THE STORY OF CACTUS 15 

the C. macromeris (30) which has a purple flower which makes this last named 
plant look like a green pudding with purple plums sticking all over it when 
viewed from a short distance. Its spines are longer than the other three. 
The Thelocactus bicolor has spines with two or three colors each and flowers 
are a very pretty rose pink with a red center. We have seen spines with red, 
brown and gray about equally divided along their entire length. 
Here should be made mention of the two Ancistrocactus species which grow 
in Texas. They both make fine plants and both have spines tipped with hooks. 
A. sheeri with its yellow-green flowers and tuberous roots take a deep pot 
when planted other than in a bed. A. brevihanatus with its rose colored flowers 
is slightly more blobose and its spines more hooked and the roots quite fine. 
The Dolichothele sphaerica with its large sulphur-yellow flowers, some- 
times twice the size of the plant, will make a showing no other plant will and 
it spreads to a couple of feet in diameter over a period of years. 
. Echinocactus horizonthalonius (42) with its large pink flowers and bright 
green skin is a very desirable plant but should be given lime. 
Echinocactus setispinus, also known as Hematocactus setispinus, has one of 
the prettiest flowers of any cactus. It is lemon yellow with a deep red center 
extending nearly half way up the petals and after the bloom dries up, the seed 
pods look like bright red peas for several months. 
Echinomastus intertextus is a plant which is known as the Early Bloomer be- 
cause it is the first cactus to bloom in the spring and has been known to shove 
its blooms through the snow sometimes as early as the last week in January. 
The bloom is small and white in color. 
The Ferocactus wislizeni is known by a dozen names, such as Barrel Cactus, 
Fish-hook Cactus, Candy Cactus and others. This cactus is used to make most 
of the candy sofa in the Southwest and many tales are told how desert travelers 
have cut the top out and got water to save their lives. We doubt these stories. 
This plant grows to a height of ten feet and weighs up to a ton. So there 
might be a little water in it somewhere. The flowers are yellow mostly but 
occasionally some are found with rose and red and yellow stripes. 
The Ferocactus uncinatus commonly called Turks Head is one of the best 
with its long showy spines and its chocolate colored flowers and fruit almost 
hidden by the heavy cluster of hooked spines. 
The Neomammillaria heyderi (82) with its small tubercles covered with 
spines or we should have said, tipped with a wheel of radial spines and a row 
of small flowers when it blooms, is a fine cactus for the indoor garden, 
especially when the seedpods are at their best. These have won it the moniker 
Strawberry Cactus. The flowers are pink and quite small. N. hemisphaerica 
with cream colored flowers, N. applanata with pink striped flowers and N. 
meiacantha with brown striped flowers are almost identical with heyderi. 
One of the most peculiar cacti is the Ariocarpus fissuratus (29) or “Living 
Rock.” It has no thorns and is sometimes called the “Star Cactus” as each 
_ year it grows five new tubercles in the shape of a star. The flowers are pink 
and the plant is very hard to find as it grows in almost pure limerock dust 
and the plant when covered with dust is almost impossible to see. This plant 
should be in every collection. 
Epithelantha micromeris or button cactus is one of nature’s gentlemen as 
it has spines so soft they will not stick the tenderest skin. The flowers are 
pink and so small that many times one does not see them but the seed pod some- 
times sticks itself over half hinch above the plant like a small red totem pole. 
Spines are white. 
Another cactus which resembles this plant is the Neomammillaria lasiacantha. 
This little plant is globose instead of flat topped and the spines are hairy but 
one must have a very powerful microscope to see the hairs. The flowers are 
also pink but form a circle on the outer edge instead of appearing in the 
center of the plant. 
The third plant in this group is the Neomammillaria denudata. (85) This 
plant has practically no spines with hair on and the flowers are larger, pinker, 
and have a brown stripe on each petal running lenghtwise. 
87, 88, 89, 90 Chicago Worlds Fair Cactus 91 Mary, Martha and Ruth and one they 
Garden. Photos by Chicago Park De- couldn’t take. 
partment. 


