown in sandy soil mixed with a small amount of powdered
charcoal and leaf mold, a quarter-inch deep in flats or pots set in part
shade and with enough water to keep the soil moist. When a half-inch
high, the seedlings are transplanted to small pots, and later from there
to the garden. A southern exposure is very desirable.
California or Mojave Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus mojavensis_)
(Named for the Mojave Desert where it was discovered)
How to identify and how it grows
The stems of the Mojave Hedgehog Cactus are as long as seven inches and
of a pale green. The structure of the stems furnishes a dozen or so ribs,
and this arrangement provides the necessary strength for support. The
plant is covered with a whitish system of spines, slender and bent and in
age becoming gray. The spines are radial; they are not long but are
dangerous to touch. The flowers of this little plant are scarlet and
remain open for several days; they are rather small, not more than an
inch and a half across. The petals are mostly thick and broad and have
obtuse tips that are sometimes notched, while the ovary has white felted
areolas covered with short needlelike spines for protection. The fruit is
elliptical, about the size of an English walnut, and ripens in May and
June. We have found that the plants grow in loose clumps, forming into
mounds among the shifting sands, a conspicuous feature on the desert and
foothills with their flaming bloom, hence called also the Desert-Afire.
How to grow
These plants will grow outdoors where temperatures descend to twenty or
twenty-five degrees below freezing; in colder climates they may be grown
in hot, dry conservatories or rock gardens. Like others of this group the
plants may be transplanted at almost any season, and if planted in early
spring they blossom the same year. They grow in sandy or loamy soil with
enough water to keep the soil moist during the growing season; they
endure prolonged drought in their native habitats and hence should not be
watered excessively in cultivation.
Golden Spined Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus
chrysocentrus_—_Echinocereus Engelmannii_, variety _chrysocentrus_)
(Named “chrysocentrus” from its beautiful golden or light yellow
translucent spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The physical structure of the Golden Spined Hedgehog Cactus consists of
cylindrical stems to fifteen inches in height, tapering off towards the
ends or tops and covered with many scalloped ridges on which the radial
spines are placed—which, by the way, as usual in all cactus plants, are
dangerous because they are so sharp and so thickly intertwined. The
scallops of adjacent ridges are interlocking, and light green or yellow.
It is here that the areolas, or centers of growth, appear, densely
covered with tiny hairs. The spine system is grouped and spreading, with
four to seven central spines sometimes three inches in length, often
crooked or twisted, and surrounded by smaller radials scattered along the
stem ridges, not more than a fourth-inch to an inch long, all thorns of a
beautiful golden or light translucent yellow. The spines often vary in
their general characteristics, long and short, twisted and bulbous,
straight and bent and twisted, flat and grooved, tough and easily broken.
The flowers are about the length of a large duck egg, and consist of the
usual sepals and petals. The colorings vary from a light pink toning into
beautiful deeper lavender tints, then lavender filaments and yellow
anthers and stigma lobes of deep green, presenting a very beautiful color
combination. Golden Spined Cacti grow well in clumps along the arid
gravelly slopes of the rocky foothills of southeastern California,
western Arizona, and Sonora.
How to grow
Plants can be grown out of doors, and are not injured with twenty degrees
of frost. They grow readily from seed in pots or flats in moist sandy
soil, preferably with part shade for the first few months, but with a dry
atmosphere. Large plants can be transplanted late in winter or early in
spring in gravelly or rocky soil with a sunny exposure, and watered once
or twice a month during the growing season to keep the soil slightly
moist.
Indian or Desert Strawberry; Engelmann’s Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus
Engelmannii_)
(Named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, one of the
greatest authorities on cacti)
How to identify and how it grows
The Indian or Desert Strawberry Cactus, like others of the Hedgehog clan,
has a system of cylindrical stems which grow about fifteen inches tall,
with a diameter of two to three inches, and the usual ridges along which
are placed the many sharp spines. The stems are yellow or greenish yellow
and of course fade a little with age. Quite regularly along the ridges
there are radially placed spines an inch long or less, and these make a
formidable armor against intrusion. The stout, firm, erect, or spreading
central spines are twice as long as the radials. All these thorns have
bulbous bases and most are grooved, curved, and twisted; the colors are
whitish to red-brown. The large flowers are about the width of a teacup,
the sepals and petals usually bright pink with beautiful light purple
tinting, while the filaments are pale lavender and the anthers
yellow—another striking color scheme of Nature’s combination. The fruit
is elliptical, of the size of a very small egg, and quite spiny. This
cactus grows well in groups of twenty or so on the sandy gravelly mesas
or along the rocky slopes, and is a very characteristic species on the
arid southwestern deserts.
How to grow
These plants grow outside without injury from twenty or twenty-five
degrees of frost; in colder climates they should be protected out of
doors or grown in a dry, hot, sunny glass house. Large plants are
transplanted easily in early spring, with care not to injure the roots or
stems; they thrive in gravelly, stony soils with occasional watering to
keep moisture in the soil during the growing season. Young plants grow
easily from seed with the usual care, moist sandy soil, partial shade,
and a dry atmosphere.
