THE BABY CACTUS 35 



species have a thick milky juice in their stems, others a color- 

 less watery sap. 



The flowers are day-blooming, both opening and closing 

 with surprising rapidity. Mammillaria blossoms are rel- 

 atively small, while those of Coryphantha are much larger, 

 often two or three inches across; yellowish, white, pink, 

 rose, red, or purple. There are usually many sepals, petals, 

 and stamens, all beautifully and symmetrically arranged, and 

 the harmony of color in the flowers is often commented upon 

 with delight. While the flowers last at most but a few days, 

 many of the different plants are in bloom for a considerable 

 length of time, and some blossom two or three times a year 

 during the spring and summer. The fruit of Pincushion 

 Cacti are naked and smooth, rarely with a few scales in some 

 species, and when mature red, green, yellowish, or dull 

 purplish, and club-shaped or nearly globose. They are 

 borne at the bases of the tubercles; in Coryphantha, at the 

 bases of young tubercles near the top of the plant, so that 

 they appear terminal; in Mammillaria, at the bases of old 

 tubercles some distance from the top of the plant. 



Pincushion Cacti are very popular for window gardens 

 and miniature cactus gardens on account of their smallness, 

 their symmetry and beauty, their fantastic shapes and de- 

 signs, and their bright-colored dainty flowers. They are 

 considered to be among the most highly developed of the 

 cacti, inasmuch as the greatest reduction of the plant body 

 has taken place, the plants having no leaves nor even trace 

 of leaves. In the evolution of cacti the tendency of the dif- 

 ferent groups and species is to become leafless, and most cacti 

 either are without leaves or have leaflets that soon disap- 

 pear. 



Baby cacti grow readily from seed, preferably new seed, 

 which is Nature's method for their reproduction. For 

 this gallon tin cans or large flower pots, with holes in the 



