THE PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT
There is nothing so beautiful as the dash of color painted by that great
artist, Nature, on the canvas of the desert in the springtime and early
summer. It is here that plant and flower families vie with each other in
their parade of color and fashion. Likewise man, who is tired and hungry
for the great open spaces with his year’s work behind him in the spring,
seeks the hidden byways trodden only by the few, where he may tramp and
meditate and commune with Nature. He loves to hunt new places, to see new
things, and then on some winter’s evening to lean back in his comfortable
chair and blow smoke rings around the places come back to him again in
fancy, where he found that odd piece of cactus lacework and that
patch-pattern of thorns and spikes and stems. And he wonders, then, how
such marvelous colorings could be, and _why_ they should be, away out in
those forgotten places far from the hoof-mark of a burro or the footprint
of an Indian or a daring tenderfoot.
The desert is not unlike some huge canvas stretched out over vast
distances of mesa and foothill, valley and mountain, which takes on
mysterious splashes of color during each cycle of the spring, fading then
in the heat of summer and fall. Imagine if you can this tremendous
stretch of the desert-canvas tinted with all the minute tracings of the
aurora borealis. For to be sure the image of the great painted canvas of
the desert, if inverted and hung high in the heavens so as to be seen in
all its brilliance, might well make a more splendid curtain than our own
aurora borealis, flashing intermittently across the northern skies in
flaming letters of crimson and gold.
It seems strange that some of the desert cacti select the daytime, while
others of the same family select the nighttime to unfold their matchless
bloom. It seems strange that a plant with coarse colorless bark, gray and
hoary as with age, can have such delicate and splendid blossoms. It seems
strange that so brilliant a coloring can come from such desolation as the
desert seems to possess, where there is little or no water and the days
are hot and dry. It is strange, indeed, but Nature works in mysterious
and devious ways her wonders to perform.
GROWTH AND HABITAT
This chapter treats of the _Opuntia_ genus of Cactaceæ, the well known
group of Prickly Pears whose flower colorings are remembered as being so
exquisite and delicate, so vivid and attractive both near and afar, the
lovely tints and hues so well graduated from the bases of the petals to
their tips and so symmetrical of distribution, that attention is at once
focused upon them. There are about two hundred sixty species of the
_Opuntia_, of which eighty-eight are in the United States, eighty-seven
in Mexico, and the remainder in South America and the outlying islands.
The genus _Opuntia_ includes not only the beautiful Prickly Pear but also
the familiar Cholla, that tall, stately, antlered plant of the desert
domain which frowns at you from along the highway as you approach our no
man’s land from almost any direction. Starting on a fourth trek into the
habitats of cactus plants early in May, we shall look for only the
colorful Prickly Pears, characterized by their large pear-shaped joints,
the “flapjacks” of the desert; characterized also by their large flaming
orange and yellow, or occasionally rich purple and red blossoms, which
open for only a short time during the day and close when the shadows of
the sun begin to bathe the hills in orange and purples as the desert
sunset approaches. In a few cases they unfold for a short time the
following day, but most bloom for but the one period of five to seven
hours or so. Commonly the blossoms change from yellow when they open to
orange in the afternoon, and in some species to red-orange. It is also
noted that when the flowers unfold for a second day, their bright
colorings deepen and darken in orange or red. We find that the clan of
the Prickly Pear nearly always have thorns different from those of most
other groups of Cactaceæ in that they are only of one kind, though the
sizes may vary. In the genus of _Opuntia_ there are no radial nor central
spines; the thorns are merely spines in the full sense of the word. We
note that the Prickly Pear is really a shrub with many stems branching
from the base, and that their pear-shaped joints are in reality stems or
branches and are not just leaves as many suppose; the true leaves being
very small and scalelike and disappearing after a short time, withering
away and falling off. The species grow readily from these pearlike
joints, and this is a common method of propagating _Opuntia_. They will
also grow from seeds, but these develop very slowly and require a long
time in the ground before they germinate.
Papago Fruit Cactus (_Opuntia Blakeana_)
_Southern Arizona_
It is from Tucson, in the rocky foothills of southeastern Arizona, that
we start on our long trip across the state and into old Mexico and
California. The first of the lovely auroral coloring to attract our
notice is the low spreading Prickly Pear called _Opuntia Blakeana_ in
honor of Dr. William Blake, who was formerly Geologist and Director of
the College of Mines and Engineering of the University of Arizona.
Forming in loosely branched clumps on the desert, eight feet or more
across and only a foot or so high, this growth is most strikingly
characterized by its translucent brown fringe of spicules along the
margins of the areolas and its needlelike purplish brown thorns suffused
with gray toward the bases. The brilliant orange-red and yellow blossoms,
nearly three inches long and as broad, like most of their sister species
open and close in the daytime, the sepals greenish yellow toning off to
an orange-red base. Blooming time is in April and May, the fruit comes on
in July; the latter when ripe is used for food by the Pima and Papago
Indians of Arizona, and while they eat it both raw and cooked it is not
utilized as is that of some of the other and larger varieties.
