PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS 6?> 



nooks, crevices and rock-cracks, along the foothills and on 

 the slopes, began to appear the haciendas of the flowers; in 

 time they thrived and multiplied. To-day on the great des- 

 erts of the Southwest along the Arizona-California line and 

 eastward, there are vast stretches of cacti of every weave and 

 pattern imaginable, as symmetrical in design as though each 

 were first wrought on the Infinite Draughting Board and then 

 carefully and wisely planted by the Great Gardener to live 

 forever. 



Our third trek starts from one of the beautiful California 

 or Arizona sites that dot the Colorado River bounding these 

 two states, leading into the gullies, draws, or canons that are 

 so numerous there, in search of a peculiar and striking growth 

 commonly known as the Hedgehog Cactus. Since the spe- 

 cies are very thorny, the comparison to the little animal so 

 full of bristles is an apt one. The scientific name, Echino- 

 cereus, taken from the Latin echinus, hedgehog, and cereus, 

 torch, or the Hedgehog-Torch. 



GROWTH AND HABITATS 



The Hedgehog cacti are of the easiest culture In out-of- 

 door gardens, blossoming and fruiting profusely, but In 

 greenhouse cultivation they rarely flower; they thrive In any 

 ordinary clay loam with some gravel or coarse sand and with 

 good drainage, and the desert species will even tolerate some 

 alkali. The fruit looks like a mass of enormous bright red 

 strawberries, and when cooled in the refrigerator, sliced and 

 served with cream and sugar is delicious, and sought after 

 as a great delicacy by the Indians and Mexicans. This 

 marked resemblance has earned for Echinocereus Cacti the 

 common name, also, of "Strawberry Cactus." When the 

 berries ripen, their spine clusters fall away or may be re- 

 moved with the least effort. The writers have tasted this 



