HABITATS

Among the great groups of the cactus clan the Pincushion, the Hedgehog, the Giant Sahuaro, and the Bisnaga, or Barrel Cacti, have retreated before civilization. The first named cannot endure close grazing of the ranges, nor trampling by stock, nor being continually dug up and carried away from their native habitats. They are rapidly disappearing from their original haunts. This, notwithstanding the fact that they are the most highly evolved of all cacti. The Giant Cactus is too proud, too dignified to fight or to offer resistance; only his size saves him from destruction. He reproduces very slowly; from some areas he is clearly disappearing, though in others he is making some progress. Before the inroads of civilization, the Hedgehog and the Bisnaga (Barrel Cacti) though strongly fortified are slowly receding, gradually retreating from their far-flung outposts to their native habitats, where they are better able to defend themselves. Even their strong armor cannot withstand the attacks of man in his efforts to convert them into sordid cash.

But the Opuntia, the Prickly Pears and the Cholla, advance guards of the great cactus invasion from Mexico northward, are the only members of the Fantastic Clan to withstand the inroads of civilization and the only cacti that have prospered and increased in numbers, notwithstanding man’s activities. Man has cut them down, and they have grown up again in greater numbers; he has grazed them with his stock, and they have spread over the prairies, mesas, foothills, and bajadas; he has transplanted them to new environments and transported them across the seas to new lands, and they have driven him out of his own home and taken his fields away from him, and have grown up to his very doorstep, almost closing up his home. On the southwestern deserts his close grazing of the ranges has made impossible prairie fires, the great enemy of the cacti, and this has spread Prickly Pears and Cholla over the ranges and carried them to the uttermost parts of the desert, where they have taken root and created new plants again. As a result of all this the Cholla have increased a hundredfold on the deserts and foothills in less than half a century, and in time they threaten to become a menace to mankind.

The Cholla have never retreated before man. They thrive on trampling and grazing by stock; unlike the Sahuaro or Giant Cactus they are defiant and challenge man! They elbow themselves in where they are not wanted. They ask nothing from man and have little to give in return. With the least disturbance they break into many pieces, each part becoming a new plant. Not only the joints but also the fruit of many varieties upon falling to the ground develop roots and immediately grow anew. Drought has no ill effects on them, for their supply of water will last for over a season. Man and his domestic animals fear Cholla more than any other plant on the desert! For their joints are easily dislodged and the dangerous retrorsely barbed thorns are difficult to remove from the flesh. They are cruel plants, for many an innocent young animal becomes entangled in their spiny meshes, and not being able to free himself dies a horrible death. On the other hand they are veritable fortresses on the desert and are a haven of refuge for such wild life as the rattlesnake, the chuckwalla, an enormous lizard of the desert, and the large cactus wren which lives practically its whole life in the Cholla bush, where the female rears her young in absolute safety and without danger of being disturbed.

GIANT CACTUS OR SAHUARO (Cereus giganteus)

Steadfast, pillarlike, towering fifty feet into the air, he gives a sense of power to all who behold him, some certain realization of the grandeur and mystery of God’s creations here on earth.

MEXICAN NIGHT BLOOMING CEREUS; SERPENT CACTUS; REINA DE NOCHE (Cereus serpentinus)

A weird striking growth, any one of its long sinuous tentacles, the six to fifteen entangled stems, might easily remind one of the twisted body of a serpent springing at its intended victim.

Cholla never relinquishes his right to land that he has acquired, for when he dies of old age or even before that, a host of young Cane Cacti, his children, spring up to take his place. Thus it is that the Cholla prospers and multiplies in the face of adversity, and even the hand of man cannot stay his progress.

Cholla and Prickly Pears have advanced farther north in the great cactus invasion from Mexico than any other group of cacti, and Prickly Pears have extended farther north than Cholla. Vast areas in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, and even South Dakota are grown over with Prickly Pears; some of these species have spread east to the Atlantic Ocean and northward far into Canada, and it is said of one small species that it has penetrated to within a short distance of the Arctic Circle.

