THE BABY CACTUS 43 



needs not the compensation of the beauty afforded his less 

 fortunate brothers and sisters. Does Nature make up for 

 the hot aridity of the desert and the barren wastes of sand 

 and more sand, by brilliance of flower and wealth of fan- 

 tastic design? It would seem so, for nowhere else in the 

 world are to be found the weird, grotesque shapes, the flaming 

 splendor and fragrance of blossom, the kaleidoscopic changes 

 of color and pattern which are created far out on the dry 

 expanses, under the burning sun and during seasons of incon- 

 ceivable drought. 



Snowball Cactus (Mammillaria OHvice) 



Southern Arizona 



Next we see Olivia, the rose-tinted Snowball Pincushion, 

 clad in a white coat of twenty-five or thirty radiating spines 

 crowded together in a comb-like arrangement pressed closely 

 against her body and looking like a snowball lying on the 

 hot sand before us; the delicate rose-colored blossoms edged 

 with a narrow band of white form a beautifully designed pin- 

 cushion; even the stamens are deep rose, the styles light pink 

 with olive-green stigmas, the fruit bright scarlet, and the 

 seeds black. Is it any wonder that this riot of color, a rare 

 desert form of the Mammillaria Grahamii, is also called 

 the Sunset Cactus? 



Green Flowered Pincushion 



(Mammillaria viridiflora) 



Southeastern Arizona (Globe) 



The Green Flowered Pincushion would make a lovely ad- 

 dition to my lady's bower in a window rock garden. Not a 

 desert species, it inhabits the higher mountain levels, often in 

 oak woodlands; it is a rare beauty, difficult to find. Two or 

 three inches in length and diameter, its stem and tiny bell- 



