THE BABY CACTUS 39 



pincushion ; the whole producing a happy symphony in brown 

 and orange, so that many feel tempted to purloin this prize 

 and take it back to adorn conservatories at home. And 

 how many are transported and grown in our homes in lovely 

 rock gardens ! For reciirvata is much in demand for cactus 

 collections and is very easy to transplant. Plant him in sand 

 or among rocks, and let him have plenty of bright sunshine 

 and occasionally a little water, and he will thrive with neither 

 care nor trouble to any one. 



Devil's Pincushion (Coryphantha or 



Mammillaria robustispina) 



Southern Arizona, Southwestern New Mexico, 

 and Northern Sonora 



The Devil's Pincushion is our largest and finest, resembling 

 a pineapple in color and appearance, with his cone-shaped 

 stems three to nine inches tall and three to six inches across, 

 his big tubercles in spirals of thirteen or more rows, coarse 

 yellowish thorns, and large fruit and seeds. The dozen or 

 so spines in a comb-like radial arrangement from a common 

 center, the areola, and graduated, are not alone beautiful 

 and symmetrical, but provide a coat of mail for robustispina 

 protecting him against excessive light or heat and cold. It 

 is from this armament of stout wide-spreading thorns that 

 he is so aptly named "The Devil's Pincushion." However, 

 this cactus is endowed not only with a strong set of needles, 

 but with lovely patterns in flower array as well: beautiful, 

 showy blossoms, two or three inches long and wide, of a bril- 

 liant yellow against their reddish brown background of 

 thorns, coming forth in one glorious splash of color for but 

 a day, then fading away from eye of man, and no more to be 

 seen until another year has passed. 