[Illustration: PAPAGO FRUIT CACTUS (Opuntia Blakeana)]
Delicate Prickly Pear (_Opuntia delicata_)
_Southern Arizona_
At altitudes of three to five thousand feet in the sandy and clay loams
across southern Arizona one may see a prickly pear called _delicata_ on
account of its small size and its slender joints and spines. This baby
_Opuntia_ was only recently discovered and is considered a rare find,
though little is known about its distribution. The tiny plants are
sometimes but three inches high, growing to ten inches in different
specimens, with one or several stems, long needlelike spines and large
yellow flowers, as usual blooming in the morning and closing up their
petals in the afternoon. New and interesting specimens of the cactus clan
are discovered now and then, and it gives the botanist and the layman
much pleasure to study and classify them, to look up their haunts and
habits and place them where they belong, so that all may see and know
them.
[Illustration: DELICATE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia delicata)]
Purple Prickly Pear (_Opuntia santa rita_)
_Southern Arizona_
[Illustration: WHIPPLE’S CHOLLA (Opuntia Whipplei)]
[Illustration: PURPLE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia santa rita)]
We are approaching the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains not far from
Tucson, Arizona, nearing also the end of our long afternoon’s work, for
the blue and purple haze that betokens the close of a hot desert day is
gathering around the distant peaks and the sun hangs low over the
horizon, seeming loath to bid farewell to mountain and desert cañons and
to weary mortals here below. A symphony in purple and yellow greets our
tired eyes and brightens our jaded spirits as we motor slowly along the
highroad; and we stop to get a closer view of this handsomest of all the
brilliant _Opuntia_, the Purple Prickly Pear. A dash of purple in the
sepals tones into golden yellow in petals and stamens of the large
beautiful blooms, three inches across when full open and nearly four
inches in length, the lemon and deep yellow flowers in vivid contrast to
the bright purple joints of _santa rita_ in the spring. Then in summer
the densely glaucous gray-blue joints form a striking color scheme
together with the bright purple fruit. Two to five feet tall, the plants
branch from a short thick trunk in numerous stemlike appendages which
look like so many “flapjacks” on the desert. They prefer the gravelly or
rocky soils at levels of three to five thousand feet, and grow over drab
_bajadas_ and somber foothill slopes near the high Santa Ritas, where
they were discovered by Dr. David Griffiths and named for this majestic
range which towers in sight of these brilliantly beautiful and
slender-spined pearlike cacti. These rare plants are finding a place in
many gardens throughout the Southwest, and even abroad in England they
may be grown satisfactorily in indoor cactus gardens.
Smooth Prickly Pear (_Opuntia laevis_)
_Southern Arizona_
The Smooth Prickly Pear is a dainty morsel, and how the cattle like to
espy it in the few open spaces where it ventures to grow! For this cactus
is nearly spineless and clings to the inaccessible cañon slopes where
stock cannot prey upon it. In April and May it forms a striking picture
on the desert canvas, a great patch of large, showy, lemon-colored
blossoms peering forth from the jutting and protecting rocks on all sides
of the steep mountain cliffs here in southern Arizona; in July it changes
this brilliant coloring with almost kaleidoscopic swiftness to purple and
pink splashes of the fine large fruit. Truly the desert is aflame with
glory when the prickly pears come forth in bloom! Is it the soul of the
Flower trying to find expression in beauty and fragrance, attuned to the
soul of the poet and the lover of desert creation, striving to grow in
tune with the Universe? Here is a lesson, perchance, that he who runs may
read; for those who can pierce the vale of mysteries it is called “in
tune with the Infinite.”
_Opuntia laevis_ is three to six feet tall with erect wide-spreading
branches ascending from the base. A very few needlelike spicules develop
along the stem, crowned by the large striking lemon-colored flowers with
orange-red centers, nearly three inches long and as broad, opening in the
morning and folding up in late afternoon.
[Illustration: SMOOTH PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia laevis)]
Foothill Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Toumeyi_)
_Southern Arizona and Sonora_
_Opuntia Toumeyi_ is a most attractive species and a distinctive type
among cacti, covering the foothills of southern Arizona mountains with
its waxy green joints and pink spines, sometimes brownish white thorns,
and bright golden satiny blooms shading into red and orange at their
bases and yellow-green toward the margins, suffused with purple-brown, a
lovely harmony of color splashing across the painted canvas of brilliant
desert flowers. Appearing in loose golden clumps, one and one-half to
three feet tall, with the spicules forming a dense pinkish gray fringe
about the upper half of the areolas, this prickly pear roams the rocky,
gravelly foothills and mountains here in southern Arizona and in Sonora.
