44 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



like flowers are both green, the radial spines loosely interlock- 

 ing over the body of the plant, slender flexible thorns, white 

 or reddish brown with sharp hooked tips. It is a near cousin 

 to Mammillaria Wilcoxii, 



Showy Pincushion (Coryphantha or Mammillaria 



aggregata) 



Southern Arizona, Western New Mexico, and 

 Northern Sonora 



A handsome baby cactus, aggregata occurs usually in 

 clumps, is two to five inches tall and almost as broad, with 

 twenty or forty sharp needlelike thorns a half-inch or so long, 

 tan or light pink, their ends forming twisted tips of white or 

 reddish brown, and intermixed with fifteen or more rows of 

 angled tubercles which bear the spine clusters. Beware of 

 getting a "retrorsely barbed" thorn into the hand I Lacera- 

 tion ensues and much difl^culty in extraction, for Nature has 

 given these, her baby cacti, sharp and relentless protectors. 

 A popular fellow for rock gardens is aggregata on account of 

 his symmetrical and globose head, forming a cushion of 

 bright pink or rose-purple blossoms which come forth to 

 greet the world for but a day, then fold their dainty petals 

 and are no more. 



Arizona Pincushion (Coryphantha or 



Mammillaria arizonica) 



Northern Arizona (Kingman, Phoenix) 



We have traveled over halfway across the premier cactus 

 state, and are approaching the mighty Grand Canon of the 

 Colorado, that great fissure in the earth's surface worn by 

 water erosion throughout the ages. Hereabouts several new 

 colonies of cacti are to be seen. The Arizona Pincushion 

 is a conspicuous but not at all common fellow, easily recog- 