Spiny Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus polyacanthus_)
(Named _polyacanthus_ from its many spines, though it is not as spiny
as some other species)
How to identify and how it grows
The Spiny Hedgehog Cactus consists of a cylindrical system of stems
growing to ten inches in height, about two inches in diameter, with the
usual system of ridges, nine to eleven or so. It has the same spine
clusters along these ridges, radially arranged, and with the central
spines the longer, nearly two inches in length. In this case the spine
bases are flask-shaped and spreading. At first the colors are pale
yellow, later becoming grayish, pink-gray, or purple-gray with darker
tips. This change denotes the age of the plant. The flowers appear near
the tips of the stems and are about three inches long, with eighteen
petals that are thick and firm and spatulate, colorings ranging from
yellowish green bases to flame or orange-red blades. There are six sepals
of orange-red. The ovary has yellow spines with dense tufts of long
cottony hairs in the areolas. The plants grow on foothills and low
mountains from western Texas to southeastern Arizona in clumps of ten to
twenty or more. They often form in compact mounds, and they bloom during
April and May.
How to grow
Plants are not injured by temperatures as low as zero, but in lower
temperatures they require protection. They may be grown in cool, sunny
greenhouses, but they blossom best with outdoor planting. The plant may
be set out at almost any season—but early spring is best—in gravelly loam
or among rocks, with care not to injure the root or stem. The seed grow
readily in sandy loam in pots or flats, in diffused sunlight, with just
enough water to keep the soil moist. In cactus gardens the plants should
be given only enough water to keep the soil moist during dry spells, and
growth should not be forced.
Salmon Flowered Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus Leeanus_)
(Named _Leeanus_ in honor of James Lee of England, who presented the
type specimen to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842)
How to identify and how it grows
The _Leeanus_, or Salmon Flowered Cactus, is identified by the general
characteristics of the entire Hedgehog Group. It is cylindrical, with the
stems tapered toward the tips, about four inches through near the base,
and with ten to twelve rounded ridges with acute apexes. Along these
ridges the usual system of spines is placed, with the shorter ones
radially arranged and very sharp. These radial spines are unequal in
length and are spreading from their bases, while the centrals are
stouter, the lowest two inches or so long, all thorns having bulbous
bases and a tannish brown color scheme, toning off to gray. The flowers
are among the largest of the salmon or scarlet forms—when opened, about
the length of a large egg—and have twenty-seven broad thick petals, the
tips well rounded; or the petals may be notched or tipped with a short
point. The general colorings are from orange-red to a flaming salmon;
hence the common name. There are many stamens of about the same length as
the style and stigmas. The style branches are light green and are
incurved. The stems of this cactus grow singly or in loose clusters, and
thrive well in sandy or gravelly loam.
How to grow
Little is known about growing this species under cultivation; it
transplants readily at almost any season and thrives in sandy or gravelly
loam with occasional irrigation to keep the soil moist during dry
periods. It may be grown outside in temperatures not below twenty or
twenty-five degrees of frost; in colder weather it should have
protection. It grows well in cool conservatories, but does not blossom
freely there.
Rose’s Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus Rosei_)
(Named for Dr. John Nelson Rose, Associate in Botany, United States
National Museum, Washington, D. C.)
How to identify and how it grows
Dr. Rose’s Hedgehog Cactus is also of the cylindrical stem variety, has
nine to a dozen obtuse ribs in its structure, and is pale green or bluish
green. The usual ridges prevail and are armored with clustering radial
spines of unequal length, very sharp and needlelike. Both radials and the
longer centrals are pinkish to brownish gray and have bulbous bases which
spread at the roots. In most of the other Hedgehog species the colorings
of the thorns vary somewhat. The bright scarlet blossoms are about three
inches long and remain open for several days and nights. The petals are
broad and spatulate and a bit thick, not opening wide. The filaments are
dull scarlet, the anthers purple, and the stigma lobes bright green. The
scarlet hue in the color scheme gives the plant a striking appearance on
the desert, beautiful to see. The fruit is elliptical and very spiny, a
greenish purple, and has a pleasant tart, gooseberrylike taste. The stems
grow in clumps of as many as forty, and range from the low foothills and
dry _bajadas_ of southwestern Texas to southern New Mexico and eastern
Arizona.
How to grow
These plants grow well out of doors and are not injured by zero
temperatures. They will grow in cool, sunny greenhouses. Transplant early
in spring without injuring roots or stems, in gravelly clay or rocky
soils; give enough water to keep the soil moist but not wet. Plants may
be grown from seed in the usual way, in pots or flats in sandy or loamy
soil in part shade, with enough water to keep the soil moist.
Desert or Indian Strawberry Cactus; Fendler’s Hedgehog Cactus
(_Echinocereus Fendleri_)
(Named in honor of August Fendler, who collected extensively in New
Mexico and Arizona in the early days)
How to identify and how it grows
The Indian Strawberry Cactus, also, is built up of cylindrical tapered
stems, in groups of ten or twelve, of uneven heights up to a foot, with a
dozen or so wavy ribs and clustered radially formed spines, a half-inch
or so in length, wide-spreading and lying close to the stem. The stems
are a medium deep green. The radials are of a white cast toning into
brown at the tips, the stout centrals dark brown and curving upwards. All
the thorns have swollen bases and are more or less variable in color. The
flowers are of deep purple and about three inches broad and long. There
are as many as twenty petals and fourteen sepals varying from rose-pink
to purple shades. The petals are spatulate and somewhat broad, the
margins finely toothed. The stamens are rather short, and the anthers are
yellow, while the filaments are of a light pink, toning off to green. The
flowers open in the forenoon and close in the afternoon for several days
in succession. The fruit is not large, no larger than a very small egg,
and matures in May, when the colorings range from pink to red or yellow.