[Illustration: FOOTHILL PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Toumeyi)]
Cow’s Tongue (_Opuntia linguiformis_)
_Southern Texas_
We leave the foothills and _bajadas_ of southern Arizona and cross the
Rio Grande into the prairie lands of southern Texas in search of a
peculiar Prickly Pear growing in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas; this
_Opuntia_ is widely cultivated now in cactus gardens, and one should not
miss it even though it takes several hours to reach the destination. A
striking plant on account of its long lance-shaped joints, Cow’s Tongue
grows three to five feet tall with a spread of three to six feet, in
spring covered with great satiny yellow blossoms nearly four inches long,
tinted in green and golden shades, and forming in numerous patches, great
splashes of gold against the dull brown and grays of desert prairie lands
in southern Texas. The fruit is quite tasty (it is commercialized by
Mexicans), eaten raw and made into spicy jam or syrup. We note the
characteristic tongue-shaped joints, a foot or two long, which give the
plant its specific name _linguiformis_ (tongue-shaped), and also its
common name Cow’s Tongue. The late afternoon shadows begin to creep over
the rolling prairies and the sun is sinking low on the horizon in one
last attempt to linger here awhile, ere it sweeps our no man’s land in a
vast flood of glory and is no more. Many tourists prefer to travel at
this hour and while the desert moon is shining, for the cool and alluring
night breezes render motoring delightful over the arid sands during the
latter part of May.
Discus Prickly Pear (_Opuntia discata_)
_Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona_
[Illustration: DISCUS PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia discata)]
We have crossed the international border once more, this time driving to
Nogales, Arizona, then across the street into Nogales, Sonora, looking
for a well-known Prickly Pear growing on the grassy mesas and _bajadas_
of northern Sonora and of southern Arizona. Its name _discata_ refers to
the large circular and disklike joints of the stems, nearly a foot in
diameter and about half an inch thick, which form the many ascending and
spreading branches of this shrub; and it seems to us we could almost use
them in throwing the discus in the marvelous Olympiad Games to be held
this summer, here in the giant amphitheater of the sun. The beautiful
plants grow in large clumps about five feet high and five to ten feet
across, standing forth as most striking figures on the desert canvas with
their erect spreading pear-like arms and the vivid harmony of color in
their large and brilliant blooms; glossy lemon-yellow shading into deep
orange, then the yellow-green tints of the sepals and the cream-white
suffused with a delicate pinkish cast of the club-like styles. There is a
little animal living on the desert known as the trade rat or pack rat
which invariably seeks the _Opuntia discata_ for building his home; if
the habitat of this little rat is investigated about five bushels of
débris will be found including cactus joints, stems, sticks, and even
stones, all carefully piled away in and under these plants. This is a
sure sign of the pack rat’s nest, for in such a home his needs are all
taken care of; the _discata_ gives him protection from wandering coyotes
and dogs, water and food in its succulent stems, and still more food in
the ripe sweet fruit. The latter is covered with many fine spicules and
the Indians skillfully remove these by rubbing, so as not to get the
prickers into the fingers; for they are very annoying and irritating if
they find their way into the flesh. The ripe fruit is gathered for food
by Mexicans and Indians, who make from it a fine syrup, delicious
preserves and other delicacies.
[Illustration: ENGELMANN’S PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Engelmannii)]
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Engelmannii_)
_Northern Mexico, Arizona, and Texas_
Next in our journey across the land of the burning sun we find
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear here in Northern Mexico—a very fine, large
Opuntia which grows also in Texas and Arizona. This cactus like several
others has been named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann, an early
outstanding student of cacti. The plant is a rather large shrub six to
twelve feet across and three to five feet tall, with many divergent and
ascending branches from the base, these often rooting and forming an
impenetrable growth. Its large bluish green joints contrast vividly in
the spring with the huge golden or lemon-yellow flowers which appear in
great numbers in April and May; while again in July there is another
marked contrast to the deep purple or maroon-purple fruit, which is
pear-shaped and often three inches long. As many as sixteen fruit are
borne on a single joint or pad of the Prickly Pear. These the Mexicans
and Indians eat when ripe, and the natives make a most palatable syrup
from the jams or conserves.
Long Spined Prickly Pear (_Opuntia macrocentra_)
_Northern Mexico, Central Arizona, and Western Texas_
The _Opuntia macrocentra_ grows in sandy soil or clay loam at levels of
three to five thousand feet. The plants are no more than three feet tall
and are called _macrocentra_ in allusion to the long spines, over three
inches in length. The large showy blossoms are about three inches long
with light yellow petals and bright red or orange-red centers. This
flower also opens and closes in the daytime and lasts for one day only.
The olive-green joints of the plants, which are suffused with purple or
sometimes purple throughout, the dark purple-brown spines, and the yellow
bloom create an uncommon sight here on the open desert out over the mesas
and _bajadas_ in Northern Mexico.
