And now the trek of a long desert day is done. Tired and thirsty, we jot down our notes for future study and reference, and sit down in the shade of some desert rock or hummock, to gaze out over the receding panorama before us, wondering if, after all, it doesn’t look like a great desert graveyard, the big and little Visnaga strangely enigmatic monuments of some buried past, standing by till Time shall obliterate all.
The Barrel Cactus Group; Visnaga and Visnagita (Echinocactus)
How to identify and how they grow
Small or large plants that are globular or cylindric and strongly ribbed with sharp stout thorns, suggesting a barrel in size and shape, from a foot to three or four feet high, sometimes reaching nine feet, growing singly or in groups of two to four or more. The central spines are the strongest, usually one or more hooked; the radial spines also are stout, the radial bristles or threads if present are somewhat firm or rather weak in texture. The ridges run lengthwise over the whole plant body, and are covered with a dense lacework of thorns which are often cross-ridged and of several kinds, forming in clusters, a network over the entire plant. This lacework of spines is rather similar to the network of thorns covering the Hedgehog Cactus. But the Echinocactus can be identified by its barrel shape. The stems are mostly simple. There are no leaves nor spicules. The flowers are of medium size and are borne toward the tips of the plants, opening in the forenoon and closing in the afternoon of the same day. The blossoms persist on the mature fruit, which is shallowly tubercled, and scaly. The Echinocacti have no spines on the ovaries or fruit, which differentiates them from the Echinocereus Cacti. The stems of some species contain a fluid which, though a little saline, is palatable on the desert.
How to grow
The plants are grown from seed sown a quarter- to a half-inch deep in sandy soil mixed with a small amount of powdered charcoal and leaf mold in flats or pots, in part shade and given enough water to keep the soil moist but not wet. When a half-inch high or so the seedling plants should be planted in small pots. A south exposure is preferable for growing these species. They will thrive outside or indoors.
Interlacing Spine Cactus (Echinocactus intertextus)
(Named from the numerous interlacing or overlapping radial spines)
How to identify and how it grows
The Interlacing Spine Cactus looks very much like a flattened cylinder, growing from one and one-half to six inches high and to four inches in diameter. It has thirteen spiral ribs spaced about three-quarters of an inch apart, obtuse and sometimes rounded. The ridges of these are dull green and scurfy. The areolas are very short and crowded close together. There are from twenty to thirty radial spines, a half-inch long, which radiate much like the spokes of a wheel. All these spines are interlocking with one another and incurving. The four central spines do not appear till after the plant has begun to flower; usually three turn upward while the other one grows outward. They are a dull gray suffused with red or brown, or in some instances are brownish. The flowers form in a cluster at the top of the plant and are about an inch and a half long, having light purple sepals and from eighteen to twenty petals, the latter oblanceolate with a white center that changes to light pink or purple. The style of the flower is a pale yellow-green suffused with purple. The fruit is very small and is covered with scales which are colorless. These plants grow singly in coarse gravelly or sandy soils at altitudes of four or five thousand feet, and their blossoms come forth in May.