GOLDEN SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus chrysocentrus)GOLDEN SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus chrysocentrus)
GOLDEN SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus chrysocentrus)
Lovely strawberries on the end of an armored stick, delicate colorings, enticing, inviting.
TURK’S HEAD (Echinocactus horizonthalonius)TURK’S HEAD (Echinocactus horizonthalonius)
TURK’S HEAD (Echinocactus horizonthalonius)
Quite like a Turk’s head when in flower with the pinkish purple tassel at the tip.
TRAVELER’S FRIEND; CANDY CACTUS; TRAVELER’S COMPASS (Echinocactus Covillei)TRAVELER’S FRIEND; CANDY CACTUS; TRAVELER’S COMPASS (Echinocactus Covillei)
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.
DESERT STRAWBERRIES; FENDLER’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Fendleri)DESERT STRAWBERRIES; FENDLER’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Fendleri)
DESERT STRAWBERRIES; FENDLER’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Fendleri)
A large plant bears one or two quarts of delicious “cactus strawberry” fruit.
INDIAN STRAWBERRY CACTUS; ENGELMANN’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Engelmannii)INDIAN STRAWBERRY CACTUS; ENGELMANN’S HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Engelmannii)
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.
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,polyacanthusis one of thecommoner varieties of the low mountains and foothills on the desert.
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 namedLeeanusin honor of James Lee of England, who presented the type specimen to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842.
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 andcalyx tube. It has been described only recently, and thrives in western Texas, southern New Mexico, old Mexico, and southern Arizona, along thebajadasin 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.
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 aglorious 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.
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 namerigidissimusrefers to her spines, which are noticeably stiff.
Among rocks and stones on hillsides in exposed and sunnylocations, 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 herCabecita del Viejobecause 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 ofrigidissimus, along with the sweet and pulpy ripe fruit, is relished and eaten by Indians and Mexicans, who consider it a rare delicacy.
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. Afterall 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 beautyEchinocereus 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 toBonkeræ, 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.
SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)
SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)
A new Cactus species named in honor of Frances Bonker.
SALMON FLOWERED HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Leeanus)SALMON FLOWERED HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Leeanus)
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.
CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria Johnstonii)CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria Johnstonii)
CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria Johnstonii)
SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (Coryphantha aggregata)SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (Coryphantha aggregata)
SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (Coryphantha aggregata)
SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (Mammillaria Oliviæ)SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (Mammillaria Oliviæ)
SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (Mammillaria Oliviæ)
CALIFORNIA PINCUSHION (Mammillaria tetrancistera)CALIFORNIA PINCUSHION (Mammillaria tetrancistera)
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.
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 characteristicamong theEchinocereusgroup. 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 fromEchinocereus Roseiby 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 andseethem 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.
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 isnamed the “Hedgehog Cacti.” The Hedgehog Cacti can be distinguished from young Sahuaro by the fact that the thorns ofEchinocereiform 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.
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. Theusual 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.
(Named for the Mojave Desert where it was discovered)
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.
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 conservatoriesor 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.
(Named “chrysocentrus” from its beautiful golden or light yellow translucent spines)
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 lavenderfilaments 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.
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.
(Named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, one of the greatest authorities on cacti)
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 areabout 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.
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.
(Namedpolyacanthusfrom its many spines, though it is not as spiny as some other species)
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.
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.
(NamedLeeanusin honor of James Lee of England, who presented the type specimen to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842)
TheLeeanus, 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 totwelve 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.
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.
(Named for Dr. John Nelson Rose, Associate in Botany, United States National Museum, Washington, D. C.)
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 drybajadasof southwestern Texas to southern New Mexico and eastern Arizona.
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.
(Named in honor of August Fendler, who collected extensively in New Mexico and Arizona in the early days)
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-spreadingand 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.
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.
(Namedrigidissimusfrom the stiff spines)
Therigidissimus, or Rainbow Cactus, another of the cylindrically formed cacti, is easily identified by the noticeably stiffspines, 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. Therigidissimusinvariably 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.
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.
RAINBOW CACTUS (Echinocereus rigidissimus)RAINBOW CACTUS (Echinocereus rigidissimus)
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.
(Named for Frances Bonker, one of the authors of this book)
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.
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 begrown 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.
(Namedcoccineusin allusion to the bright scarlet flowers)
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.
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.
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, andwhythey 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 wellmake 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.
This chapter treats of theOpuntiagenus 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 theOpuntia, of which eighty-eight are in the United States, eighty-seven in Mexico, and the remainder in South America and the outlying islands. The genusOpuntiaincludes 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 largeflaming 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 ofOpuntiathere 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 propagatingOpuntia. They will also grow from seeds, but these develop very slowly and require a long time in the ground before they germinate.
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 PricklyPear calledOpuntia Blakeanain 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.