Beaver Tail (_Opuntia basilaris_)
_Southeastern California, Western Arizona, Northern Sonora, Southern
Nevada, and Southern Utah_
[Illustration: BEAVER TAIL (Opuntia basilaris)]
An odd and interesting little Prickly Pear, with its many spicules
appearing each like a small fuzzy tail, and called by the natives Beaver
Tail.
[Illustration: FLAPJACK PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia chlorotica)]
[Illustration: PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia hystricina)]
[Illustration: TEDDY BEAR CACTUS (Opuntia Bigelovii)]
In southeastern California we run across that odd and interesting little
Prickly Pear with its many spicules appearing like a small fuzzy tail,
and hence called by the natives Beaver Tail. Because of its habit of
growth and its spineless joints of light blue or blue-gray and bright
rose-colored flowers, the _basilaris_ is different from all other Prickly
Pear cacti. Beaver Tail blooms profusely, and when in blossom the clumps
of plants on the mesas are bright rose and purple, the flowers almost
completely hiding the shrubs and forming a brilliant splash of hue and
tint, a solid, unbroken patch of color on the gray or brown stretches of
mesa and foothill.
_Basilaris_ prefers the most arid and sterile sandy or gravelly soil at
altitudes of a thousand feet and less, on the _bajadas_ of Nevada, Utah,
western Arizona, and here in Southern California. This cactus does not
grow very tall, seldom more than a foot, and the spread of the
rosettelike growth is about three feet across. The large beautiful
blooms, three inches long and nearly as broad, appear in clusters on the
margin of a joint, opening in the forenoon and closing as the sunlight
fades. There are no spines, and the closely set areolas, crowded with
spicules which are easily dislodged, form the chief protection of the
shrub; spicules are very small and light and when dried fall off, and
carried by the wind are easily caught in one’s clothing or body; they are
effective protectors and neither rodents nor grazing animals eat plants
where they appear and even man fears them more than cactus thorns because
of the difficulty of extracting them and on account of the pain and sores
which they cause.
Golden Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Covillei_)
_Southern California_
[Illustration: GOLDEN PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Covillei)]
We are approaching the lovely Santa Monica range in Southern California.
Mt. San Bernardino with his crown of snow towers in the distance; Mt.
Baldy with his white head bald almost the entire year round, we perceive
even farther west; and magnificent old San Gorgonio rears his stately
crest far above all the surrounding peaks. This is one of the most
beauteous spots in Southern California. The vast depths of that great
natural amphitheater near Redlands and Riverside as viewed from Smiley
Heights form a panorama gorgeous beyond description, with every color of
the rainbow brilliantly present, a marvelous thrilling picture painted
against the landscape far and near: marvelous in its splashes of purples
and greens and pinks and orange-reds against the somber background of the
grand old mountains; thrilling in the vastness of the limitless panorama
spread out before us on all sides, as we stand here on Smiley Heights
gazing into the great cañons below, which seem to magnetize us against
our will and to draw us down into their depths by the sheer force of
distance immeasurable. Truly a fit setting for our little _Opuntia
Covillei_, playing his humble part in all this gorgeous portraiture of
plant and flower, mountain and valley and rocky cliff; and with the touch
of the Master Artist he takes his modest place in the great aurora
borealis of the desert. Bright yellow and nearly four inches long are his
large beautiful blooms, toning into the green of the stigma lobes in a
happy combination of Nature’s making, and forming, over the two- or
three-foot stems with their pale blue-green joints or dull green pearlike
appendages, a becoming aureole of gold, quite dazzling in the brilliant
sunlight. Sometimes he grows in dense thickets several yards across and
fringed with thick clusters of inch-long brown and yellowish white spines
and spicules, sharp and needlelike, harshly repulsing the daring tourist
who presumes to pluck his beautiful blossoms too rashly.
Flapjack Prickly Pear (_Opuntia chlorotica_)
_Southern California, Arizona, Lower California, Northern Mexico, New
Mexico, and Nevada_
We are nearing the end of our long quest for the brilliant Prickly Pears,
having crossed the Arizona and California deserts on our way, dipped down
into southern Texas and Northern Mexico, and now are intent on finding a
distinctive growth here in southwestern California called _Opuntia
chlorotica_. Light purple is the fruit of this typical cactus, the stems
yellow or light green; straw-colored and brownish are the slender
bristlelike spines, translucent yellow the spicules. Almost a gay rainbow
of itself, _chlorotica_ graces the mountain cañons and foothills of six
great sections of the vast southwestern desert. A short trunk, half a
foot or a foot tall, branches into many jointed “flapjacks” six to ten
inches long and about as wide, which combine to form a compact rounded
head three to six feet high. The scaly fissured faces of the pearlike
basal joints so typical of the prickly pear are light brown and purplish,
the others pale green and bluish green; the slender yellowish spicules
are not quite half an inch long, the bristling spines a trifle longer.
