30 Our Araby 



cactus that scratched you, or whether it was a 

 mesquit or a catclaw that tore your clothes. The 

 cacti alone are "worth the money": the biznaga, for 

 instance, on close acquaintance is a most engaging 

 fellow, and seriously, no one should go through life 

 without interviewing a cholla. A tree that is as 

 green as grass, yet has no leaves, is worth one's 

 notice: so is one that is total gray and pricklier 

 than an armful of hedgehogs, and another that 

 bears for fruit a neat imitation of a handful of 

 screws. 



But it is when the Great Spring Flower Show 

 comes on, especially if the rains have come just 

 right, that our Garden of the Sun shows what it is 

 capable of botanically. In January one or two 

 early-waking plants, such as crimson beloperone 

 and yellow bladder-pod, modestly start the show. 

 February brings the wild heliotrope and the first 

 hint of the glory of the verbenas, with clouds of 

 wild plum in the cafions. March is a steady 

 crescendo of color, and by mid-April the riot is on 

 and Flora is emptying her lap over the desert in 

 cascades of multi-hued bloom. On the levels, pools 

 of rosy - purple verbenas spread out and run 

 together into lakes; the mountain slopes, built of 

 slabs of uncompromising rock, by some magic con- 

 trive to send out myriads of golden blossoms of the " 

 incense-bush; the canons turn into mazes and 

 tangles of flowering rarities that go to the head of 

 the most experienced botanist. Now is the time to 

 notice how admirable even a cactus can be when 



