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THE PLANT WORLD. 



country of southern Arizona to give decided character to the 

 landscape. Its scarlet flower, produced during the spring months 

 in terminal contracted panicles six to nine inches long, suggest 

 many burning candles. Its numerous, spiny unbranched stems 

 diverge at quite uniform angles from a common base, thus giving 

 to the plant the characteristic, sharply outlined, obconical form. 

 During the flowering period it appears at some little distance as a 

 green, inverted cone with a bright red base. With a reasonable 



Fig. 47. The biznaga, or barrel cactus contains a good deal of water at 



times. 



rainfall its stems become clothed with many delicate green leaves 

 which turn yellow and fall off at the approach of another dry 

 period. The first young leaves have been noted on the plants in 

 the garden forty-eight hours after watering.* The classification 

 of Foiiquiera has given taxonomists no little concern. The re- 

 cent authorities, Engler and Prantl, regard it as a member of the 



* F. E. Lloyd, " Artificial Induction of Leaf Formation in the Ocatillo," 

 Torreya, Vol. 5, No. 10, October, 1905. Reprinted in The Plant World, 

 vol. 9, no. 3, March, 1906, p. 56. 



