Green Stemmed Visnaga (Echinocactus viridescens)

Southern California and Lower California

Echinocactus viridescens is a small Bisnaga growing in the vicinity of San Diego, California, and is found along the beaches there, and in the dry ridges and hills of Lower California. It gets its name from the greenish flowers and stems (viridescens is Latin for “growing green”). The stems grow a little over a foot high; the numerous stout sharp thorns are finely hairy, encircling the plants in red and yellow and rose-pink bands of coloring; while the blossoms form a bright halo of gold and purple tints around their tips, the margins of petals and sepals yellow and the thickened midribs yellow or purple-red, the whole producing a strongly greenish cast in flower and plant. The fruit can be eaten, and has a slightly acid taste like that of the common gooseberry.

Harem Cactus (Echinocactus polycephalus)

Southern California, Western Arizona, Nevada, and Utah

The many-headed Barrel Cacti are composed of the older stems, a couple of feet or so in height, each surrounded by twenty to forty smaller ones, and we might give this group the name “Harem Cactus.” These many-stemmed Barrel Cacti form large hemispherical mounds three to five feet across with the largest stems or trunks in the center. Hence the suggestion of an old man and his many wives; hence also the designation “Mound Cactus.” The group thrives well on stony and gravelly hills of our hottest southwestern deserts where the rainfall is three inches or less. Clad in an impenetrable armor of silver-gray spikes and spines, banded in pink and pinkish gray zones of color and in a densely fine fuzzy growth, polycephalus blossoms in many showy attractive blooms, bright yellow petals and stamens in striking contrast to the purple-red sepals and scales. The clusters of flowers are hidden among the dense masses of stout ascending or incurved spines and rarely open in full, both fruit and blossoms deriving protection against the ravages of sun and storm, rodents and other desert animals from their strong armament of thorns and spikes. This cactus is interesting because it is so different from any of its relatives.

Mexican Fruit Cactus (Echinocactus hamatacanthus)

Northern Mexico, Southern Texas, and New Mexico

This quite odd little Barrel Cactus is highly prized by the Mexicans and Indians who know it for its fine fruit, which is slender, two or three inches long, and very sweet with many dark brown seeds. The ripe fruit gradually dries, and is eaten as a sweetmeat without any sort of treatment; firm and sweet and very sugary, it is considered a rare delicacy by the hundreds of thousands of tourists who journey to the Southwest in quest of unique desert growths. It is used very largely as a food product by the natives; from the appearance of the thorns the species is named hamatacanthus (“hooked spine”). We note that the flowers are rather large, about three inches long and two inches or more across, golden or yellow suffused with red, and appear in clusters at the ends of the stems, which are generally two or three feet high; the spines harmonizing in reds, purples, and tans.

Mexican Lime Cactus (Echinocactus Pringlei)

Central Mexico (Coahuila)

And here is the Mexican Lime Cactus, which is used for a refreshing drink that is similar to the well-known limeade, and often called the Lemonade Cactus. A little Mexican cactus juice, some sugar and ice-water, a hot day, and you have a cool delightful drink. This species is made striking by its great size, mature plants reaching a height of nine feet, with several stems forming in clumps or growing singly, and by the light red hooked spines which give the stems a reddish coloring when seen at a distance. The blossoms are group flowers of orange-yellow, having the appearance of red on the outside and golden within, and clustering in a circle around the tops of the stems. This fine Fruit Cactus is native to the foothills and mountains of Central Mexico in the Mexican states of Coahuila and Zacatecas.

Giant Visnaga (Echinocactus visnaga)

Central Mexico (San Luis PotosÍ)

