PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT 101 



Ing like a small fuzzy tail, and hence called by the natives 

 Beaver Tail. Because of its habit of growth and its spine- 

 less joints of light blue or blue-gray and bright rose-colored 

 flowers, the basilaris is different from all other Prickly Pear 

 cacti. Beaver Tail blooms profusely, and when in blossom 

 the clumps of plants on the mesas are bright rose and purple, 

 the flowers almost completely hiding the shrubs and form- 

 ing a brilliant splash of hue and tint, a solid, unbroken patch 

 of color on the gray or brown stretches of mesa and foot- 

 hill. 



Basilaris prefers the most arid and sterile sandy or grav- 

 elly soil at altitudes of a thousand feet and less, on the 

 bajadas of Nevada, Utah, western Arizona, and here in 

 Southern California. This cactus does not grow very tall, 

 seldom more than a foot, and the spread of the rosettelike 

 growth is about three feet across. The large beautiful 

 blooms, three inches long and nearly as broad, appear in 

 clusters on the margin of a joint, opening In the forenoon 

 and closing as the sunlight fades. There are no spines, and 

 the closely set areolas, crowded with spicules which are easily 

 dislodged, form the chief protection of the shrub ; spicules are 

 very small and light and when dried fall off, and carried by 

 the wind are easily caught in one's clothing or body; they 

 are effective protectors and neither rodents nor grazing 

 animals eat plants where they appear and even man fears 

 them more than cactus thorns because of the diflSculty of ex- 

 tracting them and on account of the pain and sores which 

 they cause. 



Golden Prickly Pear (Opuntia Covillei) 



Southern California 



We are approaching the lovely Santa Monica range in 

 Southern California. Mt. San Bernardino with his crown 



