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