The bloom, as of so many of the prickly pear species, is of a light
lemon-yellow with a brilliant orange-red center, about two and one-half
inches long and across; like others of this clan it opens early in the
morning, closing when the late afternoon shadows begin to spell the end
of the hot desert day. Seldom appearing in clumps, generally growing
alone, _chlorotica_ delights to cover the foothills and low mountain
cañons with her pretty lemon blossoms, her short stout trunks, and their
numerous flat pearlike joints.
Porcupine Prickly Pear (_Opuntia hystricina_)
_Northern Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada_
As we approach Los Angeles, California, we recall a peculiar little
growth in northern Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico called _Opuntia
hystricina_; also the Porcupine Prickly Pear, its long slender needlelike
spines, reddish or red-brown, giving the plant a shaggy appearance
strongly resembling that bristling little animal. In fact the name of the
species _hystricina_ comes from the Greek word for “porcupine.” Only a
foot or so tall, its thorny stems spread out into loose clumps, the flat
hairy joints, five or six inches long, looking just like so many
bristling young porcupines; then with a crescent mass of light yellowish
spicules an eighth-inch long or less, and six to ten finely grooved white
and brownish spines, encircled sometimes with white and brown bands. In
lovely contrast appear the beautiful large purple blossoms, three inches
long and with as great a spread when fully expanded in April or May,
opening but once, then closing in late afternoon never to open again.
Thriving in the clay loam and gravelly soils of mountains and rocky
cañons in northern Arizona and Nevada, ranging far up from five to seven
thousand feet, this hardy cactus will endure temperatures even below zero
without the slightest injury.
[Illustration: PORCUPINE PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia hystricina)]
[Illustration: LONG SPINED PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia macrocentra)]
And now the borealis of desert color has passed us by in its rush to the
coolness and stillness of the desert night, only to recuperate and renew
its gay attire and appear in fresh array of hue and tint in the morrow’s
pearly dawn. In ages long gone by, when worlds were in the making, with
the swish of the eternal paintbrush the flowers received their colorings,
and it is with awe and admiration we have greeted these colorful
creations come forth at the touch of the Master Artist; for we find them
only here in the land of the burning sun, where they are born to their
lonely vigil under the sky and stars, but to live and thrive and to fade
and die, only to reappear anon in eternal and varied expressions of the
Infinite Mind of Nature. Thus to-day passes into to-morrow, when new
fields are waiting to be painted on the glorious canvas of the desert,
and so we must take our leave of gorgeous bloom and brilliant filigree
alike, and hurry along as the setting sun traces a last fiery pattern
across the flaming heavens.
The Prickly Pear Group or Nopals (_Platopuntia_)
How to identify and how they grow
These plants are large or small shrubs, consisting of several jointed
stems, the flat platelike joints or branches pear-shaped, elongated,
thorny, but not distinctly tubercled, the clumps of joints from one to
six or more feet in height, and from two to ten or twelve feet across.
Spicules, sometimes called glochidia, are always present. The plants
always have scalelike leaves which soon fall off. The Prickly Pears, like
the Cholla, have spines of but one kind and of many different sizes, but
they are not fierce nor as dangerous as the thorns of the Cholla, and
they are never sheathed. The flowers are symmetrical and very beautiful,
among the most brilliant of all the gorgeous cactus bloom, large flaming
orange or yellow blossoms, usually. They open in the forenoon and close
in the late afternoon of the same day, generally, soon falling away from
the young fruit. The latter is covered with tubercles and always has
spicules, scales, and generally spines, is either fleshy or dry, and is
edible, often purple, falling away soon after maturity.
How to grow
Plants grow readily from cuttings of one or two joints set a few inches
deep in moist sandy soil and given enough water to keep the soil moist;
the cut surfaces should be allowed to dry thoroughly before planting. If
mature cuttings are used and planted in early spring, many species will
blossom the same season. Plants can be grown also from seeds planted a
half-inch deep in sandy soil out of doors or in flats, with part shade
and watered enough to keep the soil moist but not wet; but these develop
very slowly and remain a long time in the soil before they germinate. All
species grow indoors or out, preferably in a southern exposure.
Papago Fruit Cactus (_Opuntia Blakeana_)
(Named in honor of Dr. William P. Blake, professor of geology in the
University of Arizona and director of the College of Mines)
How to identify and how it grows
_Blakeana_, or the Papago Fruit Cactus, is formed by stems a foot or so
high which grow on the desert in clumps eight feet or more in diameter.
The branches or joints are pear-shaped, about three inches wide and eight
inches long, colored a medium green suffused with beautiful purples. The
spicules and spines are very distinctive, the former growing in fringes
and easily dislodged. The spine colors are brown or purple and tone off
into gray, and the thorns are very sharp and needlelike, dangerous when
the plant is not handled cautiously. The flowers—beautiful and also very
showy, from two to three inches long, bright satin-yellow with red-brown
centers—appear in April and May; the fruit ripens in July and is of a
pale pink-purple, quite sweet.
