Mr. Purdy says of it: "It is seldom seen farther than two miles from the ocean. On the edges of the bogs the lily is often a dwarf, blossoming at three or four inches. In the bogs it roots itself in the tufts, and becomes a lovely plant five feet high with ten or fifteen fine blossoms."
The leaves are dark, glossy green and the blossoms are more cylindrical than funnel-form, the three inner segments spreading more than the outer, which remain almost erect. The little oval anthers, with cinnamon-colored pollen, almost fill the narrow tube and conceal the fact that the segments are yellow below and more decidedly spotted.
CHOLLA-CACTUS.
Opuntia prolifera, Engelm. Cactus Family.
Leafless, spiny, arborescent shrubs, three to ten feet high, with elongated, cylindrical joints, covered with oblong tubercles which bear from three to eight spines. Longest spines twelve to eighteen lines long. Stems.—Two to seven inches thick. Flowers.—Purplish-red;
densely clustered at the ends of the branches. Sepals, petals, and stamens, many. Ovary.—One-celled. Style one. Stigmas several. Fruit.—Green; obovate; concave on the top; having no spines, only bristles; usually sterile; often producing other flowers. Hab.—From Ventura to San Diego and southward.
Upon dry hills, even as far north as Ventura, the cholla cactus is a familiar feature of the landscape. In many places it forms extensive and impassable thickets, which afford an asylum to many delicate and tender plants that retire to it as a last refuge from sheep and cattle.
The young joints, which are clustered at the ends of the branches, are from three to nine inches long. By means of their barbed spines, these adhere to any passing object, and as they break off very readily, they are thus often transported to a distance. As they root easily, this seems to afford a means of propagation, in the absence of seed—for the fruit is usually seedless.
The spines are quite variable in length, the longest being sometimes an inch and a half. Each one is covered by a papery sheath, which slips off easily.