PARADE OF THE DESERT FLOWERS 73 



Under cultivation the larger plants grow as much as three 

 inches in a season. 



Our journey is almost ended, and our notebooks are filled 

 with much interesting matter about cacti heretofore un- 

 known; we have found and studied many interesting speci- 

 mens of the cactus family perhaps never before seen by the 

 majority of travelers. We know now that it is necessary 

 to see them from both far and near to appreciate the loveli- 

 ness of these weird desert growths; and it seems very 

 strange to us that so much glorious color and beauty has to 

 be hidden away out here underneath the midnight blue of 

 the sky, for only a privileged few to enjoy. 



Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus 



(Echinocereus coccineus) 



Northern Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado 



Yet one more of the lovely Strawberry group must be added 

 to our list, growing far up in the towering mountains of 

 northern Arizona and hence not included in this present trek. 

 The Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus is this flaming 

 cactus flower, which grows generally at altitudes of five to 

 seven thousand feet, its scarlet blossoms flashing here and 

 there over the mountain slopes, or dotting the oak, juniper, 

 and pine formations in dense masses of brilliant hue, com- 

 pact clumps one to six feet across of twenty to three hundred 

 stems all closely set together; usually growing in rounded 

 mounds which exclude all other growth, and sometimes com- 

 prising an important part of the pine and juniper plant cov- 

 erings. The stems are five to seven inches high, green and 

 yellow-green, forming a pleasing contrast to the crimson 

 blossoms. The translucent whitish spines, about a dozen 

 in number, are flask-shaped at their bases and spreading, 

 while the flowers are slightly fragrant, a rare characteristic 