When fully ripe the little spine clusters are easily rubbed off, so that
it is not hard for natives to handle the fruit.
How to grow
Larger plants are not injured by zero temperatures; in colder winter
weather plants require some protection or may be grown in cool, sunny
glass houses. They may be transplanted at any season in gravelly or loamy
soil irrigated enough to retain moisture during the growing season. Young
plants grow easily from seed sown in flats or pots in sandy or loamy soil
with some shade and with enough water to keep the soil moist.
Rainbow Cactus; Cabecita del Viejo (_Echinocereus rigidissimus_)
(Named _rigidissimus_ from the stiff spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The _rigidissimus_, or Rainbow Cactus, another of the cylindrically
formed cacti, is easily identified by the noticeably stiff spines, which
are very numerous. The stems grow to about fifteen inches tall, four
inches or less in diameter with a rounded-off top, singly, or branched
above. The cylinder is composed of about twenty-four ridges well covered
with very sharp radials, but with no central spines, a characteristic
uncommon in the Hedgehog group. There are great numbers of radially
placed spines, closely pressed to the sides of the stem. They are
arranged in two comb-like groups, one on each side of the areolas, and
interlock with thorns of adjacent spine clusters. This makes a dense
spine layer over the entire surface of the plant. These spines are less
than a half-inch long, and have swollen bases. They form in many colored
zones, or whitish, yellow, rose-purple to maroon-purple bands about the
plant. The flowers are about three inches long and as wide when full
open, and have some forty petals and thirty sepals. The petals have
pointed tips and are bright rose-purple with yellowish bases. The fruit
is covered with many spines, is about the size of a strawberry, fleshy
and sweet. The _rigidissimus_ invariably grows along the rock ridges and
rocky foothill slopes at altitudes of thirty-five hundred to fifty-five
hundred feet, the roots growing among the rocks. Its distinguishing
characteristic is the many colored bands of the spines around the plant,
suggesting a rainbow.
How to grow
Rainbow Cacti are not injured in zero temperatures out of doors, but with
colder weather than this they require some protection. They may be grown
in cool, dry, sunny conservatories. The Rainbow is one of the most
difficult of the cacti to grow under cultivation. Unless planted in rocky
soil, preferably early in spring, it will grow for only a year or two.
Young plants transplant more readily than older ones, and neither the
roots nor the stems should be injured in digging. Give enough water to
keep the soil moist during the growing season. Plants may be grown from
seed in moist sandy soil in part shade or diffused sunlight. When mature
plants are used and transplanted in early spring they blossom the same
season.
[Illustration: RAINBOW CACTUS (Echinocereus rigidissimus)]
A popular beauty, named from the brilliantly colored spines arranged
around the plant in many-hued bands or “zones.” Called by the Mexicans
Cabecita Del Viejo.
Short Spined Strawberry Cactus (_Echinocereus Bonkeræ_)
(Named for Frances Bonker, one of the authors of this book)
How to identify and how it grows
_Bonkeræ_, or the Short Spined Strawberry Cactus, is oblong-cylindrical
with the tips somewhat depressed. It has low obtuse ridges, fewer than
twenty, of a light green. These ridges are covered with a network of
radial spines, the younger ones whitish, fading to gray-white, yellow or
yellowish brown in age. The centrals are yellow-brown changing to
red-brown in older thorns. All the spines are less than a half-inch long
and vary in coloring, with brown bulbous bases and translucent tips. This
cactus is to be found in clusters of from two to ten stems, and is very
attractive with its rose-purple to deep rose-purple flowers nearly three
inches long, and its many stamens, stigmas, and filaments in bright and
light green. The fourteen petals and nine sepals have obtuse tips and
short points; the styles are longer than the stamens. Plants grow along
the dry foothills and low mountains in clumps of a foot or less across.
How to grow
This species grows outdoors and is not injured by temperatures twenty or
twenty-five degrees below freezing; in colder climates than this it must
be given some protection or grown in cool, dry, sunny greenhouses. Plants
may be grown at any season in gravelly or sandy clay soils with light
irrigation every two or three weeks to moisten the soil during the
growing season or in droughty periods. Or they may be grown readily from
seed sown in sandy loam in flats or pots, with partial shade and with
enough water to keep the soil moist. The species is a handsome one for
rock gardens, as yet little known. Mature specimens transplanted early in
spring blossom the same season.
Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus (_Echinocereus coccineus_)
(Named _coccineus_ in allusion to the bright scarlet flowers)
How to identify and how it grows
_Coccineus_, or the Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus, is built up of
stems four to seven inches long and about two inches in diameter. The
tips of the stem are rounded and covered with radial spines no more than
three-quarters of an inch long. It has three central spines which are
much stronger than the radials, all thorns erect and spreading. They are
flask-shaped at their bases and are white to yellowish white. The flowers
are a beautiful bright crimson, about three inches long, and remain open
for several days before they close. The petals and sepals are thick and
firm, bright scarlet, and brownish or orange toward their bases, while
the tips of the petals are broadly rounded. The fruit pods are very
spiny. These plants grow in dense clumps one to six feet across and two
to three hundred stems in a cluster, at altitudes of five to seven
thousand feet in the foothills and cañons and along the lakes in northern
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, and in oak, juniper, and pine
formations of prairie lands. They prefer the gravelly clay loam of the
slopes in sunny exposures and are to be found also among rocks on the
high mesas.
