164 THE FANTASTIC CLAN 



Green Stemmed VisNAGA (Echinocactus viridescens) 

 Southern California and Lower California 



Echinocactus viridescens is a small Bisnaga growing In the 

 vicinity of San Diego, California, and Is found along the 

 beaches there, and In the dry ridges and hills of Lower 

 California. It gets its name from the greenish flowers and 

 stems {viridescens Is Latin for "growing green"). The 

 stems grow a little over a foot high; the numerous stout 

 sharp thorns are finely hairy, encircling the plants In red and 

 yellow and rose-pink bands of coloring; while the blossoms 

 form a bright halo of gold and purple tints around their 

 tips, the margins of petals and sepals yellow and the thick- 

 ened midribs yellow or purple-red, the whole producing a 

 strongly greenish cast in flower and plant. The fruit can 

 be eaten, and has a slightly acid taste like that of the com- 

 mon gooseberry. 



Harem Cactus (Echinocactus polycephalus) 

 Southern California, Western Arizona, Nevada, and Utah 



The many-headed Barrel Cacti are composed of the older 

 stems, a couple of feet or so In height, each surrounded by 

 twenty to forty smaller ones, and we might give this group 

 the name "Harem Cactus." These many-stemmed Barrel 

 Cacti form large hemispherical mounds three to five feet 

 across with the largest stems or trunks In the center. Hence 

 the suggestion of an old man and his many wives; hence also 

 the designation "Mound Cactus." The group thrives well 

 on stony and gravelly hills of our hottest southwestern des- 

 erts where the rainfall is three Inches or less. Clad In an 

 Impenetrable armor of silver-gray spikes and spines, banded 

 in pink and pinkish gray zones of color and in a densely fine 

 fuzzy growth, polycephalus blossoms In many showy at- 



