14 



DECORATIVE VALUE 



It is not intended to convey the idea that cacti, as a whole, can 

 hope to rival many other groups of plants in gorgeous display, but 

 they are unique, peculiar, and particularly fitting in some regious 

 and can be made very attractive in many settings. (PL 12, A and 

 B.) For the most part they lack the foliage that lends 30 much 

 to the value of other plants, and in many instances the flowers, when 

 present, are either too small, too few (pis. 13, A, B, and C; and 5, C) 

 or too short lived to be considered of great worth, but they have 

 many attractions of their own. In some of the climbing species of 

 Cereus, Phyllocactus, and related genera the flowers attain a very 

 considerable size, and their waxlike texture and pure whiteness or 

 delicate tints of red, pink, or cream present combinations that call 

 forth exclamations of wonder and pleasant surprise. Many forms 

 bloom at night, and their flowers are always white and to a slight 

 degree pleasantly fragrant. The flowers are usually produced in 

 periods, each period lasting from one to three or four days. At 

 such a period the plants, if mature and vigorous, will bear a large 

 number of flower buds, which open in the evening after sunset and 

 close with the approach of strong morning light, never again to 

 open. The following night other buds will bloom, and so on until 

 in a few days all will have passed the blooming period, which, after 

 an interval" of time, will recur. In our northern conservatories 

 there are usually three or four such periods during the summer season, 

 averaging about four or five weeks apart. On these occasions the 

 display of large white flowers in abundance in the moonlight is a 

 wonderful sight. Most of the species of Echinocereus produce com- 

 paratively large showy flowery in a crown about the ends of the 

 branches. They are very attractive in their highly colored (yellow, 

 orange, red, and purple) waxy flowers, but they do not respond so 

 readily to cultivation as many others, especially in greenhouses. 

 Some species of Echinopsis (pi. 5, C) also produce flowers in abun- 

 dance for a period of a few days. These are trumpet shaped, up- 

 right, about 8 inches long, forming a crown about the top of the 

 plant. They range in color from pure white to pale yellow or 

 rosy pink. 



The opuntias are commonly large and rampant in growth. Con- 

 sequently, the number of individuals used is smaller, as a rule, not 

 because they are less attractive, but because they occupy so much 

 space. However, many of these species are small and well adapted 

 to be incorporated in the collection held in cramped quarters either 

 outside or in the living room. 



The smaller of the opuntias may be very properly illustrated 

 by the Opuntia ~basil<xris group, which is one of the most common 

 in collections. It inhabits naturally that most interesting region 

 extending from the western slope of the San Francisco Mountains 

 across the southern Sierras into the interior valleys of California. In 

 the region of the pass south of the San Bernardino Mountains and 

 the valleys beyond, the ramosa variety predominates. Upon the west- 

 ern slopes in the region of -Cajon Pass, north of these mountains, 

 O. hrachyclada (pi. 1) and 0. humistrata are found, while in the 

 Tehachapi and its environs occur 0. treleasei and its variety hernii, 

 the latter being very spiny and unique for the group. 