It is late on a sultry day in June and we are speeding along the dusty highways of Central Mexico, intent on our quest for a certain queer specimen of the weird Fantastic Clan, when the long low shadows of the afternoon begin to slant over the singular cactus growths for which we have been searching, and the blue haze of a waning day is seen to gather over the distant mountains. We pause in our hurried flight across the Mexican bajadas, as a strange and lurid spectacle comes into view. It is a forest of the Giant Visnaga, greenish monsters of the desert, appearing to rise out of the ground in front of us, towering on their fantastic yellow-green bodies and leaning toward us, like some strange messengers of a departed world come back to us in this graveyard of the desert. The Giant Barrel is the cactus in search of which we have traveled all the way from Southern California to San Luis PotosÍ, in Central Mexico, a monster growth six to nine feet tall, three to four feet in diameter, weighing over four thousand pounds; and estimated by scientists to attain the age of a thousand years! One of these Giant Bisnaga has been growing in the University of Arizona gardens for thirty-five years, is only about two feet tall and eighteen inches through, even after the lapse of a third of a century. It is in the highlands of San Luis PotosÍ that we have discovered this giant, just as our long hot trek is drawing to a close. We see that his trunk is single and unbranched, cylindrical, and greenish or yellow-green. The four straight sharp stout thorns are all brownish central spines; no radials are present. The flowers are bright yellow and showy, and the tops of the plants where they appear are covered with dense layers of long woolly cream-yellow hairs. The large blossoms, two and one-half inches long and as broad, come forth in early June, spreading wide open in the forenoon and closing in late afternoon.

Whipple’s Visnagita (Echinocactus Whipplei)

Northern Arizona, Northern Utah, Western Colorado, and New Mexico

But one more growth of this strange cactus land must claim our attention ere the sun completes his journey across the western skies and the goddess of Evening draws the mantle of night over the land of the burning sun. It is a Bisnaga native to the foothills and high mesas of northern Arizona and Utah, western Colorado, and New Mexico, but we cannot take the time on this trip to study in northern parts. Science tells us that Whipple’s Visnagita is one of the smaller of the cactus clan and is generally to be seen peering out from under other desert shrubs. Little is known about this very interesting but tiny growth. It is far removed from all of its near relatives in distribution, and is to be found as far north as Pleasant Valley near Great Salt Lake in Utah. The ashy-white thorns are half an inch long or longer, many of them dangerously recurved and hooked; its large bell-shaped blossoms form a halo of rose and purple about the tips of this diminutive cactus, quite pretty with the lavender filaments and reddish styles; the styles are finely hairy their entire length, a very rare characteristic among cacti.

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.

How to grow

Set out plants at any season, preferably in the spring, in sandy or gravelly clay loam in part shade and give some irrigation monthly to keep the soil moist. They may be grown from seed in sandy loam in flats with sufficient water to keep the soil moist. The flats should be in part shade. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by zero temperatures. In colder climates they can be grown in dry sunny conservatories or indoor rock gardens.

Purple Spined Visnagita (Echinocactus erectocentrus—Echinomastus erectocentrus)

(Named erectocentrus from the erect central spines)

How to identify and how it grows

The stems of the Purple Spined Visnagita grow singly and to the height of nine inches, are conical or cylindrical, and have twenty or more ridges which are spirally arranged. The areolas are set closely together and are gray-green. There are as many as sixteen radial spines, less than an inch long, which rotate like the spokes of a wheel. The central spines, of which there are only one or two, are less than one inch long and erect. All of the spines have thickened bases, are a dull light rose-purple, and are covered with a fine gray scurf. The flowers form at the tops of the stems and are about two inches in length and breadth, white suffused with pink or lavender, and have a delicate fragrance. The flower is composed of twenty petals which are oblanceolate. The fruit is quite small, less than an inch, and is oblong, yellowish green, thin-walled; it dries very soon after maturity in June. These plants thrive best in rocky or limestone ridges and slopes. They are a handsome species, and are easily seen in the distance when coming into blossom in April and May.

How to grow

Transplant early in spring in rocky or gravelly soil, using care not to injure the roots and watering monthly to keep the soil moist. The seeds grow readily if planted in May or June in sandy loam in flats in part shade with enough water to keep the soil slightly moist. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by zero temperatures.

Traveler’s Friend; Traveler’s Compass (Echinocactus Covillei—Ferocactus Covillei)

(Named in honor of Dr. F. V. Coville, curator of the National Herbarium, Washington, D. C.)

