CACTI, SHRUBS. AND FLOWERS 6i 



sun, or sand-storm. I often wished that I had been 

 cast in a similar mould. 



Another A triplex, of the species canescens, is no- 

 ticeable for the bright-green tassels of its seed- 

 vessels, of a papery texture and peculiar shape for 

 which it has been given the common name of "shad- 

 scale." Since it fruits in the late summer, when the 

 desert is doubly deserted, its unique feature is not 

 generally known. 



One more relation of the quail bush that is worth 

 noting is the little prickly leafed A. hymenelytra. 

 The young foliage, of palest gray with rose or lilac 

 shell tints, whitens under the summer sun to almost 

 a look of ivory. At Christmastide it is sold in the 

 coast cities as "desert holly," sometimes with red 

 berries of other plants artfully attached to make it 

 better fill the part. The leaves are really holly-like 

 in shape, but after all a poor substitute for the royal 

 green ilex without which Christmas is only half a 

 festival. 



Often found growing with the ocotillo, which was 

 described in the previous chapter, is the Agave 

 deserti. This is a relative of the century plant of 

 parks and gardens, and is almost identical with the 

 indispensable maguey of Mexico. Again we have the 

 desert's eternal note of gray, in the huge bayonet- 

 pointed leaves, from the midst of which, when the 

 plant is from twelve to twenty years old, a single 

 straight flowering-stalk shoots up to a height of 

 eight or ten feet, breaking into crowded blossoms 

 of honey-dripping yellow. Once having bloomed, the 

 plant dies. 