From Los Angeles during the early part of June we start on yet another trek over the California-Arizona desert. Have our long travel across the great amphitheater of the sun through trackless wastes of torrid heat and blazing rays of sunlight, our parched throats and fierce thirst for cool clear springs of water, been worth our while, in the joy of new and surprising finds, in the marvelous thrills, the awe and admiration of beauty unsurpassed, in the wonderful changing kaleidoscope of the brilliant painted desert? It must be that we adjudge the majesty of the grand old mountains and deep cañon recesses, the lure of fantastic growth and wonderful flower creations, the magical charm of the desert which never stops its calling—the call that brings you back—as balancing the scales and tipping them just far enough to bring us back again for further exploration in the fantastic realm of cactus land. And so we travel along.

California Cholla (Opuntia Parryi)

Southern California

The first member of the dangerous Cholla clan to greet us is the California Cholla, growing in the interior arid valleys of Southern California, seeking the gravelly or rocky soils of mesa and cañon, and thriving along the lower mountain levels. It is named in honor of Dr. C. C. Parry who first collected it in 1851. The sharp stout thorns, a half-inch to an inch or so long, yellow mellowing to brown with age and covered with thin light yellow sheaths, appear in thick spreading clusters over this two- to four-foot plant, forming an impenetrable defense against animal or humankind. We also note the dense semicircular mass of light-colored spicules, a sixteenth- to an eighth-inch long, near the top of the areola. The flowers, which have long since disappeared, are generally yellow-green suffused with pink above, and the petals are nearly an inch long, golden with light red tips. The fruit becomes dry after ripening, and like many a Cholla fruit remains green upon the plant for a year or even longer.

Desert Christmas Cactus (Opuntia leptocaulis)

Southern California, Arizona, Texas, and Northern Mexico

The Desert Christmas Cactus is a flaming Cholla shrub with its mass of bright red fruit in winter a brilliant sight on the desert. The sprays of ripe fruit, sometimes used for Christmas decoration, would undoubtedly be in great demand were it not for the many fine reddish brown spicules which dry and in falling become lodged in the clothing and flesh. One of the writers has seen bushes on the desert several feet in height, as one solid mass of brilliant carmine in winter, and some of the ripe fruit stays on the plants practically all the time. A very peculiar phenomenon has been observed from time to time: a fruit or short branch will sometimes appear growing directly out of another fruit on this fantastic Opuntia leptocaulis, and thus Nature impregnates her seeming freaks of fancy in thoughtful system and design upon these strange Cactaceæ. This miniature fortress, leptocaulis, is covered with sheathed Cholla thorns which are sharp and pointed, tan with translucent yellow tips and loose whitish sheaths. The inch-long flowers are pale yellowish or greenish yellow, and these lazy blossoms have a bad habit of opening their greenish yellow eyes at three o’clock in the afternoon, then closing their petals towards evening.

Buckhorn Cholla (Opuntia acanthocarpa)

Southern California, Western and Central Arizona, Southern Utah, Northern Mexico, and Southern Nevada

Fierce and thorny cacti are Opuntia acanthocarpa, sometimes appearing on the broad desert land as dwarf trees four to six feet tall, again growing as densely spiny shrubs, impregnable fortresses defying man and beast. Over the arid sandy or gravelly soils of the southwestern desert, this fierce Cholla has fought his way and proved his right to existence, asking nothing from the hand of man and having little to give. Yet we cannot help admiring his sturdy race, their courage and their challenge, standing up to man and even laying down the law in some instances where they have spread over the ranges, elbowing in unwanted and unasked, never relinquishing to mankind their right to land they have once acquired. “Buckhorn Cholla” is surely a good name for this aggressive fellow. He has two dozen or so sharp red-brown thorns only partly sheathed, greenish yellow blossoms a couple of inches long, tipped with light red and suffused with purplish tints, extremely spiny fruit which become dry at maturity when they fall to the ground. The stems have each a woody core or cylinder from which cactus canes are made to some extent, but the species has no economic use and is regarded as worthless on the range.