How to identify and how it grows

The Traveler’s Compass has a peculiarity which helps to identify it, usually leaning toward the southwest, and this gives it the common name. The plants grow as solitary stems to the height of about five feet and the diameter of a foot and a half. The plants are globose when young, gradually becoming cylindrical and having as many as thirty ribs, two inches high and three inches apart. The rib crests are obtuse and are constricted between the areolas. There are from six to eight radial spines, an inch or two long, which are stout and straight with cross ridges, and spreading. They are gray, or dull red and pink, with the tips a translucent yellow. The central spines are much stronger than the radials, as long as three inches, extending outward and not hooked; but the tips are curved. The flowers, which are bell-shaped, are about three inches long and have forty petals and twenty sepals. The petals have acute tips and are oblanceolate. The colors vary from yellow to crimson and red shadings with the margins of a lighter red. The fruit is elliptical, about two inches long and a dull yellow.

How to grow

Transplant in sandy gravelly or rocky soil at any season, with enough water to keep the soil moist during the growing season. Plants grow easily from seed in flats in sandy loam with part shade, watered occasionally to keep the soil slightly moist. The plants grow inside and outdoors and are not injured by temperatures twenty-five degrees below freezing; in colder weather they should be protected.

Turk’s Head (Echinocactus horizonthalonius)

(The specific name horizonthalonius is of unknown origin but no doubt refers to the position of the spines)

How to identify and how it grows

The Turk’s Head has as many as eight radial spines, three to five of which grow directly upward and two to four extend laterally. Many of them grow to one and one-half inches long. The central spines are much stouter and longer, extending outward, also, and downward, about two inches in length. All the thorns are quite stout, are strongly cross-ridged and curved, and in many instances are twisted. Near the lower ends they are grayish and tone off to a dull brown at the tips. This plant is of the solitary-stem variety and grows to about one foot high and six inches or less in diameter. It is cylindrical and usually is found with eight spiral ridges less than an inch high and two inches apart, which are rounded and light gray or light blue-green. The areolas are rather well crowded together. The flowers are about two inches long and have a delicate deep pink to rose-pink coloring, opening only in the bright sunshine and for just one day. The flower is composed of thirty-eight spatulate petals and fourteen sepals. The style is a bright pink. The fruit is oblong and has a dense woolly growth of long cream-white hairs; when ripe it is red. These plants grow well in the arid rocky or stony soils of the open desert and foothills, never in great abundance.

How to grow

Set plants in the spring in gravelly or stony soil in sunny locations with good drainage, and give enough irrigation to retain the moisture in the soil during the growing season. Plants grow readily from seed in pots or flats in sandy loam, in part shade, with enough water to keep the soil lightly moist. The plants grow outside and inside and are not injured by a temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing.

Fishhook Cactus; Candy Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus Wislizeni—Ferocactus Wislizeni)

(Named in honor of Dr. A. Wislizenus, who was in charge of a botanical expedition to the Southwest in 1848)

How to identify and how it grows

The Candy Barrel Cactus is a very fine plant which grows as high as seven feet and has twenty to thirty ridges running lengthwise. The lower half of the areola is fringed with a dozen or so threadlike bristles about two inches long. Along the ridges are grouped the spines, and in each group it will be noticed that the lowest spine is the longest and has a good strong hook at the tip. The four to eight radials are cross-ridged and stout, one or two inches long. The centrals are from three to five inches long. The upper spine is quite erect, and the central pair no more than two inches long. All the spines are light pink or gray-pink with translucent tips. The flowers are from two to three inches long and half as wide, and have forty or more petals and twenty sepals, the colors being yellow to orange-red. They are formed in a circle at the top of the plant, blooming from July to September. The fruit is elliptical, yellowish, and covered with fan-shaped scales. The plants grow best in sandy or gravelly clay loam of desert areas and the bajadas and foothills.

How to grow

Transplant at any season in sandy or gravelly clay loam, give enough water to keep the soil moist during the growing season. The seed grow readily in sandy loam in pots or flats, planted in May or June, in part shade with just enough water to keep the soil lightly moist. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured at twenty-five degrees below freezing, but in zero weather they require some protection.

