160 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



moved with a sharp knife or machete and the fleshy part is 

 crushed, or pommeled into a pulp, a considerable amount of 

 water can be secured for drinking from this friendly cactus, 

 which though a little saline and not very palatable is a life- 

 saver in time of stress. Wislizeni grows well in the sandy 

 loamy clay soils of the desert bajadas and along the foothills. 

 The name of the species honors Dr. A. Wislizenus, who was 

 in charge of a botanical expedition to the Southwest in 1848. 



Nigger Head (Echinocactus Le Contei) 



Western Arizona, Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, South- 

 ern California, Lower California, and Sonora 



This species, also, is given the name "Nigger Head" be- 

 cause the spines and bristles are curled and bent down closely 

 against its trunk like a "nigger's head" with coarse curly 

 hair. To be sure, one never has seen a negro with pink hair, 

 but this Nigger Head Cactus has a coat of interlocking 

 densely fine hairy spines of lovely pink and mottled rose 

 shades, some pointing upward, some downward, some later- 

 ally, and a fringe of ten to fourteen grayish threadlike radial 

 bristles; such an impenetrable coat affords much-needed pro- 

 tection against heat and cold, and hungry rodents or range 

 animals. Echinocactus Le Contei Is among the most at- 

 tractive of the Barrel group with its bright roseate spines, and 

 Its deep yellow blossoms with purple-red centers, creating 

 the impression of a purple bloom within an orange-red flower. 

 The flowers come forth in April and May, the fruit matures 

 In July. The plant grows nearly always on a single stem, 

 rarely two or more in a clump, from one to seven feet tall 

 and about eighteen inches In diameter, with twenty to twenty- 

 four ridges encircling trunk and stems. The latter are 

 utilized by Mexicans and Indians for the making of cactus 

 candy. 