How to grow
This species will grow outside and is not injured by temperatures as low
as twenty-five degrees below freezing. With temperatures lower than this
it should be protected or grown indoors. Mature cuttings composed of one
joint planted at almost any season, but preferably early in spring, with
a half of the cutting covered, grow very readily. They may be planted in
any position or simply laid on the surface of moist soil. Very little
irrigation is necessary, but watering once a month during the growing
season is beneficial. Grown indoors or out.
Delicate Prickly Pear (_Opuntia delicata_)
(Named from its small size and delicate structure)
How to identify and how it grows
_Delicata_, or the Delicate Prickly Pear, is formed by stems three to ten
inches long which are thin, wrinkled or dished joints of bluish green and
purplish tones. These joints or stems are covered with bright yellowish
spicules which seem to be arranged in circular bundles, and with three
twisted spines one-fourth inch to three inches long, all three very
slender, delicate and whitish. The flowers are two or three inches long
and wide, of a bright satiny yellowish hue; the fruit is pear-shaped and
slender. This plant has small joints, and with its long weak slender
spines and large beautiful flowers is a very attractive species. At the
same time it is quite a rare specimen of the Cactacea Family.
How to grow
Plants grow indoors and out, and are not injured by temperatures of
twenty-five or thirty degrees below freezing. With colder weather they
require protection. They are difficult to transplant on account of the
fleshy spindle-shaped roots, which decay if injured. Plants grow readily
from the cuttings of two joints or stems with the lower cutting covered
with soil, and prefer a sandy soil. They may be grown also from seeds,
but these germinate slowly. The _delicata_ thrives with moderate
irrigation and should be watered once a month during its growing season
and given good drainage.
Purple Prickly Pear (_Opuntia santa rita_)
(Named from the Santa Rita Mountains near Tucson, Arizona, in the
vicinity of which it was discovered)
How to identify and how it grows
_Santa rita_, or the Purple Prickly Pear, is a plant from two to five
feet tall composed of jointed compact stems, a foot or less in length and
half as wide, forming into a head. These joints are a bluish gray
suffused with purple tones and are circular. This characteristic shape
distinguishes the species from the ordinary Prickly Pear, which has
oblong or elongated joints. The spicules form in a translucent yellowish
fringe; there are one or two twisted yellow spines, growing on many
specimens to three inches in length. The flowers are about three inches
long, and are very showy with their satiny lemon-yellow colorings
appearing in April and May. The light green and purple fruit is
elliptical. This plant is the handsomest of all the southwestern Prickly
Pears, while the purplish circular joints with but a few slender spines
make it quite distinctive.
How to grow
This variety is popular in cactus gardens and grows easily from mature
cuttings; if they are set in the ground early in spring, the plants
blossom during the same season. Half of the cutting should be covered,
and then the plant should be watered lightly during the growing season to
keep the soil moist. The plant prefers gravelly or loamy soils. Fine
symmetrical plants are grown from seeds, though these germinate slowly.
This plant is not injured by zero temperatures, and grows indoors or out.
Smooth Prickly Pear (_Opuntia laevis_)
(The specific name _laevis_ means “smooth”)
How to identify and how it grows
The Smooth Prickly Pear is practically devoid of the spines so prevalent
in the cactus family. Many specimens reach a height of six feet; the
joints or branches are from six to twelve inches long and loosely
branched from the base, and are a yellowish green. The spicules are
yellow and brown or a mixture of these two colors, while the one or two
slender deflexed spines are white or tan. The flowers are large and quite
showy, and with their lemon-yellow petals and orange centers present a
very beautiful color scheme. The bloom is about three inches long and as
broad, blossoming in April and May; the purple fruit ripens in July, and
is about the size of a large walnut; its flesh is pink fading into
purple.
How to grow
These plants grow indoors or out and will endure temperatures twenty-five
or thirty degrees below freezing without injury. Young plants may be
transplanted at any season, or mature cuttings may be planted early in
spring. They grow well in any ordinary soil, preferably gravelly loam or
rocky soil, and should be watered once a month to keep the soil moist
during the growing season. The seeds are slow to germinate.
Foothill Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Toumeyi_)
(Named in honor of James W. Toumey, former professor of botany at the
University of Arizona)
How to identify and how it grows
The Foothill Prickly Pear is another of the clump-growing variety of the
cactus clan, reaching to a height of about three feet. The stems form
readily in large clumps along the foothills and low-lying mesas and
swales in sunny exposures, where the plants do best. This species has the
usual system of spicules and spines, the former a fourth-inch, the latter
about three inches long. The spicules are tawny or yellow and brown,
while the needlelike crooked spines are white or a light red-brown. In
the gathering shadows these thorns give the plant a pinkish gray cast.