How to grow
This species is not injured by temperatures twenty-five degrees below
zero, and hence may be grown out of doors throughout the country
generally. It furnishes very interesting specimens for rock gardens.
Plants grow readily in gravelly loam or limestone soils and may be
transplanted at any season. They thrive even in the hot Southwest but
should be given partial shade there and moderate irrigation. In these
warmer climates they blossom as early as April but rarely mature fruit.
They grow easily from seed in moist sandy soil or clay loam with part
shade, and preferably in cooler climates.
CHAPTER V
THE PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT
There is nothing so beautiful as the dash of color painted by that great
artist, Nature, on the canvas of the desert in the springtime and early
summer. It is here that plant and flower families vie with each other in
their parade of color and fashion. Likewise man, who is tired and hungry
for the great open spaces with his year’s work behind him in the spring,
seeks the hidden byways trodden only by the few, where he may tramp and
meditate and commune with Nature. He loves to hunt new places, to see new
things, and then on some winter’s evening to lean back in his comfortable
chair and blow smoke rings around the places come back to him again in
fancy, where he found that odd piece of cactus lacework and that
patch-pattern of thorns and spikes and stems. And he wonders, then, how
such marvelous colorings could be, and _why_ they should be, away out in
those forgotten places far from the hoof-mark of a burro or the footprint
of an Indian or a daring tenderfoot.
The desert is not unlike some huge canvas stretched out over vast
distances of mesa and foothill, valley and mountain, which takes on
mysterious splashes of color during each cycle of the spring, fading then
in the heat of summer and fall. Imagine if you can this tremendous
stretch of the desert-canvas tinted with all the minute tracings of the
aurora borealis. For to be sure the image of the great painted canvas of
the desert, if inverted and hung high in the heavens so as to be seen in
all its brilliance, might well make a more splendid curtain than our own
aurora borealis, flashing intermittently across the northern skies in
flaming letters of crimson and gold.
It seems strange that some of the desert cacti select the daytime, while
others of the same family select the nighttime to unfold their matchless
bloom. It seems strange that a plant with coarse colorless bark, gray and
hoary as with age, can have such delicate and splendid blossoms. It seems
strange that so brilliant a coloring can come from such desolation as the
desert seems to possess, where there is little or no water and the days
are hot and dry. It is strange, indeed, but Nature works in mysterious
and devious ways her wonders to perform.
GROWTH AND HABITAT
This chapter treats of the _Opuntia_ genus of Cactaceæ, the well known
group of Prickly Pears whose flower colorings are remembered as being so
exquisite and delicate, so vivid and attractive both near and afar, the
lovely tints and hues so well graduated from the bases of the petals to
their tips and so symmetrical of distribution, that attention is at once
focused upon them. There are about two hundred sixty species of the
_Opuntia_, of which eighty-eight are in the United States, eighty-seven
in Mexico, and the remainder in South America and the outlying islands.
The genus _Opuntia_ includes not only the beautiful Prickly Pear but also
the familiar Cholla, that tall, stately, antlered plant of the desert
domain which frowns at you from along the highway as you approach our no
man’s land from almost any direction. Starting on a fourth trek into the
habitats of cactus plants early in May, we shall look for only the
colorful Prickly Pears, characterized by their large pear-shaped joints,
the “flapjacks” of the desert; characterized also by their large flaming
orange and yellow, or occasionally rich purple and red blossoms, which
open for only a short time during the day and close when the shadows of
the sun begin to bathe the hills in orange and purples as the desert
sunset approaches. In a few cases they unfold for a short time the
following day, but most bloom for but the one period of five to seven
hours or so. Commonly the blossoms change from yellow when they open to
orange in the afternoon, and in some species to red-orange. It is also
noted that when the flowers unfold for a second day, their bright
colorings deepen and darken in orange or red. We find that the clan of
the Prickly Pear nearly always have thorns different from those of most
other groups of Cactaceæ in that they are only of one kind, though the
sizes may vary. In the genus of _Opuntia_ there are no radial nor central
spines; the thorns are merely spines in the full sense of the word. We
note that the Prickly Pear is really a shrub with many stems branching
from the base, and that their pear-shaped joints are in reality stems or
branches and are not just leaves as many suppose; the true leaves being
very small and scalelike and disappearing after a short time, withering
away and falling off. The species grow readily from these pearlike
joints, and this is a common method of propagating _Opuntia_. They will
also grow from seeds, but these develop very slowly and require a long
time in the ground before they germinate.
Papago Fruit Cactus (_Opuntia Blakeana_)
_Southern Arizona_
It is from Tucson, in the rocky foothills of southeastern Arizona, that
we start on our long trip across the state and into old Mexico and
California. The first of the lovely auroral coloring to attract our
notice is the low spreading Prickly Pear called _Opuntia Blakeana_ in
honor of Dr. William Blake, who was formerly Geologist and Director of
the College of Mines and Engineering of the University of Arizona.
Forming in loosely branched clumps on the desert, eight feet or more
across and only a foot or so high, this growth is most strikingly
characterized by its translucent brown fringe of spicules along the
margins of the areolas and its needlelike purplish brown thorns suffused
with gray toward the bases. The brilliant orange-red and yellow blossoms,
nearly three inches long and as broad, like most of their sister species
open and close in the daytime, the sepals greenish yellow toning off to
an orange-red base. Blooming time is in April and May, the fruit comes on
in July; the latter when ripe is used for food by the Pima and Papago
Indians of Arizona, and while they eat it both raw and cooked it is not
utilized as is that of some of the other and larger varieties.
