SUNSET CACTUS (Mammillaria Grahamii)

Southern Arizona, Western Texas, Southern California, Southern Utah, and Mexico

We have come more than two hundred miles on this second springtime trek across the ocean of sand and sagebrush and mesquite, with its brilliant flashes of color and fragrance, and still the clumps of dainty pincushions attract us almost against our will. As the sun completes his journey across the western skies, one of the most beautiful of all Nature’s creations claims our attention; this pincushion has earned a title appropriate to its lovely self, the bright pink and rose tints of its bell-like blossoms toning into the pink glow of the desert sunset in a circle of full open brilliant flowers, their many brightly glowing segments spreading out like so many iridescent rays of the setting sun. What name could be more apropos than “Sunset Cactus”? With her evanescent beauty and delicate perfume she is one of the most popular as well as the most abundant of the Mammillaria, ranging from Mexico through Southern California and Arizona to southern Utah. From two to ten inches tall, only a little more than two inches in breadth, she grows more slender than her brothers; her twenty rows of compact tubercles are set in a beautiful gray-green symmetrical spiral, and bear twenty or so slender grayish white radiating spines with dark tips, a half-inch long or less, and two central thorns sticking out stouter than the others, their bodies pale pink and their sharp tips curving upward in a transparent golden fringe of color.

Brown Pincushion (Mammillaria Wilcoxii)

Southern and Southeastern Arizona

The Brown Pincushion is one of the most attractive of the southwestern cacti, and is a rare creation indeed. This tiny cactus is two or three inches tall and about as broad, with a beautiful halo of red-brown thorns covering the whole plant, the hooked central spines and whitish radials slender, sharp, needlelike, with pointed tips. Through these the tiny flowers peep in two rows of thirty-five or forty bright purple or pink petals, recurved into the pretty cornucopia effect that we have seen so often among the clumps of Pincushions on our way across the desert. But beware of pressing the fingers against this dainty pincushion too hard, for if the sharp points of the central spines get hooked into the hand it is only with great difficulty and discomfort that one can get free. When the first offenders are released other spines hook into the flesh, and the plant seems to play with the victim for some time to see just how far it can go in provoking one so lacking in desert knowledge.

Horned Toad Cactus (Mammillaria MainÆ)

Southern Arizona and Northern Sonora

This rare little cactus was found in Arizona for the first time in 1931. Two or three inches high and nearly as broad, he seems to be sitting up in front of us like a horned toad, looking us over, his head flattened out in a slightly grotesque posture, pale green tubercles in thirteen or more spiral rows covering his flabby body, from which spring the dozen or so white and yellow radial thorns and the hooked central spines, also forming into a regular spiral twist. The brown and red striped flowers, an inch or so long, are not the lovely showy beauties of his brother baby cacti. Perhaps his easy life in grassy lands away from hottest sun and arid habitat needs not the compensation of the beauty afforded his less fortunate brothers and sisters. Does Nature make up for the hot aridity of the desert and the barren wastes of sand and more sand, by brilliance of flower and wealth of fantastic design? It would seem so, for nowhere else in the world are to be found the weird, grotesque shapes, the flaming splendor and fragrance of blossom, the kaleidoscopic changes of color and pattern which are created far out on the dry expanses, under the burning sun and during seasons of inconceivable drought.

Snowball Cactus (Mammillaria OliviÆ)

Southern Arizona

Next we see OliviÆ, the rose-tinted Snowball Pincushion, clad in a white coat of twenty-five or thirty radiating spines crowded together in a comb-like arrangement pressed closely against her body and looking like a snowball lying on the hot sand before us; the delicate rose-colored blossoms edged with a narrow band of white form a beautifully designed pincushion; even the stamens are deep rose, the styles light pink with olive-green stigmas, the fruit bright scarlet, and the seeds black. Is it any wonder that this riot of color, a rare desert form of the Mammillaria Grahamii, is also called the Sunset Cactus?