The bright showy blossoms are about the length and width of a teacup, are
a bright yellow with orange centers, and appear in April and May. The
elliptical purple fruit ripens in July.
How to grow
Plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by thirty degrees of
frost, but require protection for temperatures below zero. They grow
easily from mature cuttings planted at almost any season. Before
planting, place cuttings in shade for about two weeks to allow cut to
heal. Cover about half of the cutting with soil and plant in rocky or
gravelly clay; water lightly during the growing season and in droughty
periods.
Cow’s Tongue; Lengua de Vaca (_Opuntia linguiformis_)
(All three names refer to the characteristic tongue-shaped joints)
How to identify and how it grows
The Cow’s Tongue is an oddly formed Prickly Pear which grows
tongue-shaped joints a foot to thirty inches long. These flattened,
tongue-shaped joints are about as wide as a man’s hand and a little
thinner, covered with well spaced spicules and spines. The edges of the
joints are also fringed with needlelike thorns which are dangerous to
handle. These light greenish stems or joints form into thickets growing
from three to five feet high and creating a very good hedge. The spicules
are a light yellowish; some of the spines are a straw color, and it is to
be noted that about half of them are a pale purple and brown, not more
than two inches long, the spicules about half as long. The flowers are
about the diameter of a large cup and are very showy, of a beautiful
satiny yellowish hue. The fruit is light purple, the flesh greenish,
ripening in July.
This odd-looking cactus may be easily recognized among all other Prickly
Pears by its characteristic tongue-shaped joints.
How to grow
Plants are not injured in outdoor zero temperatures, but for colder
weather they should be covered or grown indoors. They grow readily from
cuttings set about six inches deep in moist soil and watered lightly
bi-weekly during the growing season. Cuttings should remain out of the
ground for two weeks in shade before planting, to callus over the cut
ends. Almost any kind of soil will answer.
Discus Prickly Pear (_Opuntia discata_)
(The names refer to the disk-shaped joints)
How to identify and how it grows
The Discus Prickly Pear, or _discata_, also grows in clumps from three to
five feet high and as much as ten feet across, and has numerous ascending
and spreading branches. This plant, too, will make an excellent cactus
hedge. Its spreading branches are the disk-shaped joints of the stems,
nearly a foot in diameter and circular and platelike, of a pale
blue-green which in some lights is changeable. These disks are covered
with fringes of yellow and brown spicules, needlelike and tough, and the
edges also are fringed with them. Placed among the spicules are three or
four twisted stout spines, white with yellow tips, and awl-shaped. The
large flowers are three or four inches long, and are very showy and
conspicuous with their bright satiny yellow tints. They bloom in April
and May, and the pear-shaped deep purple fruit, three inches or so long,
comes in July.
How to grow
Plants grow outside and indoors, enduring zero temperatures without
injury. Plant mature cuttings of one joint six inches deep in moist soil
early in spring and water about once a month to keep the soil lightly
moist. They will grow in almost any soil, but best in sandy loam. Plants
also grow from seed, but these are slow to germinate.
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Engelmannii_)
(Named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann, an early and outstanding
student of cacti)
How to identify and how it grows
Engelmann’s Prickly Pear is a large spreading shrub six to twelve feet in
diameter growing to five feet in height, with distinctive “pancakelike”
greenish joints, about the size of a medium-sized meat platter, but
somewhat elliptical and ascending from the base. The general color of
this plant is greenish. Its spicules are abundant in fringes along the
joints, colored orange-yellow or brownish, while the four spines are
awl-shaped with purplish and tawny yellow bodies, and slightly banded.
The brilliant satiny yellow flowers are large and very showy. They have
the curious characteristic of changing to orange in the afternoon and
orange-red in the evening, and are a little less than five inches in
width and length. The plant blossoms in May and June, and the pear-shaped
purple fruit comes in July.
How to grow
Treat cuttings in all respects as _Opuntia discata_. _Engelmannii_ are
not injured by zero temperatures.
Long Spined Prickly Pear (_Opuntia macrocentra_)
(The name _macrocentra_ refers to the long spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The Long Spined Prickly Pear is a plant about three feet tall growing
from stems which ascend from the base. These joints are about the size of
a man’s hand, circular or egg-shaped, and are of a dull olive-green
suffused with purple, sometimes purple throughout. This plant has a
system of spicules and spines arranged much in the usual cactus fashion.
The spicules are formed in bundles, generally crescent-shaped and
red-brown or tawny. The young spines are a deep red-purple, while the
older spines are often cross-banded, purple-brown, reddish, or nearly
black, three inches long, or longer, fierce and needlelike and sometimes
twisted. The flowers, about three inches long and broad, are yellow with
bright red or orange-red centers which make them quite attractive. The
pink-purple fruit is elliptical and comes in July; the fruit-meat is
light greenish.