DESERT CHRISTMAS CACTUS; TASAJILLO (Opuntia leptocaulis)

PROLIFIC TREE CHOLLA (Opuntia arbuscula)

Golden Spined Jumping Cholla (Opuntia Bigelovii)

Southern and Western Arizona, Northern Sonora, Lower California, and Southern Nevada

We are approaching one of the hottest parts of the California deserts, Death Valley, in search of perhaps the spiniest and most dangerous of all the Cholla, the Golden Spined Jumping Cholla. Four to eight feet tall, with numerous stout fantastic arms seemingly pointed at each tenderfoot tourist hurrying across the desert, like unholy messengers of evil omen, this remarkable cactus is very conspicuous in its rocky habitats. It grows luxuriantly in all the hottest locations on our American desert, Coachella and Imperial valleys in Southern California, southwestern Arizona, as well as here before us in the sweltering heat of that great cañon so aptly designated as our “Death Valley” of the Southland. With his dense armor of interlocking thorns Bigelovii is immune to grazing animals or rodents, nor is he injured by the extreme heat or light of the hottest desert lands; all the spines, an inch and a half long or longer, are light golden-yellow, glistening in the brilliant sunlight of cactus land and easily recognized from afar. Loose, papery, straw-colored sheaths cover them and the stout sharp thorns are nearly always broken off in a strong wind, or with the slightest disturbance, and stick to one’s clothing as readily as burrs; then once they get lodged in the flesh are difficult and exceedingly painful to extract. They form a golden shield for the lovely blossoms, an inch or more in length, pale green or yellow-green suffused with tints of purple. This member of the Cholla clan reproduces himself very readily, for the loosely attached young joints, falling to the ground, take root and grow into new young plants. The Golden Spined Jumping Cholla and also the common Jumping Cholla are sanctuaries where the desert wren can build her nest and rear her young undisturbed among the thorns; there, too, the chuckwalla, a large lizard, can rest in peace, safe from attack of animal enemy and protected from the burning heat and fierce desert winds that sometimes sweep across the mesas and down the mountain cañons, in the great amphitheater of the sun.

Many Colored Tree Cholla (Opuntia versicolor)

Western and Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico

A spectrum of coloring is Opuntia versicolor, with green or dull purple joints, green-yellow, red, purple, or deep maroon blossoms, not so very showy but a maze of tints and hues. The countless flowers give the landscape a rich tone in April and May, and the plants in their armament of mottled spines, brown, gray, and purple, are a picturesque sight at any season. The stems grow six to twelve feet tall, with a trunk two or three feet high from which appear many fantastic arms intricately branched to form a broad rounded head, five to ten feet across. This dwarf tree is adequately protected from the hot sun and animal marauder by sharp sheathed thorns about a half-inch long, encasing its entire body in an impenetrable suit of armor far more effective than any coat of mail donned by warrior of old. The flowers cluster at the tips of the brightly colored joints, which are two to ten inches long; the small fruit remain green on the plant for about a year. Versicolor is a good name for this bright Cholla since it means “variegated or diversified in color.”

MANY COLORED TREE CHOLLA (Opuntia versicolor)

POPULAR CHOLLA (Opuntia tetracantha)

Popular Cholla (Opuntia tetracantha)

Southern Arizona

This slender little Cholla is interesting because of its inch-long purple-brown and yellow flowers, unfolding once in the afternoon, then closing at night never to open again. Many of them seem to sulk on their heavy moisture-laden stems during the hot dry hours of the desert day, and then swiftly to unfold themselves and parade in evanescent beauty when the long shadows of a departing day begin to paint the mountain slopes, bidding the day to hurry and beckoning night to approach for the fashion show of the desert flowers. Tetracantha is a very popular addition to a cactus garden, and many are the tourists who carry one or more of these smallest of the Cholla back to their homes to preserve as relics from the land of the burning sun. The bloom, yellow-green suffused with purple, reminds one of a small old-fashioned dahlia; May and June is blossoming time, and only a few minutes is required for a flower to open in full. A rare and attractive species is this matchless little beauty, spreading over the sandy desert mesas and in gravelly or rocky foothills in southern Arizona. The name tetracantha alludes to the four reddish brown thorns enclosed in loose straw-colored sheaths.

