This species grows sparingly in arid, rocky, or stony soil of slopes and hillsides from western Texas to southern Arizona and adjacent Mexico. It differs from others of its kind in the coloring of the blossoms, which are the most delicately tinted of all the cactus flowers, pale rose to deep pink suffused with lavender hues, and in the light blue-green of the stems, which are nearly a foot high and about half as wide; also in the spiny characteristics, the stout twisted, awl-shaped thorns converging toward the tip of the plant. The flowers are large for the species, two and one-half inches long or more and nearly as broad when fully open, blossoming for but one day and only in the very brightest of sunshine. Horizonthalonius looks quite like a Turk’s head when in flower, with the pinkish purple tassel at the tip of his head in a dense mass of long, tangled, cream-white wool.
Candy Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus Wislizeni)
Southern Arizona, Northern Mexico, and Western Texas
The stems of this peculiar growth are used largely in making the highly priced cactus candy, the fleshy part sliced and soaked in water overnight, then cooked until tender in a strong sugar solution and allowed to harden and crystallize. A most tasty delicacy is produced which is sold all over the world as “cactus candy,” and so popular is this rare sweet both in the East and abroad as well as among tourists to the desert that the industry threatens to eradicate Wislizeni and several other species of the Barrel Cacti. “Nigger Head” is another designation for the Candy Barrel Cactus, since this unique desert growth with its fringe of a dozen or so needlelike bristles resembles an affrighted southern “nigger” with his hair all standing on end. The young plants are globose and the older ones cylindric, from one to seven feet tall and a foot or two in diameter; the threadlike bristles are light gray and resemble an insect’s antennæ, the four or five stout central thorns rose-pink and yellowish mottled, the lower one longest and strongly hooked, one to five inches long. Ferocactus Wislizeni or Fishhook Cactus, as this Bisnaga is also called, is one of the most striking cacti of the desert areas, and its presence always inspires considerable interest; the spines are densely fine hairy, a characteristic rarely noted among cacti.
The Candy Cactus, also, goes under the name of “Traveler’s Friend” or “Compass Cactus,” and like Covillei it invariably leans toward the southwest and will direct aright a lost traveler who is versed in desert lore and can read the signs of the land. Then too, if the top of stem or trunk is removed with a sharp knife or machete and the fleshy part is crushed, or pommeled into a pulp, a considerable amount of water can be secured for drinking from this friendly cactus, which though a little saline and not very palatable is a life-saver in time of stress. Wislizeni grows well in the sandy loamy clay soils of the desert bajadas and along the foothills. The name of the species honors Dr. A. Wislizenus, who was in charge of a botanical expedition to the Southwest in 1848.
Nigger Head (Echinocactus Le Contei)
Western Arizona, Southern Utah, Southern Nevada, Southern California, Lower California, and Sonora
This species, also, is given the name “Nigger Head” because the spines and bristles are curled and bent down closely against its trunk like a “nigger’s head” with coarse curly hair. To be sure, one never has seen a negro with pink hair, but this Nigger Head Cactus has a coat of interlocking densely fine hairy spines of lovely pink and mottled rose shades, some pointing upward, some downward, some laterally, and a fringe of ten to fourteen grayish threadlike radial bristles; such an impenetrable coat affords much-needed protection against heat and cold, and hungry rodents or range animals. Echinocactus Le Contei is among the most attractive of the Barrel group with its bright roseate spines, and its deep yellow blossoms with purple-red centers, creating the impression of a purple bloom within an orange-red flower. The flowers come forth in April and May, the fruit matures in July. The plant grows nearly always on a single stem, rarely two or more in a clump, from one to seven feet tall and about eighteen inches in diameter, with twenty to twenty-four ridges encircling trunk and stems. The latter are utilized by Mexicans and Indians for the making of cactus candy.
CANDY BARREL CACTUS; FISHHOOK CACTUS (Echinocactus Wislizeni)