Los Angeles herald., 1910-06-26
cAcTI AND HOW TO GROW THEM

nave you ever SIOWn d cdCbuo.
A strange thing, truly, is cactus
plant, with it's armor of spines and its
uncommon form land yet with a
beauty all it's own and an interest sur
passing many other forms of Towering
plants.
cactus plant is a wonderfully easy
thing to grow. 1t Is common saying
among cactus collectors, and it is un-
doubtedly true of some varieties, that
it is almost impossible to kill cactus
plant. Out in the burning deserts of
Arizona and Mexico a cactus plant can
be left for days and weeks at time
removed from the ground, lying in the
burning sun, an experience that would
kill any other form of vegetable life.
And yet the plant hardly seems to be
Inconvenience and will renew its
growth when put in the ground. Some
forms, like the opuntiae, are, indeed,
best reproduced by breaking off the
joints from the mother plant and let
ting the broken surface get calloused
by lying exposed to the sun fror some
days, and then planting, when they
will quickly take root as cuttings.
Cacti, therefore, are readily trans
planted and are regularly shipped by
collectors without any extraordinary
protection from one side of the globe
to the other. A cactus is one of the
few plants that can be transplanted
when in bud or flower without receiv-
ing any setback.
Cacti grow in many strange bizarre
forms. There is the button cactus,
looking like a delicately embroidered
button, of pearl gray color and of a
size seldom larger than a dime. On
the other hand there is the giant cac-
tus (Cereus gigantea, or its new name
of Cereus CarnegiD, which grows on
the deserts of Arizona to a height of
fifty or sixty feet; plants that weigh
thousands of pounds each. Some
cacti have spines of radiant colors,
ranging from a pearl gray to a deep
maroon. The spines of some varieties
are like hairs; on others long needle
like thorns four or five inches in length.
Again on others the spines are strong
and curved and are used by the In
dians as fish hooks.
The flowers of cacti include a Won
derful range of beautiful colors and of
varying sizes. Some varieties of the
genus Mamilinria have the daintiest of
daisy-like pink blooms The Echino-
cerei, which is an important genus of
the cactus family, produce a profusion
of blooms of large size, ranging from
one to five inches in diameter, and in
cluding shades of gold and yellow, pink,
scarlet and magenta. The Echinocereus
Dasuacanthus plants are from three
yellow, two inches to three inches wide.
One of the most beautiful OF all bloom
ers is the Echinocereus rigidissimus,
popularity known as the rainbow cac-
tus" This plant, although ordinarily
not more than five or six inches high,
will bear from ten to thirteen blossoms,
each one from three to five inches in
diameter, and sometimes massed so
thickly that there is hardly room for
the individual flowers to open. The
flowers are of a brilliant magenta on
the edge of the petals, shading to white
in the center of the flower. The Echi-
nocacti another interesting genus have
flowers mostly in yellow and purple
shades, and are also free bloomers. The
Echinocastus Wislizeni, which is some
times called the "fish-hook cactus" be-
cause of it's immense curved spines, and
sometimes the barrel cactus" because
of the large size to which it grows, is
an important species of this genus, be-
cause of its handsome effect as a piece
for lawn or flower bed. 1t has large
purple flowers.
An interesting feature of most spe-
cies of cacti is the beautiful seed pods