The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-07-10
DEATH VALLEY CACTI
THE PLANTS THAT BLOOM IN THE
SUN SCORCHED DESERT.
Hundreds of Acres of a Scene Of Al
most Understandable Beauty In the
Mfd-t of Mile on Mile of Barren and
Deadly Sand Flats.


most Indescribable Beauty In the
Mfa.< Of Mile on Mile of Barren and
Deadly Sand Flats.
Not half the plants of Death valley !
are known to scientists; most of those |
that are known are little more than |
names and will never be more until |
the prying arm Of the railroad shall |
have laid bare some of the secrets of |
this vale of Hinom.
Most beautiful and most plenty on
the desert are the cacti, and the rapid |
!ty with which their dry and apparent
~ withered stalks put out blossoms
Under the touch of the rains is wonder
iul.
The largest and shOwiest blossom of
them all grows on short, stock stem
which during the summer does not
seem to have life enough to produce
the magnificent waxy flowers, which
are often as much as five inches across.
cactus much larger than this-the
barrel cactus-has a very small and in
significant bloom, while the tiniest of
oil, low, creeping, round stemmed.
Jointed growth. has an immense pink
dover, beautiful as any orchid and
rivaling the fairest rose of Persia in its
OdOr
Unfortunately the names of these
rare species are not we'll known, and
the cOmmOner varieties, which are also
found on the coast slope, bear no such
gorgeous array of blossoms. Old
friends greet the traveller on the rim
of Death valley too. There is the
chOlla pronounced choyah), which,
while large and many branched, pro-
duces few or no flowers, reproducing
itself by slipping" as our grand
mothers were wont to say of their
choice geraniums. Wherever an I'M
usually long branch falls to the ground
1t seems almost to work its way into
the earth, so soon do the shifting sands
cover it, Then a process Of roofing
takes place, so that soon an entirely
separate plant comes up few feet
from the parent So it is that great
beds Of cacti are formed throughout
the desert
plants in and around Death valley is
that they grow low to the ground, fol
no living thing can stand against the
simOOms that sweep this level floor for
200 miles on over into the Nevada deS
ert These low growers protect them
selves from the drifting sand in a Won
derfully ingenious manner. When the
plant first breaks from the ground 1t
comes up not in one stem, as do the
taller cacti, but in many tiny, branch
ing stalks, so that what solid earth and
rocks there are among the sand clouds
fall between these stalks and form a
sort of openwork barricade. Against
| this the sand drifts, but does not
choke out the life of the plant. The
winds of the desert always blow from
the same direction, so that the barri
cade is always available, whether it
be a rain, wind or sand storm that is
blowing
Another beautiful bloOmer of this far
desert raises a foot long shaft, four
pointed and like no other flower stalk
In the world. On it are clustered
| great waXen blooms two or three
inches across, perfumed with all the
sweet scents of Cyprus and the Ind
and ranging from palest golden white
to deepest purple.
From right to left of the narrow val
ley, more than 400 feet below the level
of the sea. $50 miles away, these beds
of cacti stretch. In winter and spring,
when they are all ablOOm with flame.
they seem like some great cloth Of gold
to the traveller pausing on the rim Of
the Funeral range or dipping down
with his burros through Windy gap.
These beds are sometimes large, COW
ering acres in dense patches. In other
places they are small and stunted, 50
that the traveller meets with scattered
clumps of the thorny shrubs miles be-
fore he comes upon traces Of the dead
alkaline lakes that mark the edge of
the valley.
Other plants than cacti are scarce In
Death valley, but two species Of mes
quite grow from one end Of the valley
to the other. both blooming profusely
and adding their quota of odor to the !
air. When they seed. the beans are
gathered by the Piutes and ground up
for -four
All in all. there are doubtless hun |
dreds of acres of cacti in this one part
of the California desert, and its beauty
when in bloom is something indeScrih-
able. especially when seen in the midst
of mile on mile of barren sand flats
San Francisco Chronicle.