Prolific Tree Cholla (Opuntia arbuscula)

Southern Arizona

This Cholla in southern Arizona is considered very valuable as stock feed in time of drought. Arbuscula (the name means “a small tree”) will produce from sixty to seventy pounds of fruit in a season from one single tree, this fruit remaining on the plant in good condition for over two years; in fact if the trees are not grazed annually they break down under their enormous loads of fruit. Like others of this fantastic genus, the fruit upon falling to the ground develop roots and grow into new plants; almost like the earthworm in this habit, which if cut in two reproduces itself again and again. Blossoms, also, are produced from the ends of this prolific fruit of last season’s growth, and the green and yellow and red blooms grow, too, in dense clusters at the tips of the gray-green joints. There is another color combination to be seen in April or May when these glossy flowers come forth into bloom, red-brown and orange-brown sepals and petals appearing on bright green joints. The Papago Indians prepare a most palatable salad from the young flower-buds of this Cane Cactus. The unopened buds are gathered and plunged into hot water for a few minutes, allowed to dry in the sun and stored in ollas until winter; then they are shaken in a sack or stirred briskly in a pan to dislodge the fine spicules, cooked, and served with dressing, a tasty dish served to the many tourists who travel across the desert during vacation and pleasure time, in search of the various new and interesting plant creations to be found in this fantastic cactus land.

Thornber’s Cholla (Opuntia Thornberi)

Southern Arizona

Opuntia Thornberi is quite distinct among Cane Cacti in having long tubercles and long angular joints, the latter a foot to two feet in length. Two to four feet tall, this Cholla covers the arid, sandy, or gravelly and rocky soils along the foothills and broad desert mesas in south central Arizona, a striking characteristic shrub, his fantastic arms irregularly whorled and appearing angular because of the long, prominent tubercles; the tri-colored flowers, yellow and green and purple-red, nearly three inches in length, receive boundless protection from the sharp sheathed thorns encircled with bright bands of yellow-brown and tan. Though so beautifully mottled, these are spines of which to beware. For so cruel are the spikes of Cholla and so painful the process of removing them from the flesh, if one is unfortunate enough to become entangled in their meshes, that medical advice is to leave the thorns in hand or body and allow them gradually to work their way out, rather than to risk laceration by extraction. Opuntia Thornberi has been described only very recently; it is named in honor of Professor J. J. Thornber, botanist of the University of Arizona and one of the authors of this book, for his outstanding work on desert plants and flowers.

Spiny Tree Cholla (Opuntia spinosior)

Northern Mexico, New Mexico, and Southern Arizona

We go south into the rocky foothills and bajadas of Northern Mexico, then up to altitudes from three to five thousand feet to find this brilliant and beautiful cactus, the Spiny Cholla, called also Tasajo by the natives; and given the specific title of spinosior, meaning “more spiny.” Six to fifteen feet, spinosior towers into the air, crowned by a brilliant rainbow of color, the large lovely blooms, almost three inches long and nearly as wide, clustering around the tips of his thorny arms, bright harmonies of white, orange, red, copper color, maroon, and shadings of purple, brown, pink, with tints of lavender and brownish purple, a glorious color combination among these largest of the Cholla blossoms, blooming all through May and occasionally a month earlier; and replaced in July by the light yellow fruit, which remains on the trees for a year or even longer.

