140 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



background of sheaths and terrible thorns, the swords of the 

 fierce Cholla group. 



Then comes the dawn. Slowly the eastern rim of the 

 landscape Is bathed In soft pearly light, haloed over the 

 mountains. The night has passed and another day is on, and 

 we, too, have passed on and left the strange alluring land of 

 the weird Cholla group; but the beauty we have found out 

 there among fierce relentless growths lingers on In the back- 

 ground of our conscious minds, and we wonder how It came 

 there and why It Is; after all Is It not part of the glory that 

 God has given us to use and to try to understand? 



• 



The Cholla Group, or Cane Cacti 



(Gylindropuntia) 



How to identify and how they grow 



The Cholla has a fierce armor of thorns, long and stout, 

 sharp and dangerous, a group of Cholla on the mesas com- 

 prising a veritable fortress of the desert. These spines are 

 of one kind but of different sizes, and they are sheathed. 

 On account of their sheathed thorns the Cholla are the most 

 dangerous of all the cactus groups, and feared most of all 

 Cactaceae. The spines vary from an Inch or less to three 

 Inches or more In length, and occasionally are half an Inch 

 or more through. The stems of these species are cylindri- 

 cal, from a foot or less to fifteen feet tall, the branches gen- 

 erally forming Into a broad rounded head. They are not 

 ridged or fluted, but are covered with tubercles arranged 

 spirally. The plants are often grotesque and generally re- 

 semble dwarf trees, though typically shrubby In habit. The 

 leaves are scalelike and soon fall off. Spicules are always 

 present, generally half an Inch or so In length, easily dis- 

 lodged, so easily blown off by the wind that two species of 

 this genus are called "Jumping Cholla." The flowers are 



