I.IVINC; BARRELS 



Ihe Barrel cactuses are really extraordinary They arc mostly 

 tub-shaped structures fluted vertically but usually on a slight 

 bias. The ridges bear lines of nodules from which the spines 

 sprout, but some of them also bear hooks Some species grow to 

 a height of ten feet, are four feet in diameter, and weigh Ions. 

 They are believed to live for upward of six hundred years. Even 

 the biggest have only a slender three- to six-inch cylindrical and 

 central woody skeleton and roots that are very shallow and 

 widespread. When rain comes after a drought, they sometimes 

 absorb water so fast and in such quantities that they swell visibly 

 and get so heavy their roots pull out of the softened ground and 

 they topple over; but they may then put out new roots and just 

 go on growing, lying there like stranded grampuses. Their top- 

 pling is encouraged by the curious fact that they almost invariably 

 lean to the southwest, often at an acute angle. It is said that they 

 tend to grow as far as possible with their heads pointing to the 

 sun, which is on an average in that region of the sky for more 

 hours than in any other during the year as a whole in this pan 

 of the worid. There being more drying of the skin on that side 

 than in the comparatively more shady northeast side, the plants 

 tend to lean that way. It is further suggested that the bias in 

 their fluting, which almost invariably goes sinistrally, is due to 

 the head slewing around, as it were, to follow the arc of the 

 fall, winter, and spring sun as it crosses the southern sky from 

 east to west, getting hotter after noon. However, there appear to 

 be some rugged individualists who twist the other way, and still 

 others that don't twist at all. 



The Hedgehog cactuses are small three- to twelve-inch forms 

 shaped like bunches of prickly cucumbers, and some of them are 

 covered in silver mantles like domes of spider web glistening 

 with dew. One species extends as far north as Montana. About 

 thirty of the total of seventy-five known species have been found 

 in the Sonoran Province. The Pincushions, of which there are 

 several hundred known species, are also extremely numerous. 

 They are mostly small, squat, globular things, sometimes im- 

 mensely spiny, sometimes quite smooth, and they come in the 

 most astonishing colors and shapes, often looking exactly like 

 sea urchins. 



MOON FLOWERS 



It is among the night-blooming group of what are called Cerei 

 that we encounter the most impressive and the most odd of all 

 cactuses. Although of great variety, they may be divided into 

 several lots for purposes of recognition: the Giant (known as 

 Pringle's), the Saguaro, and the Organpipe; the long, meander- 

 ing, snaky or vinelike species: and a number of intermediate 

 forms. Not all night-blooming cactuses are Cerei, but all Cerei 

 flower at night. The Giant and the Saguaro may exceed fifty 

 feet in height. The latter has a single, central, upright stem from 

 which sprout side branches that form elbows and then also go 

 upward. Examples up to fifteen tons in weight and estimated 

 to be almost three hundred years old have been found. They 

 often grow so thickly they form forests. In this province they 

 range from sea level to almost five thousand feet, but there are 

 few in the south and they are found mostly just about the bor- 



The Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia). a woody-stemmed type 

 of yucca that may grow to over forty feet, is a prominent 

 member of the desert flora. 



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