Nigger Head (Echinocactus Le Contei—Ferocactus Le Contei)

(Named in honor of Dr. John Lawrence Le Conte, who discovered it on the lower Gila River in Arizona)

How to identify and how it grows

The Nigger Head Cactus has spines or bristles which interlock and form an impenetrable coat. The plant grows from a single stalk or stem, a foot and a half in diameter, as high as seven feet, and with twenty to twenty-four ridges. The ten to fourteen grouped bristles are placed radially, are about two inches long and are white or mottled much like a negro’s fuzzy hair. There are also from nine to twelve radial spines one and one-half inches long, while the three or four centrals are larger and stouter than the others, about two and one-half inches long. All the central and radial spines are cross-ridged in mottled pink or light rose shadings, and have yellow tips. The flowers, which open in April and May, are yellow, and the midribs of the petals and sepals are a reddish purple on the outside. The blossoms are about the length and breadth of an egg and very rarely open in full. The fruit matures in July. This species grows best in rocky soils and in the hottest and dryest exposures.

How to grow

Set out plants preferably early in spring in gravelly or rocky clay loam with good drainage and sunny exposures, giving just enough irrigation to keep the soil moist during the growing season. Plants grow easily from seed in sandy loam in flats or pots in part shade. Keep the soil lightly moist, never wet. The plants grow indoors and out and are not injured by a temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing; in zero weather they require protection.

Pink Flowered Visnagita (Echinocactus Johnsonii—Ferocactus Johnsonii)

(Named in honor of Joseph Ellis Johnson, an amateur botanist of southern Utah)

How to identify and how it grows

The Pink Flowered Visnagita grows from single cylindrical stems one foot tall or less and three to four inches in diameter, with its ribs of pale green well hidden by the dense layer of interlaced spines which are so prevalent in the Ferocactus group. These dense spines are a gray rose-purple, or a light yellow. The bell-shaped flowers are about three inches long and are composed of quite small oblong petals, deep pink or red. This blending of colors in blossoms and spines gives the plant a very pleasing appearance. It grows best in sandy or gravelly soils and sunny exposures.

How to grow

Plant this Visnagita in sandy or gravelly soil, preferably early in spring in sunny exposures, water enough to keep the soil moist during the growing period. Sow the seed in May or June in a sandy loam in flats or pots with part shade, and water occasionally to keep the soil moist. The plants grow indoors or out and tolerate a temperature of twenty-five degrees below freezing; in zero weather they should be grown in dry sunny greenhouses or conservatories.

Golden Spined Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus Rostii—Ferocactus Rostii)

(Named Rostii in honor of E. P. Rost, who discovered the plant)

How to identify and how it grows

The Golden Spined Barrel Cactus grows singly or in small clumps, from four to nine feet high with stems as much as ten inches in diameter. Their fifteen to twenty-two ridges are about two inches apart. The spines are grouped in clusters about an inch apart, with six to nine radial bristles an inch and a half long which are cream-colored. There are five to seven radial spines which are cross-ridged, nearly two inches long and a light yellow. The four central spines are also cross-ridged, with the upper ones incurved and erect while the lower ones are spreading. All of these centrals are golden-yellow suffused with pink at their bases. The flowers form in a circle at the top of the plant. The petals are yellow, and the sepals are suffused with red. It will be noticed that this arrangement makes the blossoms appear golden-yellow in a reddish cup.

How to grow

Transplant early in spring in gravelly or rocky soil in sunny exposures, and give light irrigation monthly to keep the soil moist during the growing season. Plants grow readily from seed in moist sandy loam in flats or pots and with part shade. This species is grown indoors and out and is hardy to fifteen or twenty degrees of frost, but with zero weather it requires protection.

California Barrel Cactus (Echinocactus acanthodes—Ferocactus acanthodes)

(The specific name means “thorny”)

How to identify and how it grows

The stems of the California Barrel Cactus generally grow singly, as high as nine feet, and one foot in diameter, with seven or more grouped radial bristles, which are very sharp and needlelike, fringing the twenty-seven to thirty ridges along the stems. These bristles are about two inches long and a grayish yellow. In the spine system there are four to six radials that are stout, and four central spines that are wide-spreading and slightly hooked and cross-ridged, with beautiful rose-pink and yellow shadings. The flowers are bell-shaped and form in a circle around the tops of the stems; they are yellow and about two inches in length and breadth, opening in spring. The fruit comes on in July. Acanthodes grows best in gravelly, sandy, or rocky soils.