[Illustration: PAPAGO FRUIT CACTUS (Opuntia Blakeana)]
Delicate Prickly Pear (_Opuntia delicata_)
_Southern Arizona_
At altitudes of three to five thousand feet in the sandy and clay loams
across southern Arizona one may see a prickly pear called _delicata_ on
account of its small size and its slender joints and spines. This baby
_Opuntia_ was only recently discovered and is considered a rare find,
though little is known about its distribution. The tiny plants are
sometimes but three inches high, growing to ten inches in different
specimens, with one or several stems, long needlelike spines and large
yellow flowers, as usual blooming in the morning and closing up their
petals in the afternoon. New and interesting specimens of the cactus clan
are discovered now and then, and it gives the botanist and the layman
much pleasure to study and classify them, to look up their haunts and
habits and place them where they belong, so that all may see and know
them.
[Illustration: DELICATE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia delicata)]
Purple Prickly Pear (_Opuntia santa rita_)
_Southern Arizona_
[Illustration: WHIPPLE’S CHOLLA (Opuntia Whipplei)]
[Illustration: PURPLE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia santa rita)]
We are approaching the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains not far from
Tucson, Arizona, nearing also the end of our long afternoon’s work, for
the blue and purple haze that betokens the close of a hot desert day is
gathering around the distant peaks and the sun hangs low over the
horizon, seeming loath to bid farewell to mountain and desert cañons and
to weary mortals here below. A symphony in purple and yellow greets our
tired eyes and brightens our jaded spirits as we motor slowly along the
highroad; and we stop to get a closer view of this handsomest of all the
brilliant _Opuntia_, the Purple Prickly Pear. A dash of purple in the
sepals tones into golden yellow in petals and stamens of the large
beautiful blooms, three inches across when full open and nearly four
inches in length, the lemon and deep yellow flowers in vivid contrast to
the bright purple joints of _santa rita_ in the spring. Then in summer
the densely glaucous gray-blue joints form a striking color scheme
together with the bright purple fruit. Two to five feet tall, the plants
branch from a short thick trunk in numerous stemlike appendages which
look like so many “flapjacks” on the desert. They prefer the gravelly or
rocky soils at levels of three to five thousand feet, and grow over drab
_bajadas_ and somber foothill slopes near the high Santa Ritas, where
they were discovered by Dr. David Griffiths and named for this majestic
range which towers in sight of these brilliantly beautiful and
slender-spined pearlike cacti. These rare plants are finding a place in
many gardens throughout the Southwest, and even abroad in England they
may be grown satisfactorily in indoor cactus gardens.
Smooth Prickly Pear (_Opuntia laevis_)
_Southern Arizona_
The Smooth Prickly Pear is a dainty morsel, and how the cattle like to
espy it in the few open spaces where it ventures to grow! For this cactus
is nearly spineless and clings to the inaccessible cañon slopes where
stock cannot prey upon it. In April and May it forms a striking picture
on the desert canvas, a great patch of large, showy, lemon-colored
blossoms peering forth from the jutting and protecting rocks on all sides
of the steep mountain cliffs here in southern Arizona; in July it changes
this brilliant coloring with almost kaleidoscopic swiftness to purple and
pink splashes of the fine large fruit. Truly the desert is aflame with
glory when the prickly pears come forth in bloom! Is it the soul of the
Flower trying to find expression in beauty and fragrance, attuned to the
soul of the poet and the lover of desert creation, striving to grow in
tune with the Universe? Here is a lesson, perchance, that he who runs may
read; for those who can pierce the vale of mysteries it is called “in
tune with the Infinite.”
_Opuntia laevis_ is three to six feet tall with erect wide-spreading
branches ascending from the base. A very few needlelike spicules develop
along the stem, crowned by the large striking lemon-colored flowers with
orange-red centers, nearly three inches long and as broad, opening in the
morning and folding up in late afternoon.
[Illustration: SMOOTH PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia laevis)]
Foothill Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Toumeyi_)
_Southern Arizona and Sonora_
_Opuntia Toumeyi_ is a most attractive species and a distinctive type
among cacti, covering the foothills of southern Arizona mountains with
its waxy green joints and pink spines, sometimes brownish white thorns,
and bright golden satiny blooms shading into red and orange at their
bases and yellow-green toward the margins, suffused with purple-brown, a
lovely harmony of color splashing across the painted canvas of brilliant
desert flowers. Appearing in loose golden clumps, one and one-half to
three feet tall, with the spicules forming a dense pinkish gray fringe
about the upper half of the areolas, this prickly pear roams the rocky,
gravelly foothills and mountains here in southern Arizona and in Sonora.
[Illustration: FOOTHILL PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Toumeyi)]
Cow’s Tongue (_Opuntia linguiformis_)
_Southern Texas_
We leave the foothills and _bajadas_ of southern Arizona and cross the
Rio Grande into the prairie lands of southern Texas in search of a
peculiar Prickly Pear growing in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas; this
_Opuntia_ is widely cultivated now in cactus gardens, and one should not
miss it even though it takes several hours to reach the destination. A
striking plant on account of its long lance-shaped joints, Cow’s Tongue
grows three to five feet tall with a spread of three to six feet, in
spring covered with great satiny yellow blossoms nearly four inches long,
tinted in green and golden shades, and forming in numerous patches, great
splashes of gold against the dull brown and grays of desert prairie lands
in southern Texas. The fruit is quite tasty (it is commercialized by
Mexicans), eaten raw and made into spicy jam or syrup. We note the
characteristic tongue-shaped joints, a foot or two long, which give the
plant its specific name _linguiformis_ (tongue-shaped), and also its
common name Cow’s Tongue. The late afternoon shadows begin to creep over
the rolling prairies and the sun is sinking low on the horizon in one
last attempt to linger here awhile, ere it sweeps our no man’s land in a
vast flood of glory and is no more. Many tourists prefer to travel at
this hour and while the desert moon is shining, for the cool and alluring
night breezes render motoring delightful over the arid sands during the
latter part of May.
