A large family, nearly all natives of America and of dry or desert
places, with strange characteristics, which make them easily recognized
as a whole, but many of the individuals have not yet been studied or
described; fleshy plants, with thick stems, often flattened, ridged
or covered with knobs, mostly without leaves, usually with spines,
which generally protrude from cushions of small bristles; the flowers
perfect, regular, showy, and mostly single; sepals, petals, and stamens
all numerous; ovary inferior, with a long style and several stigmas;
fruit usually a pulpy berry, containing many seeds.
There are many kinds of Echinocactus, round or oval plants, mostly
ribbed, with bunches of spines of several kinds, arranged in straight
or spiral rows; the fruits scaly, though spineless.
[Illustration: Rock-rose--Helianthemum scoparium.]
[Sidenote: =Barrel Cactus, Bisnaga=
_Echinocáctus Wislizèni_
=Yellow, reddish
Summer
Southwest=]
A common and useful kind, the shape and often the size of a barrel,
covered with spines. The Indians cut off the top of the plant and pound
the pulp with a stick into a soft mass, which they squeeze with their
hands, extracting a large amount of watery juice, which is wholesome
and not unpalatable and has often saved lives in the desert. Indians
use the spines for fish-hooks, hence a common name, Fishhook Cactus,
and the celebrated cactus candy is made from it. The flowers are large.
There are many kinds of Echinocereus, oblong or cylindrical, spiny
plants, generally a few inches tall, usually growing in clumps; stems
ridged, or with spiny ribs; fruits spiny.
[Sidenote: =Hedgehog Cactus=
_Echinocèreus Polyacánthus_
=Red
Spring
Ariz., New Mex. Tex.=]
This forms a clump of several stems, each about the shape and size of a
cucumber, and armed with bunches of long, stiff spines. The flowers are
two or three inches long, with deep red petals, dull pink anthers, and
a bright green pistil. This grows in the Grand Canyon.
There are many kinds of Opuntia, with jointed stems, cylindrical or
flattened, armed with bristles, usually with spines. The fruits and
fleshy joints are good for fodder, if the spines are removed, and hence
there has been much inquiry into the economic value of these plants. It
has been found that the spiny species are the most valuable for fodder,
under extremely arid conditions, as the spines can be burned off, while
the unarmed forms are subject to the attacks of so many animals that a
crop cannot be secured without the protection of fences. The spines are
removed either by singeing the growing plant with a torch, or the upper
parts are cut off and thrown into a fire, or sometimes the plants are
made into fodder by being chopped up, spines and all, in a machine. The
Prickly Pears in Sicily and the Orient came from America.
[Sidenote: _Opúntia acanthocàrpa_
=Yellow
Spring
Southwest=]
From three to six feet tall, resembling Cholla, with long, cylindrical
joints and whitish spines. The pretty flowers are about two inches
long, with orange-yellow petals and an ivory-white pistil. The
fruits are spiny and become dry when ripe. This grows in the desert
around Needles.
[Illustration: Hedgehog Cactus--Echinocereus polyacanthus.]
[Illustration: Opuntia acanthocarpa.]
[Sidenote: =Cholla=
_Opúntia fúlgida_
=Red
Spring, summer
Arizona=]
A horrible shrub, or dwarf tree, four to six feet high, with a thick
trunk and several, spreading, contorted branches, with cylindrical
joints, twisting in awkward ways. The trunk and larger limbs are
brownish-gray, starred with dead, dry spines, but the twigs are pale
bluish-green, covered thickly with stars of pale-yellowish spines,
each an inch or so long, with a barbed tip. From the numerous magenta
flowers strange, yellowish, cup-shaped fruits develop, seeming to
spring one out of the other in a haphazard way, hanging in long
chains, awkward but rather ornamental, and remaining on the plants for
several years without change, except that they grow slightly larger.
The distant effect of this plant is a pale, fuzzy mass, attractive in
color, giving no hint of its treacherous character--more like a wild
beast than a plant! The joints suggest a very ferocious chestnut-burr
and break off at a touch, thrusting their spines deeply into the flesh
of the unwary passer-by, so that the Indian story, that this plant
flings its darts at wayfarers from a distance, might almost as well be
true, and the barbs making the extraction difficult and painful. The
ground under the plants is strewn with fallen joints, which take root
and propagate themselves. Small animals pile these around their holes
for defense, several kinds of birds build in the thorny branches and
are safe from enemies, and the fruits, being spineless and succulent,
are valuable for fodder, so the Cholla is not entirely malevolent. The
name is pronounced _Choya_. There are many similar kinds, some with
very handsome rose-like flowers, others with bright scarlet fruits.
They are curious and interesting inhabitants of the desert.
[Sidenote: =Prickly Pear=
_Opúntia basilàris_
=Pink
Spring
Arizona=]
Low plants, with no main stem, with spreading, flattened branches, the
joints of which are flat disks, resembling fleshy, bluish-green leaves.
These disks are half an inch to an inch thick and six inches long, more
or less heart-shaped, sprouting one out of the other, at unexpected
angles. The beautiful flower is about three inches across, like a
tissue-paper rose, pale or very deep pink, with a whitish pistil,
yellow anthers, and crimson filaments. The joints have a strong fishy
smell, when cut, and are dotted with tufts of small, brown bristles,
exceedingly unpleasant to get in one's fingers. This is rare and grows
at the Grand Canyon. Prickly pears usually have yellow flowers and long
spines.
[Illustration: Opuntia basilaris.]
[Illustration: Cholla (fruit).