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AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



opuntias, have representatives of tree size in this country. The two genera differ 

 in form. Cereus in the Latin language means a candle, and the cactuses of that 

 genus stand up in straight stems like candles, or have branches like old-fashioned 

 candlesticks. The opunitas have flat, jointed stems, like thick leaves. Giant cactus 

 bears flowers four inches long and two wide; fruit two inches long and one wide, and 

 edible. Indians derive a considerable part of their food from this cactus. They 

 use the wood for rafters, fences, fuel, lances, and bows. The trunks consist of 

 bundles of fiber, very hard and strong. In the dry region where this cactus grows, 

 the woody parts of fallen stems last long periods, some say for centuries, but there are 

 no records. Schott cactus (Cereus schottii) and Thurber cactus (Cereus thurberi) are 

 found in southern Arizona and southward in Mexico. 



CHOUI.A (Opuniia fulgida) ranges from Nevada southward into Mexico. It is 

 popularly called "divil's tongue cactus," but there are other species with the same 

 name. Trunks are occasionally ten or twelve feet high, and the wood is made into 

 canes and small articles of furniture, but as lumber it is not important. The fruit is 

 not eaten. A closely-related species is known as tassajo (Opuntia sponsior). It is 

 found on the dry mesas of southern Arizona where trunks may be ten feet high and a 

 few inches in diameter. It has the same uses as cholla. A third species is Opuntia 

 versicolor of southern Arizona. It is similar to the other opuntias. Attempts have 

 been made to grow spineless varieties of this group of cactuses. It is believed that 

 cattle, sheep, and goats would thrive on the pulpy growth, if the thorns could be 

 gotten rid of. The semi-desert regions of the Southwest produce enormous quan- 

 tities of cactus of many kinds, and if those worthless species could be made way with 

 And thornless varieties substituted, it is probable that much land now worthless 

 would become valuable. 