THORNBER’S CHOLLA (Opuntia Thornberi)

MANY COLORED TREE CHOLLA (Opuntia versicolor)

Jumping Cholla (Opuntia fulgida)

Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona

Along the highway in Northern Mexico here and there dwarf trees appear, five to fifteen feet high, with stout woody trunks branching quite near their bases into many spreading candelabralike arms, covered with striking rose-purple bloom. A handsome tree Cholla, Opuntia fulgida is called also the “Jumping Cholla” from the sharp spiny joints which are very loosely attached, so that one can scarcely walk among the plants without some of the joints “jumping forth” as it were and becoming attached to the clothing; a strong wind will carry them, too, for some distance or the least disturbance will dislodge them, and woe to the human or animal caught by these cruel thorns; difficulty and extreme pain are experienced in extracting a spine from the flesh, and it leaves its mark behind, a wound which turns blackish and later a sickly greenish hue. The pear-shaped young fruit and also flowers grow from the tips of old fruit! thus forming broomlike growths or chains of ten to fifteen fruit which remain on the plants for several years unchanged, sometimes weighing two or three hundred pounds. Fruit that fall to the ground grow into new plants, as do the spiny joints.

The Jumping Cholla are among the most abundant and characteristic Cane Cacti on the ranges of southern Arizona, often excluding all other growth and spreading rapidly over the broad grazing grounds. They are a beautiful sight on the desert with their translucent white spines covered with loose silvery sheaths glistening in the bright sunshine, and a sight that will not easily be forgotten. The plants blossom from June to September and in Mexico are known as “Vela de Cojote” because of the shining spines; in the noonday rays of the sun at a distance of a mile or more, a forest of these plants on a hot day resembles a wavering, glistening white sheet of light, because of the tremendous heat vibrations of the vertical rays of the sun.

JUMPING CHOLLA (Opuntia fulgida)

One can scarcely walk among these plants without some of the joints “jumping forth” as it were and becoming attached to the clothing; a strong wind will dislodge them, and woe to the human or animal caught by these cruel thorns.

CURSED CHOLLA; DEVIL CACTUS (Opuntia Stanlyi)

A creeping crawling mass of rough hairy spines and sheaths, stout sharp swords, dangerous and effective in harshly repulsing advance of animal or ignorant human, is the Devil Cactus or Cursed Cholla, a veritable fortress on the desert.

BUCKHORN CHOLLA (Opuntia acanthocarpa)

Over the arid sandy or gravelly soils of the southwestern desert, this fierce Cholla has fought his way and proved his right to existence, asking nothing from the hand of man and having little to give.

Cursed Cholla (Opuntia Stanlyi)

Northern Mexico, Southern Arizona, and New Mexico

Prostrate stems worming their way in impenetrable patches of six to twelve feet across the sandy soils of southern Arizona and Northern Mexico, a creeping, crawling mass of rough hairy spines and sheaths, stout sharp swords dangerous and effective in harshly repulsing advance of animal or ignorant human, is the Devil Cactus or Cursed Cholla, a veritable fortress on the desert. A welcome retreat for small rodents, snakes, and lizards, this terrible growth, Opuntia Stanlyi, is an object of fear to man and beast alike! spreading over the grazing lands and creating impenetrable areas dangerous and worthless for stock. One shudders when he sees the awful thing, repellent yet strangely magnetic, and generally tourists are glad to turn from it and retrace their steps to the highway.

Whipple’s Cholla (Opuntia Whipplei)

Northern Arizona, New Mexico, Western Colorado, and Southern Utah

One more of the fierce Cholla group must claim our attention, bringing to a close our search for these cruel, relentless growths, awful to contemplate in many instances yet strangely enticing as well. It is a cultivated specimen of a low and typical Cane Cactus which grows wild in northern Arizona, New Mexico, and spreads north even into southern Utah and Colorado, thriving at altitudes from five to seven thousand feet in loamy soils of oak, juniper, and pine formations and high grassy lands. This is the “farthest north” for a Cholla to grow. One to two feet high, the shrubs form in rather pretty clumps of silvery glossy slender spines, golden flowers suffused with pink and green tinting, and purple joints on greenish stems. A characteristic cactus of more northern parts and named for Lieutenant A. W. Whipple, in charge of the Whipple Expedition of 1853 and 1854. This ends our long trek over sultry desert lands as we cross the boundary line into southeastern Arizona at the customs in Nogales, Mexico.

