2 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



Latin, meaning torch, and Is given to this genus In the family 

 of Cactaceae because of the beautiful candelabralike branch- 

 ing of some of its members. 



GROWTH AND HABITATS 



They are trees, shrubs, or climbers, growing erect or 

 spreading out with ribbed branches; they are the tallest and 

 largest of the Cactaceae. The flowers are funnel-form, 

 some are elongated and very showy, and we find that they 

 bloom mostly In the darkness of the desert night. Perhaps 

 this night blooming accounts for the softness and brilliance 

 of their delicate colorings, as of the orchids, the most 

 gorgeous of which as you know come from the deep shaded 

 forests of the South American jungles. The genus Cereus is 

 very large, comprising more than two hundred varieties. 

 Their native habitats are In South America, Central America, 

 the West Indies, Mexico, and southern United States. 



Caterpillar Cactus (Cereus eruca) 



Lower California, Magdalena Island 



The first of these growths to attract our attention is the 

 weird Creeping Devil cactus ! How apropos Is this nomen- 

 clature I We see It here In Lower California, Cereus eruca, 

 creeping along the coastal lands and over the fine drifted 

 sands of the seashore like countless thousands of caterpillars 

 crawling over the ground, worming their way slowly across 

 the sandy plains to the sea. This remarkable cactus grows 

 on the coastal plains of Lower California and is abundant on 

 Magdalena Island In very sandy soil, preferring the softer 

 sand for Its habitat and particularly the wind-drifted mate- 

 rial, over small areas of which it forms a more or less con- 

 tinuous covering, broken here and there by dead stems. In 