Discus Prickly Pear (_Opuntia discata_)
_Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona_
[Illustration: DISCUS PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia discata)]
We have crossed the international border once more, this time driving to
Nogales, Arizona, then across the street into Nogales, Sonora, looking
for a well-known Prickly Pear growing on the grassy mesas and _bajadas_
of northern Sonora and of southern Arizona. Its name _discata_ refers to
the large circular and disklike joints of the stems, nearly a foot in
diameter and about half an inch thick, which form the many ascending and
spreading branches of this shrub; and it seems to us we could almost use
them in throwing the discus in the marvelous Olympiad Games to be held
this summer, here in the giant amphitheater of the sun. The beautiful
plants grow in large clumps about five feet high and five to ten feet
across, standing forth as most striking figures on the desert canvas with
their erect spreading pear-like arms and the vivid harmony of color in
their large and brilliant blooms; glossy lemon-yellow shading into deep
orange, then the yellow-green tints of the sepals and the cream-white
suffused with a delicate pinkish cast of the club-like styles. There is a
little animal living on the desert known as the trade rat or pack rat
which invariably seeks the _Opuntia discata_ for building his home; if
the habitat of this little rat is investigated about five bushels of
débris will be found including cactus joints, stems, sticks, and even
stones, all carefully piled away in and under these plants. This is a
sure sign of the pack rat’s nest, for in such a home his needs are all
taken care of; the _discata_ gives him protection from wandering coyotes
and dogs, water and food in its succulent stems, and still more food in
the ripe sweet fruit. The latter is covered with many fine spicules and
the Indians skillfully remove these by rubbing, so as not to get the
prickers into the fingers; for they are very annoying and irritating if
they find their way into the flesh. The ripe fruit is gathered for food
by Mexicans and Indians, who make from it a fine syrup, delicious
preserves and other delicacies.
[Illustration: ENGELMANN’S PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Engelmannii)]
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Engelmannii_)
_Northern Mexico, Arizona, and Texas_
Next in our journey across the land of the burning sun we find
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear here in Northern Mexico—a very fine, large
Opuntia which grows also in Texas and Arizona. This cactus like several
others has been named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann, an early
outstanding student of cacti. The plant is a rather large shrub six to
twelve feet across and three to five feet tall, with many divergent and
ascending branches from the base, these often rooting and forming an
impenetrable growth. Its large bluish green joints contrast vividly in
the spring with the huge golden or lemon-yellow flowers which appear in
great numbers in April and May; while again in July there is another
marked contrast to the deep purple or maroon-purple fruit, which is
pear-shaped and often three inches long. As many as sixteen fruit are
borne on a single joint or pad of the Prickly Pear. These the Mexicans
and Indians eat when ripe, and the natives make a most palatable syrup
from the jams or conserves.
Long Spined Prickly Pear (_Opuntia macrocentra_)
_Northern Mexico, Central Arizona, and Western Texas_
The _Opuntia macrocentra_ grows in sandy soil or clay loam at levels of
three to five thousand feet. The plants are no more than three feet tall
and are called _macrocentra_ in allusion to the long spines, over three
inches in length. The large showy blossoms are about three inches long
with light yellow petals and bright red or orange-red centers. This
flower also opens and closes in the daytime and lasts for one day only.
The olive-green joints of the plants, which are suffused with purple or
sometimes purple throughout, the dark purple-brown spines, and the yellow
bloom create an uncommon sight here on the open desert out over the mesas
and _bajadas_ in Northern Mexico.
Beaver Tail (_Opuntia basilaris_)
_Southeastern California, Western Arizona, Northern Sonora, Southern
Nevada, and Southern Utah_
[Illustration: BEAVER TAIL (Opuntia basilaris)]
An odd and interesting little Prickly Pear, with its many spicules
appearing each like a small fuzzy tail, and called by the natives Beaver
Tail.
[Illustration: FLAPJACK PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia chlorotica)]
[Illustration: PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia hystricina)]
[Illustration: TEDDY BEAR CACTUS (Opuntia Bigelovii)]
In southeastern California we run across that odd and interesting little
Prickly Pear with its many spicules appearing like a small fuzzy tail,
and hence called by the natives Beaver Tail. Because of its habit of
growth and its spineless joints of light blue or blue-gray and bright
rose-colored flowers, the _basilaris_ is different from all other Prickly
Pear cacti. Beaver Tail blooms profusely, and when in blossom the clumps
of plants on the mesas are bright rose and purple, the flowers almost
completely hiding the shrubs and forming a brilliant splash of hue and
tint, a solid, unbroken patch of color on the gray or brown stretches of
mesa and foothill.
