A DESERT FASHION SHOW 23 



in six to thirty branches ascending from near the base, look 

 much like the pipes of a great organ at a distance. The 

 stems are from six inches to nearly two feet in diameter and 

 are cylindrical, with fifteen to nineteen ridges lined with 

 clusters of slender, spreading, grayish spines. The flowers, 

 which appear only at the tips of the stems, are three inches 

 long and half as wide, and open always at night; their 

 delicate pink petals are suffused with green and banded in 

 white or green, and their purple sepals are tinged with red. 

 The fruit is very delicious, sweet and juicy, olive-green, 

 globular, with scarlet fleshy pulp. The Pipe Organ Cactus 

 is show^n on the cover of this book. It is one of the finest 

 of the Cactus Clan. 



How to grow 



Sow seed in sandy soil in pots or flats with partial shade; 

 young plants may be transplanted in spring or early sum- 

 mer in rocky or gravelly soil and watered during dry spells 

 once a month to moisten the soil well. The plants can be 

 grown out of doors in the Southwest where the lowest win- 

 ter temperatures are only a few degrees below freezing. In 

 other parts of the country they may be grown indoors in rock 

 gardens or in warm sunny conservatories. 



Serpent Cactus; Mexican Night Blooming 



CeREUS; REINA DE NoCHE (Cereus 

 serpentinus) 



(Named specifically from the snakelike stems) 



How to idetjtify and how it grows 



The six to fifteen entangled stems of this weird cactus 

 resemble a serpent. They are eight to fifteen feet tall, 

 about an inch in diameter, generally growing erect for about 



