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background of jet black rocks, flourishes the pure white 

 CHRISTMAS DESERT HOLLY, botanically named A triplex 

 hymenelytra by Dr. Torrey in 1857. Arising from a gnarled and 

 woody base, this compact shrub is garbed heavily in silvery 

 tomentose cordate leaves. . . . Surely the sands of the desert are 

 always to be visualized as billowy, wind rippled dunes of 

 shifting silvery brightness, with here and there patches of lovely 

 pink SAND VERBENA {Abronia villosa) and blushing white 

 EVENING PRIMROSE {Oenothera trichocalyx). 



From the sanguinary Colorado River, the road meanders 

 into the spectacular Black Ute Mountains where, in Spring- 

 time, the rocky hillsides and the sandy valleys are re-created as 

 veritable desert flower gardens. 



THE OCOTILLO {Fonqiiieria splendens) is the most mag- 

 nificent of desert trees. From a knotty root-crown spring long, 

 unbranched, very thorny stems which, in late Spring, are 

 covered with rosettes of leafy greenery and surmounted by 

 dense panicles of brilliant scarlet flowers. The Ocotillo, con- 

 trary to popular opinion, is not a Cactus. ... A small and 

 straggling deciduous tree, armed with sharp curved prickles, is 

 the CATC LAW {Acacia gregii). In Summer the Catclaw is 

 habited in feathery compound leaves and adorned with short 

 cylindrical spikes of fluffy yellow, fragrant blossoms. Its flat, 

 cinnamon-red seedpods resemble miniature frying pans. . . . 

 The Catclaw is host plant for the MESQUITE MISTLETOE 

 {Phoradendron calif ornicum) . The large reddish bronze bundles 

 of this leafless parasite gather in the branches of many desert 

 trees and there are frequently mistaken for gigantic birds' nests. 

 In late Autumn the Mesquite Mistletoe glows with beauty of 

 small, globose, pinkish and viscid berries. . . . However, at the 

 mere thought of parasites, there flashes a vision of that loveliest 

 plant robber of them all, the DODDER {Cuscuta denticulata) , 

 painting the desert landscape with golden luminance. ... It is 

 delightful to discover in this region some plants of the uniquely 

 interesting Cactus family. That tall and widely spreading Cac- 

 tus with its slenderly cylindrical and densely spiny branches 

 terminating in yellowish green blossoms is the DEERHORN 

 CACTUS {Opuntia echinocarpa). The BEAVER TAIL CAC- 

 TUS {Opuntia basilaris) is the low-growing spineless Cactus, 

 with flat blue-green slab-like "leaves" closely dotted with golden 