_Basilaris_ prefers the most arid and sterile sandy or gravelly soil at
altitudes of a thousand feet and less, on the _bajadas_ of Nevada, Utah,
western Arizona, and here in Southern California. This cactus does not
grow very tall, seldom more than a foot, and the spread of the
rosettelike growth is about three feet across. The large beautiful
blooms, three inches long and nearly as broad, appear in clusters on the
margin of a joint, opening in the forenoon and closing as the sunlight
fades. There are no spines, and the closely set areolas, crowded with
spicules which are easily dislodged, form the chief protection of the
shrub; spicules are very small and light and when dried fall off, and
carried by the wind are easily caught in one’s clothing or body; they are
effective protectors and neither rodents nor grazing animals eat plants
where they appear and even man fears them more than cactus thorns because
of the difficulty of extracting them and on account of the pain and sores
which they cause.
Golden Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Covillei_)
_Southern California_
[Illustration: GOLDEN PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Covillei)]
We are approaching the lovely Santa Monica range in Southern California.
Mt. San Bernardino with his crown of snow towers in the distance; Mt.
Baldy with his white head bald almost the entire year round, we perceive
even farther west; and magnificent old San Gorgonio rears his stately
crest far above all the surrounding peaks. This is one of the most
beauteous spots in Southern California. The vast depths of that great
natural amphitheater near Redlands and Riverside as viewed from Smiley
Heights form a panorama gorgeous beyond description, with every color of
the rainbow brilliantly present, a marvelous thrilling picture painted
against the landscape far and near: marvelous in its splashes of purples
and greens and pinks and orange-reds against the somber background of the
grand old mountains; thrilling in the vastness of the limitless panorama
spread out before us on all sides, as we stand here on Smiley Heights
gazing into the great cañons below, which seem to magnetize us against
our will and to draw us down into their depths by the sheer force of
distance immeasurable. Truly a fit setting for our little _Opuntia
Covillei_, playing his humble part in all this gorgeous portraiture of
plant and flower, mountain and valley and rocky cliff; and with the touch
of the Master Artist he takes his modest place in the great aurora
borealis of the desert. Bright yellow and nearly four inches long are his
large beautiful blooms, toning into the green of the stigma lobes in a
happy combination of Nature’s making, and forming, over the two- or
three-foot stems with their pale blue-green joints or dull green pearlike
appendages, a becoming aureole of gold, quite dazzling in the brilliant
sunlight. Sometimes he grows in dense thickets several yards across and
fringed with thick clusters of inch-long brown and yellowish white spines
and spicules, sharp and needlelike, harshly repulsing the daring tourist
who presumes to pluck his beautiful blossoms too rashly.
Flapjack Prickly Pear (_Opuntia chlorotica_)
_Southern California, Arizona, Lower California, Northern Mexico, New
Mexico, and Nevada_
We are nearing the end of our long quest for the brilliant Prickly Pears,
having crossed the Arizona and California deserts on our way, dipped down
into southern Texas and Northern Mexico, and now are intent on finding a
distinctive growth here in southwestern California called _Opuntia
chlorotica_. Light purple is the fruit of this typical cactus, the stems
yellow or light green; straw-colored and brownish are the slender
bristlelike spines, translucent yellow the spicules. Almost a gay rainbow
of itself, _chlorotica_ graces the mountain cañons and foothills of six
great sections of the vast southwestern desert. A short trunk, half a
foot or a foot tall, branches into many jointed “flapjacks” six to ten
inches long and about as wide, which combine to form a compact rounded
head three to six feet high. The scaly fissured faces of the pearlike
basal joints so typical of the prickly pear are light brown and purplish,
the others pale green and bluish green; the slender yellowish spicules
are not quite half an inch long, the bristling spines a trifle longer.
The bloom, as of so many of the prickly pear species, is of a light
lemon-yellow with a brilliant orange-red center, about two and one-half
inches long and across; like others of this clan it opens early in the
morning, closing when the late afternoon shadows begin to spell the end
of the hot desert day. Seldom appearing in clumps, generally growing
alone, _chlorotica_ delights to cover the foothills and low mountain
cañons with her pretty lemon blossoms, her short stout trunks, and their
numerous flat pearlike joints.
Porcupine Prickly Pear (_Opuntia hystricina_)
_Northern Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada_
As we approach Los Angeles, California, we recall a peculiar little
growth in northern Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico called _Opuntia
hystricina_; also the Porcupine Prickly Pear, its long slender needlelike
spines, reddish or red-brown, giving the plant a shaggy appearance
strongly resembling that bristling little animal. In fact the name of the
species _hystricina_ comes from the Greek word for “porcupine.” Only a
foot or so tall, its thorny stems spread out into loose clumps, the flat
hairy joints, five or six inches long, looking just like so many
bristling young porcupines; then with a crescent mass of light yellowish
spicules an eighth-inch long or less, and six to ten finely grooved white
and brownish spines, encircled sometimes with white and brown bands. In
lovely contrast appear the beautiful large purple blossoms, three inches
long and with as great a spread when fully expanded in April or May,
opening but once, then closing in late afternoon never to open again.
Thriving in the clay loam and gravelly soils of mountains and rocky
cañons in northern Arizona and Nevada, ranging far up from five to seven
thousand feet, this hardy cactus will endure temperatures even below zero
without the slightest injury.
