58 CALIFORNIA DESERT TRAILS 



pistil breaking into soft green plumes that curl as 

 daintily as a moth's antennae. One who is on the 

 desert in spring should on no account miss the sight 

 of this exquisite flower. 



Almost as handsome is the blossom of another 

 common desert cactus, Opuntia basilaris. This is one 

 of the flat-lobed or "pancake " species, and is sim- 

 ilar in general habit to the common tuna, prickly 

 pear, or Indian fig. The flower-buds sprout in a row 

 from the edges of the lobes, and make a fine show 

 with their cups of silky cerise. This plant, like the 

 tuna, is valuable to the Indians, who achieve a 

 special delicacy by cooking the young buds in a pit 

 heated with hot stones. 



But let the unwary beware; there is more in the 

 basilaris than meets the eye. The lobes have a 

 downy, innocent look, spines apparently absent. 

 "Trust her not, she is fooling thee." The velvety 

 surface is covered with myriads of infinitely fine 

 prickles that come off at the lightest touch and form 

 a sort of plush on the rash person's skin, almost in- 

 visible but most aggravating to the touch. The re- 

 moving of them, though a fine exercise in patience, 

 is one of the most melancholy occupations that I 

 know. 



All the foregoing bear cup-shaped, papery blooms 

 of what may be called the usual cactus character. 

 There is a quaint little cactus, not very common, 

 Mamillaria tetrancistrus, usually only two or three 

 inches high, that has an entirely different flower. 

 It is claret-color, fleshy, and vase-shaped, and bears 

 for fruit a bright coral-red vessel like a tiny chilef 



