(Named “chrysocentrus” from its beautiful golden or light yellow translucent spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The physical structure of the Golden Spined Hedgehog Cactus consists of cylindrical stems to fifteen inches in height, tapering off towards the ends or tops and covered with many scalloped ridges on which the radial spines are placed—which, by the way, as usual in all cactus plants, are dangerous because they are so sharp and so thickly intertwined. The scallops of adjacent ridges are interlocking, and light green or yellow. It is here that the areolas, or centers of growth, appear, densely covered with tiny hairs. The spine system is grouped and spreading, with four to seven central spines sometimes three inches in length, often crooked or twisted, and surrounded by smaller radials scattered along the stem ridges, not more than a fourth-inch to an inch long, all thorns of a beautiful golden or light translucent yellow. The spines often vary in their general characteristics, long and short, twisted and bulbous, straight and bent and twisted, flat and grooved, tough and easily broken. The flowers are about the length of a large duck egg, and consist of the usual sepals and petals. The colorings vary from a light pink toning into beautiful deeper lavender tints, then lavender filaments and yellow anthers and stigma lobes of deep green, presenting a very beautiful color combination. Golden Spined Cacti grow well in clumps along the arid gravelly slopes of the rocky foothills of southeastern California, western Arizona, and Sonora.
How to grow
Plants can be grown out of doors, and are not injured with twenty degrees of frost. They grow readily from seed in pots or flats in moist sandy soil, preferably with part shade for the first few months, but with a dry atmosphere. Large plants can be transplanted late in winter or early in spring in gravelly or rocky soil with a sunny exposure, and watered once or twice a month during the growing season to keep the soil slightly moist.
Indian or Desert Strawberry; Engelmann’s Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus Engelmannii)
(Named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann of St. Louis, one of the greatest authorities on cacti)
How to identify and how it grows
The Indian or Desert Strawberry Cactus, like others of the Hedgehog clan, has a system of cylindrical stems which grow about fifteen inches tall, with a diameter of two to three inches, and the usual ridges along which are placed the many sharp spines. The stems are yellow or greenish yellow and of course fade a little with age. Quite regularly along the ridges there are radially placed spines an inch long or less, and these make a formidable armor against intrusion. The stout, firm, erect, or spreading central spines are twice as long as the radials. All these thorns have bulbous bases and most are grooved, curved, and twisted; the colors are whitish to red-brown. The large flowers are about the width of a teacup, the sepals and petals usually bright pink with beautiful light purple tinting, while the filaments are pale lavender and the anthers yellow—another striking color scheme of Nature’s combination. The fruit is elliptical, of the size of a very small egg, and quite spiny. This cactus grows well in groups of twenty or so on the sandy gravelly mesas or along the rocky slopes, and is a very characteristic species on the arid southwestern deserts.