146 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



end of another on this fantastic growth, all fruit remaining 

 on the plant for a year or longer. 



How to grow 



Plants may be transplanted at any season, or joints may 

 be planted In gravelly rocky soils. The plants should be 

 watered once a month during the growing season until well 

 established, after that less frequently. They will grow In- 

 doors and out and are not injured by a temperature of twenty 

 degrees below freezing. With colder temperatures they re- 

 quire protection. 



Popular Cholla (Opuntia tetracantha) 



(Named tetracantha from the four spines commonly 



present) 



How to identify and how it grows 



The Popular Cholla is a loose irregular growth about four 

 feet tall with several stems coming from the base, but not 

 jointed. The brownish spicules are formed in bundles. 

 There are from one to four spines, all less than an Inch long, 

 slender and stiff and brownish or light brownish gray, with 

 one spine longer and stouter than the others, and covered with 

 thin straw-colored sheaths. The flowers are of a pale yel- 

 low-green suffused with purplish tints, and open In the after- 

 noon. The fruit Is about one inch long and smooth, ellipti- 

 cal, and orange-red. 



How to grow 



This species may be transplanted at any season, or cuttings 

 may be planted early in spring. In sandy or gravelly soil and 

 watered monthly with light irrigation. The cuttings are less 

 certain to grow. Plants grow also quite readily from seed. 

 They are not injured by twenty-five degrees of frost and grow 



J 