Green Flowered Pincushion (Mammillaria viridiflora)

Southeastern Arizona (Globe)

The Green Flowered Pincushion would make a lovely addition to my lady’s bower in a window rock garden. Not a desert species, it inhabits the higher mountain levels, often in oak woodlands; it is a rare beauty, difficult to find. Two or three inches in length and diameter, its stem and tiny bell-like flowers are both green, the radial spines loosely interlocking over the body of the plant, slender flexible thorns, white or reddish brown with sharp hooked tips. It is a near cousin to Mammillaria Wilcoxii.

Showy Pincushion (Coryphantha or Mammillaria aggregata)

Southern Arizona, Western New Mexico, and Northern Sonora

A handsome baby cactus, aggregata occurs usually in clumps, is two to five inches tall and almost as broad, with twenty or forty sharp needlelike thorns a half-inch or so long, tan or light pink, their ends forming twisted tips of white or reddish brown, and intermixed with fifteen or more rows of angled tubercles which bear the spine clusters. Beware of getting a “retrorsely barbed” thorn into the hand! Laceration ensues and much difficulty in extraction, for Nature has given these, her baby cacti, sharp and relentless protectors. A popular fellow for rock gardens is aggregata on account of his symmetrical and globose head, forming a cushion of bright pink or rose-purple blossoms which come forth to greet the world for but a day, then fold their dainty petals and are no more.

Arizona Pincushion (Coryphantha or Mammillaria arizonica)

Northern Arizona (Kingman, Phoenix)

We have traveled over halfway across the premier cactus state, and are approaching the mighty Grand CaÑon of the Colorado, that great fissure in the earth’s surface worn by water erosion throughout the ages. Hereabouts several new colonies of cacti are to be seen. The Arizona Pincushion is a conspicuous but not at all common fellow, easily recognized by his abundant dark-colored spines, in fact almost hidden by this dense growth of stout dangerous-looking reddish brown and black thorns, borne on the tubercles and about half an inch long. Arizonica is the tiniest of all the baby cacti, scarcely more than an inch tall and just as broad; occasionally reaching the height of two or three inches. The flowers, clustering in groups of three and five blossoms, are like a dainty bell, the petals and sepals narrow and lance-shaped, occurring in attractive rose or rose-purple and tan shades.

California Pincushion (Mammillaria tetrancistera)

Northern and Central Arizona, Southern California, Southern Utah, and Southern Nevada

Heading southward from the Grand CaÑon we find in the area north of Phoenix, Arizona, a most beautiful distinctive Pincushion which we recognize as native to California. Indeed so abundant is it in the foothills back from Los Angeles, on the road from Big Bear Lake and out on the Mojave Desert, that this round cactus is known as California’s Pincushion. Two to twelve inches tall, about two and one-half inches broad, it has eight rows of tubercles set in a symmetrical spiral over the pale green body, protected by forty to sixty delicate white radial thorns, slender as a needle, covering the entire plant, and one to four reddish brown hooked central spines, surrounded by a dark halo of deep purple blossoms. Bright scarlet is the fruit, but not edible as are the fruits of several related species.

Black Spined Pincushion (Mammillaria Milleri)

Northern Arizona (Phoenix, Kingman)

Again the sun is fading over the western rim of the foothills, leaving a flood of glory in his wake, and we are glad to sight the famous old Superstition Mountains, which are not far from Phoenix, Arizona. We hope to find one more baby cactus before the twilight passes into the deepening shadows of night, for then the end of our long hot trek is at hand. Milleri is a handsome fellow of mesa and foothill, boasting rose-purple or pink flowers, a showy Pincushion, reflecting the brightness and beauty of Nature around him, especially the flaming rays of a gorgeous desert sunset; indeed, he most clearly resembles our Sunset Cactus. Seldom alone, he and his companions form in symmetrical clumps, two to nine inches high and two or three inches across, encased in weak slender white spines with swollen pink bases, often curved and bent on their dozen or so spiral rows of interlocking tubercles, the firm hooked central spines of a rich brownish red, appearing black at a distance.