[Illustration: PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia hystricina)]
[Illustration: LONG SPINED PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia macrocentra)]
And now the borealis of desert color has passed us by in its rush to the
coolness and stillness of the desert night, only to recuperate and renew
its gay attire and appear in fresh array of hue and tint in the morrow’s
pearly dawn. In ages long gone by, when worlds were in the making, with
the swish of the eternal paintbrush the flowers received their colorings,
and it is with awe and admiration we have greeted these colorful
creations come forth at the touch of the Master Artist; for we find them
only here in the land of the burning sun, where they are born to their
lonely vigil under the sky and stars, but to live and thrive and to fade
and die, only to reappear anon in eternal and varied expressions of the
Infinite Mind of Nature. Thus to-day passes into to-morrow, when new
fields are waiting to be painted on the glorious canvas of the desert,
and so we must take our leave of gorgeous bloom and brilliant filigree
alike, and hurry along as the setting sun traces a last fiery pattern
across the flaming heavens.
The Prickly Pear Group or Nopals (_Platopuntia_)
How to identify and how they grow
These plants are large or small shrubs, consisting of several jointed
stems, the flat platelike joints or branches pear-shaped, elongated,
thorny, but not distinctly tubercled, the clumps of joints from one to
six or more feet in height, and from two to ten or twelve feet across.
Spicules, sometimes called glochidia, are always present. The plants
always have scalelike leaves which soon fall off. The Prickly Pears, like
the Cholla, have spines of but one kind and of many different sizes, but
they are not fierce nor as dangerous as the thorns of the Cholla, and
they are never sheathed. The flowers are symmetrical and very beautiful,
among the most brilliant of all the gorgeous cactus bloom, large flaming
orange or yellow blossoms, usually. They open in the forenoon and close
in the late afternoon of the same day, generally, soon falling away from
the young fruit. The latter is covered with tubercles and always has
spicules, scales, and generally spines, is either fleshy or dry, and is
edible, often purple, falling away soon after maturity.
How to grow
Plants grow readily from cuttings of one or two joints set a few inches
deep in moist sandy soil and given enough water to keep the soil moist;
the cut surfaces should be allowed to dry thoroughly before planting. If
mature cuttings are used and planted in early spring, many species will
blossom the same season. Plants can be grown also from seeds planted a
half-inch deep in sandy soil out of doors or in flats, with part shade
and watered enough to keep the soil moist but not wet; but these develop
very slowly and remain a long time in the soil before they germinate. All
species grow indoors or out, preferably in a southern exposure.
Papago Fruit Cactus (_Opuntia Blakeana_)
(Named in honor of Dr. William P. Blake, professor of geology in the
University of Arizona and director of the College of Mines)
How to identify and how it grows
_Blakeana_, or the Papago Fruit Cactus, is formed by stems a foot or so
high which grow on the desert in clumps eight feet or more in diameter.
The branches or joints are pear-shaped, about three inches wide and eight
inches long, colored a medium green suffused with beautiful purples. The
spicules and spines are very distinctive, the former growing in fringes
and easily dislodged. The spine colors are brown or purple and tone off
into gray, and the thorns are very sharp and needlelike, dangerous when
the plant is not handled cautiously. The flowers—beautiful and also very
showy, from two to three inches long, bright satin-yellow with red-brown
centers—appear in April and May; the fruit ripens in July and is of a
pale pink-purple, quite sweet.
How to grow
This species will grow outside and is not injured by temperatures as low
as twenty-five degrees below freezing. With temperatures lower than this
it should be protected or grown indoors. Mature cuttings composed of one
joint planted at almost any season, but preferably early in spring, with
a half of the cutting covered, grow very readily. They may be planted in
any position or simply laid on the surface of moist soil. Very little
irrigation is necessary, but watering once a month during the growing
season is beneficial. Grown indoors or out.
Delicate Prickly Pear (_Opuntia delicata_)
(Named from its small size and delicate structure)
How to identify and how it grows
_Delicata_, or the Delicate Prickly Pear, is formed by stems three to ten
inches long which are thin, wrinkled or dished joints of bluish green and
purplish tones. These joints or stems are covered with bright yellowish
spicules which seem to be arranged in circular bundles, and with three
twisted spines one-fourth inch to three inches long, all three very
slender, delicate and whitish. The flowers are two or three inches long
and wide, of a bright satiny yellowish hue; the fruit is pear-shaped and
slender. This plant has small joints, and with its long weak slender
spines and large beautiful flowers is a very attractive species. At the
same time it is quite a rare specimen of the Cactacea Family.
How to grow
Plants grow indoors and out, and are not injured by temperatures of
twenty-five or thirty degrees below freezing. With colder weather they
require protection. They are difficult to transplant on account of the
fleshy spindle-shaped roots, which decay if injured. Plants grow readily
from the cuttings of two joints or stems with the lower cutting covered
with soil, and prefer a sandy soil. They may be grown also from seeds,
but these germinate slowly. The _delicata_ thrives with moderate
irrigation and should be watered once a month during its growing season
and given good drainage.
Purple Prickly Pear (_Opuntia santa rita_)
(Named from the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson, Arizona, in the
vicinity of which it was discovered)
How to identify and how it grows
_Santa rita_, or the Purple Prickly Pear, is a plant from two to five
feet tall composed of jointed compact stems, a foot or less in length and
half as wide, forming into a head. These joints are a bluish gray
suffused with purple tones and are circular. This characteristic shape
distinguishes the species from the ordinary Prickly Pear, which has
oblong or elongated joints. The spicules form in a translucent yellowish
fringe; there are one or two twisted yellow spines, growing on many
specimens to
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