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.