HABITATS

Along the highway from Lake Arrowhead in Southern California toward Victorville and Palm Springs, out on the Mojave Desert, southward to San Diego and old Mexico, we may find these odd little baby cacti blossoming forth in early spring into striking clumps of variegated bloom, dotting the landscape far and wide—their only mission in life, to look beautiful. For above the ordinary tourist trails as high as five thousand feet, farther down in sandy and gravelly places on the foothills and bajadas or mesa-like mountain slopes, and along the lower levels around Los Angeles, California Pincushions make their homes. In sunny exposures where Nature’s boon of rain is scarce, preferring common sand and rock, these tiniest of the Fantastic Clan thrive best.

Out on the great Arizona desert the Pincushion Cacti appear in abundance; the vast stretches contain a surprise for the tourist and the wearied student in these bits of desert growth, peering from between rocks and cobblestones or lying in clumps in crevices of the rocks among the foothills. All colors of the rainbow, it would seem, are woven into exquisite patterns by Nature in her baby cacti, their brilliantly painted flowering segments spreading out in spring array like so many gilded rays of the spectrum and creating the mirage of a gayly tinted rainbow, dazzling the eyes of the traveler as he speeds along the highway across the desert. Deep in the recesses of the Grand CaÑon of the Colorado, northward into southern Utah and Nevada, and southward again around the Superstition Mountains in Arizona and the Santa Ritas (near Tucson), these dainty cacti, when in bloom, color the landscape far and near, on the mesas and along the bajadas into Southern California, and far south into old Mexico, where they come forth in dozens of flowering varieties. And here we must leave our tiny symbols of the Cactacea clan, for the shadows are beginning to lengthen; the sun has finished his journey across the western heavens and we bid farewell to our baby cacti, beautiful rainbows of the desert, for to-morrow we continue our journey over sandy arid lands, and travel a different way among the weird Fantastic Clan.

The Pincushion Group; Baby Cacti (Mammillaria and Coryphantha)

How to identify and how they grow

These are funny little ball-like plants, an inch to a foot in diameter and height, often broader than they are tall, the upper surface almost flattened, while the main part of the plant is a carrot-shaped fleshy root. The stems are mostly simple, sometimes branched; they grow singly or occasionally in clusters, and are not ribbed but studded with numerous tubercles spirally arranged. These are the smallest of the CactaceÆ, hence called the Baby Cacti, and are full of star-shaped spines with an extra-long one in each cluster, all thorns hooked over on the ends. The spines are slender but stout, mostly of two kinds and generally less than a half-inch long, sharp and needlelike, and usually with hairs. There are no spicules nor leaves. The flowers are small or medium-sized and open in the forenoon, closing in the afternoon of the same day. The fruit is rather small, is smooth and has no tubercles, scales, nor bracts. These dainty cacti often cling together in groups, and the symmetrical arrangement of the flowers and spines, the brilliant harmony of colorings in both, and the spirally arranged tubercles give the plants a most attractive appearance.

How to grow

Transplant at any season, preferably early in spring, to a southern exposure if possible, in soil similar to that of the native habitat of the plant, irrigate once in two or three weeks sufficiently to keep the soil lightly moist but not wet. Provide some shade for species growing in their native habitats at high altitudes or in partial shade. These plants grow easily from seed sown a quarter- to a half-inch deep in sandy soil mixed with a small amount of ground charcoal and leaf mold in flats or pots, kept slightly moist in part shade. When a half-inch tall they may be transplanted to small pots. They grow indoors and outside.

Foxtail Cactus; Desert Pincushion (Coryphantha deserti)

How to identify and how it grows

The Foxtail Cactus grows as a single stem or in clumps. The stems are cylindrical and two or three inches in diameter, with tubercles nearly an inch long and also cylindrical. The whole plant is covered with a dense growth of white radial spines with dark tips, and a group of six to a dozen central spines whitish below, and with the upper half black shading off to a reddish brown. This gives the plant a striking appearance. All of the spines are very stiff. The flowers are straw-colored, about an inch and a half long, and have light pink tips. The petals are lance-shaped and narrow.

