Papago Fruit Cactus (Opuntia Blakeana)
(Named in honor of Dr. William P. Blake, professor of geology in the University of Arizona and director of the College of Mines)
How to identify and how it grows
Blakeana, or the Papago Fruit Cactus, is formed by stems a foot or so high which grow on the desert in clumps eight feet or more in diameter. The branches or joints are pear-shaped, about three inches wide and eight inches long, colored a medium green suffused with beautiful purples. The spicules and spines are very distinctive, the former growing in fringes and easily dislodged. The spine colors are brown or purple and tone off into gray, and the thorns are very sharp and needlelike, dangerous when the plant is not handled cautiously. The flowers—beautiful and also very showy, from two to three inches long, bright satin-yellow with red-brown centers—appear in April and May; the fruit ripens in July and is of a pale pink-purple, quite sweet.
How to grow
This species will grow outside and is not injured by temperatures as low as twenty-five degrees below freezing. With temperatures lower than this it should be protected or grown indoors. Mature cuttings composed of one joint planted at almost any season, but preferably early in spring, with a half of the cutting covered, grow very readily. They may be planted in any position or simply laid on the surface of moist soil. Very little irrigation is necessary, but watering once a month during the growing season is beneficial. Grown indoors or out.
Delicate Prickly Pear (Opuntia delicata)
(Named from its small size and delicate structure)
How to identify and how it grows
Delicata, or the Delicate Prickly Pear, is formed by stems three to ten inches long which are thin, wrinkled or dished joints of bluish green and purplish tones. These joints or stems are covered with bright yellowish spicules which seem to be arranged in circular bundles, and with three twisted spines one-fourth inch to three inches long, all three very slender, delicate and whitish. The flowers are two or three inches long and wide, of a bright satiny yellowish hue; the fruit is pear-shaped and slender. This plant has small joints, and with its long weak slender spines and large beautiful flowers is a very attractive species. At the same time it is quite a rare specimen of the Cactacea Family.