86 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



grown at any season In gravelly or sandy clay soils with light 

 irrigation every two or three weeks to moisten the soil 

 during the growing season or In droughty periods. Or they 

 may be grown readily from seed sown in sandy loam In flats 

 or pots, with partial shade and with enough water to keep 

 the soil moist. The species is a handsome one for rock gar- 

 dens, as yet little known. Mature specimens transplanted 

 early in spring blossom the same season. 



Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus 



(Echinocereus coccineus) 



(Named coccineus in allusion to the bright scarlet flowers) 



How to identify and how it grows 



Coccineus, or the Crimson Flowered Hedgehog Cactus, is 

 built up of stems four to seven Inches long and about two 

 inches In diameter. The tips of the stem are rounded and 

 and covered with radial spines no more than three-quarters 

 of an inch long. It has three central spines which are 

 much stronger than the radlals, all thorns erect and spread- 

 ing. They are flask-shaped at their bases and are white to 

 yellowish white. The flowers are a beautiful bright crim- 

 son, about three Inches long, and remain open for several 

 days before they close. The petals and sepals are thick and 

 firm, bright scarlet, and brownish or orange toward their 

 bases, while the tips of the petals are broadly rounded. The 

 fruit pods are very spiny. These plants grow in dense 

 clumps one to six feet across and two to three hundred stems 

 in a cluster, at altitudes of five to seven thousand feet In the 

 foothills and canons and along the lakes In northern Arizona, 

 New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah, and in oak, juniper, and 

 pine formations of prairie lands. They prefer the gravelly 

 clay loam of the slopes In sunny exposures and are to be found 

 also among rocks on the high mesas. 



