CACTUSES AND OTHER SUCCULENTS I55 



flowers are small and tubular, yellow, 

 red, carmine, or purple. In a month 

 or two after the flowers have disappeared a 

 little red fruit appears, and is far prettier 

 than the flower. Mammillaria bicolor is a 

 very handsome species, with white spines 

 which lie flat on the stem. In M. plumosa 

 and M. lasiacantha the spines are like fine 

 white hairs. When grown under tumblers, 

 to keep the dust from collecting and soiling 

 the hairs, the plants look like bolls of cotton. 

 The "old man" cactus (Pilocereus senilis) 

 is another one of those curious fuzzy cactuses 

 needing protection from dust. The hairs 

 are from two to five inches long. The 

 flowers, which are seldom produced in culti- 

 vation, are four inches long, and red. In a 

 pot this plant rarely exceeds a foot in height, 

 although it becomes a veritable tree in its 

 native haunts. 



THE CENTURY PLANT 



Some other desert plants which are not 

 cactuses, but needing practically the same 

 treatment, are usually associated with them 

 naturally. 



Probably the most talked-of among these 