How to grow
Plants may be grown in zero temperatures without injury, and thrive
outdoors or indoors. They grow easily from mature cuttings set out at
almost any time, but preferably early in spring; the cut should be
allowed to callus over before planting. They should be watered once a
month or so during the growing season to keep the soil slightly moist.
Gravelly clay soils are preferred, though the plants grow well in sandy
clay or loam.
Beaver Tail (_Opuntia basilaris_)
How to identify and how it grows
The Beaver Tail, or _Opuntia basilaris_, gets both its common and its
specific name from the appearance of the joints growing from the base,
which are covered with spicules and resemble a beaver’s tail. This plant
is usually about a foot tall and two or three feet across the spread of
the rosettelike growth, with the fanlike or beaver-tail joints coming
from the bases. These joints are about six by nine inches and of a
blue-green suffused with purple and covered with fine white hairs. The
older joints become crosswise wrinkled. The red-brown spicules are very
abundant, short and easily dislodged. There are no spines on the plant.
The purple flowers are very numerous, about three inches in width and
length. They appear in April and May, and the fruit, which is covered
with many fine hairs, comes in July.
How to grow
Plants are uninjured by temperatures twenty-five degrees below freezing.
Transplant at any season; mature cuttings planted early in spring will
blossom the same season. Plants may be set in gravelly or sandy soils
with good drainage and watered lightly once a month during the growing
season or droughty spells.
Golden Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Covillei_)
(Named in honor of Dr. Frederick V. Coville, curator of the National
Herbarium, Washington, D. C.)
How to identify and how it grows
_Covillei_, or the Golden Prickly Pear, is a plant two to three feet tall
and three to four feet in diameter growing with ascending or spreading
branches in jointed form, which are seven to ten inches long and four to
six inches across. The general color of the plant is pale blue-green.
This plant often forms in thickets during growth and is covered with
numerous brown spicules occurring in bundles or growing in a fringe.
There are about four spines of light brown and yellow suffused with
white, sharp and needlelike. The flowers are very showy and of a bright
golden color, about three inches in length and width. The fruit is
pear-shaped and purple.
How to grow
Transplant at any season, or grow from mature cuttings planted five or
six inches deep early in spring—they will then blossom the same season.
Water about once a month to keep the soil slightly moist. Occasionally
used in Southern California as a hedge plant. Plants will endure twenty
degrees of frost without injury; for colder temperatures protection is
needed. Grown indoors or outside.
Flapjack Prickly Pear (_Opuntia chlorotica_)
(The name _chlorotica_ refers to the light green coloring of the plant)
How to identify and how it grows
The Flapjack Prickly Pear grows from three to six feet high from short
trunks but a few inches long. The branches are erect, forming a rounded
head which is quite attractive. The upper joints look very much like
“flapjacks” from six to ten inches long and about as wide. The color of
the plant is light yellow-green with sometimes a blue-green cast. The
spicules are very conspicuous and are slender and very sharp, about
one-quarter inch long, of a translucent yellow and arranged in a crescent
form. The four or five spines are a little longer than the spicules,
sharp, slender, and bristlelike, yellow and brown. The flowers are nearly
three inches in length and width, are light lemon-yellow with orange-red
centers, and blossom in May and June.
How to grow
This Prickly Pear grows indoors or outside and is not injured by
temperatures twenty or twenty-five degrees below freezing. It can be
transplanted at any season. If mature plants are transplanted early in
spring they blossom the same season. Cuttings do not root readily and
sometimes remain in the ground a year without growing. They should be
planted early in spring in sandy or gravelly clay loam; the plants should
be watered about once a month to insure good growth.
Porcupine Prickly Pear (_Opuntia hystricina_)
(Named from its long reddish or brownish spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The Porcupine Prickly Pear is formed of stems a foot or so high covered
with finely grooved spines, long and slender and needlelike, up to four
inches long, white and brownish red. The spicules occur in a
crescent-shaped mass of light brown or yellowish colorings. The flowers
are two to three inches long and as broad. They are very showy and bright
purple or yellowish; they appear in April and May, while the fruit ripens
in July and August. The Porcupine Prickly Pear grows at high altitudes
and will endure temperatures below zero without injury.
How to grow
A popular beauty in gardens, it grows readily from mature cuttings
planted at almost any season. If planted in early spring, they should
blossom the same season. The cuttings should be dried off first to give
the cut time to heal over, planted in gravelly or loamy soil with about
one-half of the cutting covered, and watered once a month during the
growing season. The species may be grown also from seed in flats or pots
in moist soil with partial shade but with dry air. The plants are not
injured by temperatures of twenty-five degrees below zero, and hence with
proper soil, drainage, and limited irrigation may be grown out of doors
in almost any part of the United States or of the temperate zones.