PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS 69 



calyx tube. It has been described only recently, and thrives 

 In western Texas, southern New Mexico, old Mexico, and 

 southern Arizona, along the bajadas in rocky or gravelly 

 soil, sometimes in sandy soil on the dry mesas and low moun- 

 tain sides. Growing In clumps of fifteen to forty stems, 

 four to ten Inches tall, pale green or blue-green, it has four- 

 teen or more firm needlelike radial and central spines, pink- 

 ish and brownish gray, and bright scarlet flowers bearing six 

 hundred or more stamens, purple anthers, and dull scarlet 

 filaments. Unlike most cactus flowers these blossoms re- 

 main open for several days and nights In succession, in April, 

 occasionally blooming into May. The berries ripen in June, 

 dropping their spine clusters then. The fruit of Rose's 

 Hedgehog Cactus is about an inch long, greenish purple when 

 ripe, edible, with a pleasant, tart, gooseberrylike taste. 



Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus 



Fendleri) 



Southeastern Arizona, Mexico, Western Texas, Utah, 



and New Mexico 



Like many of his kind Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus blooms 

 during the day and folds up his petals at night. There are 

 eight to thirteen stout radial spines, spreading and occa- 

 sionally appearing comb-like In arrangement, white fading to 

 gray, and usually tipped with brown; also a very stout cen- 

 tral thorn or two, sometimes an Inch and a half long, dark- 

 colored and curving upward. He has deep pink, rose and 

 rose-purple bloom nearly four Inches long and about as wide, 

 appearing in April and May. This Is one of the finest and 

 most abundant of our Strawberry or Hedgehog Cacti; occa- 

 sionally plants will have as many as fifty blossoms open at 

 a time. Amidst desert surroundings with the gray or brown 

 of the great arid spaces for a background they make a 



