74 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



among the Echinocereus group. The fruit is spiny, and grows 

 from densely felted masses which remain as scars on the 

 stems for years. This Hedgehog Cactus may be easily dis- 

 tinguished from Echinocereus Rosei by its white or yellow- 

 ish white spines. 



And now the desert flower parade of color and beauty 

 has passed in review. One is not sorry to have come, for 

 even when the days are hot and dusty, the cooling desert 

 winds appear with the approach of night. We recall hav- 

 ing read a great deal about the magic and lure of the desert 

 and its wondrous plants and flowers, and we realize now 

 that one must come and see them to appreciate the beauty 

 that lives and thrives away out there underneath the stars, 

 forever guarded by that All-seeing Providence which placed 

 them there so carefully and wisely that they might tell us 

 something of His Plan of things entire, wherein the smallest 

 blade of grass receives from Nature as does the wisest seer; 

 for the Infinite Mind of Nature Is no respecter of persons or 

 things, and treats plants and animals and humans without 

 favor or prejudice, portraying therein God's eternal care 

 and watchfulness over all. 



The Hedgehog or Strawberry Cactus Group 



(Echinocereus) 



How to identify and how they grow 



Plants grow with single stems or more often in clumps 

 from three Inches to a foot and a half or so tall, sometimes 

 In large flat masses or In hemispherical mounds. The stems 

 are simple, rarely branched, tubercled, and covered with a 

 series of ridges running lengthwise from top to bottom; 

 these ridges are almost hidden by a dense network of spines 

 spreading out over the entire plant, and causing such a 

 marked resemblance to the hedgehog that the group is 



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