126 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



sunlight, our parched throats and fierce thirst for cool clear 

 springs of water, been worth our while, in the joy of new and 

 surprising finds, in the marvelous thrills, the awe and admira- 

 tion of beauty unsurpassed, in the wonderful changing ka- 

 leidoscope of the brilliant painted desert? It must be that 

 we adjudge the majesty of the grand old mountains and deep 

 canon recesses, the lure of fantastic growth and wonderful 

 flower creations, the magical charm of the desert which never 

 stops its calling — the call that brings you back — as balancing 

 the scales and tipping them just far enough to bring us back 

 again for further exploration in the fantastic realm of cactus 

 land. And so we travel along. 



California Cholla (Opuntia Parryi) 



Southern California 



The first member of the dangerous Cholla clan to greet 

 us Is the California Cholla, growing in the interior arid val- 

 leys of Southern California, seeking the gravelly or rocky 

 soils of mesa and canon, and thriving along the lower moun- 

 tain levels. It is named in honor of Dr. C. C. Parry who 

 first collected it in 1851. The sharp stout thorns, a half-inch 

 to an inch or so long, yellow mellowing to brown with age and 

 covered with thin light yellow sheaths, appear in thick 

 spreading clusters over this two- to four-foot plant, forming 

 an impenetrable defense against animal or humankind. We 

 also note the dense semicircular mass of light-colored spic- 

 ules, a sixteenth- to an eighth-inch long, near the top of the 

 areola. The flowers, which have long since disappeared, are 

 generally yellow-green suffused with pink above, and the 

 petals are nearly an inch long, golden with light red tips. 

 The fruit becomes dry after ripening, and like many a 

 Cholla fruit remains green upon the plant for a year or even 

 longer. 



I 