CURSED CHOLLA; DEVIL CHOLLA (Opuntia Stanlyi)

JUMPING CHOLLA (Opuntia fulgida)

And so the greeters of the desert, advance guard of the cactus invasion from Mexico, see us depart now for a time from the mysterious land of the Fantastic Clan, wherein we have learned of the charm of color, and the strange devices of Nature in her scheme of Cholla growth; and where the fierce, uninviting heat of the desert fails to keep us from entering that domain of silence where the midday sun burns all to a crisp under the relentless bombardment of its energy, which after all gives alluring beauty to the wondrous cactus flowers; and where the cooler shades of evening loose the mild zephyrs that kiss our parched brows and gently lull us to sleep at night with moonbeams playing at random among the cañon shadows, gossamerlike and eerie in the ghostly light of the stars. And once again in fancy we behold these armored Cholla, silent fortresses of the desert, looming against the mountain sides, with their beautiful rainbows of gorgeous hue blossoming forth but to fade and die, never to appear anew in their shimmering colorful sheens of glory against background of sheaths and terrible thorns, the swords of the fierce Cholla group.

Then comes the dawn. Slowly the eastern rim of the landscape is bathed in soft pearly light, haloed over the mountains. The night has passed and another day is on, and we, too, have passed on and left the strange alluring land of the weird Cholla group; but the beauty we have found out there among fierce relentless growths lingers on in the background of our conscious minds, and we wonder how it came there and why it is; after all is it not part of the glory that God has given us to use and to try to understand?

The Cholla Group, or Cane Cacti (Cylindropuntia)

How to identify and how they grow

The Cholla has a fierce armor of thorns, long and stout, sharp and dangerous, a group of Cholla on the mesas comprising a veritable fortress of the desert. These spines are of one kind but of different sizes, and they are sheathed. On account of their sheathed thorns the Cholla are the most dangerous of all the cactus groups, and feared most of all Cactaceæ. The spines vary from an inch or less to three inches or more in length, and occasionally are half an inch or more through. The stems of these species are cylindrical, from a foot or less to fifteen feet tall, the branches generally forming into a broad rounded head. They are not ridged or fluted, but are covered with tubercles arranged spirally. The plants are often grotesque and generally resemble dwarf trees, though typically shrubby in habit. The leaves are scalelike and soon fall off. Spicules are always present, generally half an inch or so in length, easily dislodged, so easily blown off by the wind that two species of this genus are called “Jumping Cholla.” The flowers are showy and very conspicuous, large, and of all colors of the rainbow in many instances; opening and closing on the same day and at different hours in different species, rarely appearing the second day. A peculiar phenomenon is observed: the flower buds sometimes grow out from mature fruit, thus producing chains of fruit lasting for years. The fruit varies in character and is found to be tubercled or smooth or shiny, but always bearing the customary spicules. It is sometimes dry, sometimes fleshy, often remaining unchanged and edible for several years on the plants. Another curious fact is that the fruits of many species when planted in soft moist soil, or even falling to the ground, develop roots and grow into new plants, the seeds within remaining viable and capable of growth later on.

SPINY TREE CHOLLA (Opuntia spinosior)

How to grow

Most species grow readily from cuttings of one to several joints set a few inches deep in sandy soil and given enough water to keep the soil moist; it is better to allow the cut surfaces time to dry before planting. Plants can be grown also from seed planted a half-inch deep in sandy soil out of doors or in flats, with part shade and watered enough to keep the soil moist but not wet. Also, the fruits of many species when planted in moist soil develop roots and grow into plants. Cuttings or plants grow indoors or outside. A south exposure is preferable.