142 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



branching from the base and quite erect. These stems are 

 cylindrical yellow-green joints six to twenty-four inches long 

 and an inch thick. They bear the usual cactuslike spicules 

 and spines. The spicules are a light yellow semicircular 

 mass, while the five to twenty sharp, slender needlelike spines 

 are crowded together, a half-inch to an inch long in many 

 instances. These are yellow but turn brown with age and 

 have thin light yellow sheaths. The flowers are yellow 

 tinged with red and are an Inch or more In diameter and 

 length. The fruit is tubercled and very spiny, less than an 

 Inch long, and has the peculiar characteristic of becoming 

 quite dry when ripe. This Cholla grows best In gravelly or 

 rocky soils In the hot Interior valleys of Southern California. 



How to grow 



Though not very attractive, this Cholla Is occasionally 

 grown in cactus collections because of its rather fascinating 

 and peculiar characteristics noted above. Young plants may 

 be transplanted at any season; also the species can be grown 

 from cuttings and planted In the spring in moist soil. The 

 plants thrive In sandy or gravelly soil and may be given a 

 light irrigation once a month during droughty periods; they 

 grow Inside or outdoors and are not Injured by temperatures 

 twenty degrees below freezing. 



Desert Christmas Cactus; Tasajillo 



(Opuntia leptocaulis) 



How to identify and how it grows 



Leptocaulis, or the Desert Christmas Cactus, Is a plant 

 growing as a dense low shrub only a foot high In many In- 

 stances with numerous stems or joints ascending from the 

 base, and In clumps three or four feet across. The little 

 joints are sometimes only an inch long, growing to four 