How to grow

Plants may be grown out of doors where the temperatures in winter are not lower than fifteen or twenty degrees below freezing, that is 12° to 17° Fahrenheit. In colder climates than this the plants must be protected in winter or grown in sunny, warm conservatories. They may be grown from seed in pots in sandy soil with partial shade and with enough watering to keep the soil moist but not wet. Transplant larger plants in sandy or gravelly soil in bright sunny exposures and give only occasional irrigation during dry periods.

Cream Cactus (Mammillaria MacDougalii)

(Named for Dr. D. T. MacDougal, collector of western plants and Director of the Desert Botanical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution)

How to identify and how it grows

The Cream Cactus grows from solitary stems or heads, and in many instances in clusters four inches high and six inches in diameter. The tops of the plants are flattened with the centers depressed, or often growing level with the ground. The older plants are much taller and broader. The tubercles are placed spirally and are a half-inch long. If injured they yield a white creamy fluid. There are eleven to thirteen radial spines with one to three centrals whose bases are yellow and bulbous. The spine body is a pale red with brown or purple-brown tips. The flowers are a little more than one inch long and one inch wide, and of cream color to light yellow. The fruit is a deep rose-red and the seeds are reddish purple. This plant likes the gravelly clay loam soils best.

How to grow

These plants can be grown nearly anywhere with temperatures no lower than twenty degrees of frost; but with zero temperatures protection should be given, or the plants grown in rock gardens in sunny conservatories. They grow easily from seed in sandy or gravelly clay loam soil with partial shade and enough irrigation to keep the soil moist. Plants transplant readily to rocky or gravelly clay soils at almost any season, if the thick fleshy roots are not injured in digging. Water moderately once a month, and where convenient set plants among rocks.

Recurved Spine Pincushion; Bent Spine Pincushion (Coryphantha recurvata)

(Named recurvata from the spines, which are bent down against the plant)

How to identify and how it grows

The Recurved Spine Pincushion grows in clumps about three feet across, sometimes less, and has several stems four to eight inches long, which are globose, that is, longer than broad. These stems bear twenty-seven or so spirally arranged rows on which appear the angled tubercles. These rows or ridges also have the twenty-five radially grouped spines and one light yellow or translucent grayish yellow central spine. This arrangement of the spines forms a dense impenetrable mass or layer over the surface of the plant. The flowers are about the length of a walnut and have lemon-yellow petals and brown sepals. The fruit is quite small and is light yellow-green. This species differs from the others of the group in that the flowers are borne in a circle two or three inches in diameter about the center of the plant.

How to grow

These plants will endure twenty degrees of frost without injury; where the winters are colder than this the plants should be covered or grown indoors, preferably under glass. They may be grown from seed in sandy soil or sandy loam in pots with partial shade and with enough watering to keep the soil moist. Field plants may be transplanted at almost any season in gravelly or clay loam soils and given enough water to moisten the soil during dry spells.

Devil’s Pincushion; Pineapple Cactus (Coryphantha robustispina)

How to identify and how it grows

The Pineapple Cactus is the largest of the Pincushion cacti, with its large tubercles and coarse spines. It grows as high as nine inches, and six inches in diameter, single or several stems in clumps. They form in hemispherical mounds as wide as eighteen inches, with the larger stems suggesting a pineapple. The spines are straight and stout and slightly curved, and grow in groups of eleven to fifteen, one of which, a central, is a little longer than the rest; erect, and of a dull straw color fading to yellow-tan. The bases of the spines are bulbous. The flowers, about two inches long, are yellow or straw-colored or yellow-brown and are very showy, remaining open all day. The fruit is large, about two inches, and narrow or oblong and of a yellow-green with large light brown seeds.