PREFACE 



In this book we are going to introduce something new 

 and interesting to many, the weird cactus plant life of the 

 Southwestern desert — strange and marvelous growths which 

 we call the Fantastic Clan; and to increase the reality and 

 charm of the subject we will take an imaginary trip into the 

 domain of the flowers of the desert. We shall explain here 

 how to come to know them, and how to grow them in gar- 

 dens ; and we hope that, after reading, you will desire to have 

 a cactus garden of your own, for the desert cacti are so dif- 

 ferent and so beautiful, with their symmetry of filigree and 

 lacework, their fantastic shapes and marvelous colorings, 

 and in many cases with a perfection of design that seems to 

 have just come from the draughting board. We will not 

 attempt to picture all the wondrous beauty of the Night 

 Blooming Cereus, nor to tell how dainty the Arizona Rain- 

 bow and the California Pincushion really are. We will try, 

 however, to treat In large measure about them, and about 

 all the most important groups of cacti known to man, here 

 In Mexico and our own Southwest, the great cactus area of 

 the earth. We will show where they live and how they live, 

 and in what manner they grow; and when you actually see 

 them, in traveling across the Great American Desert, you 

 will appreciate the wondrous beauty of desert creations and 

 the flashes of brilliant color, gorgeous beyond description. 

 No artist can paint nor pen describe the weird Fantastic 

 Clan, as they are glimpsed peering out from under the rocks 

 or gathered in clusters and patches surrounded with their 



