[Illustration: Opuntia leptocaulis Opuntia ramosissima Opuntia bigelovi] Common Names: (_TASAJILLO_), CHRISTMAS CHOLLA, DIAMOND CACTUS, (TESAJO), DARNING-NEEDLE CACTUS, PENCIL-JOINT CHOLLA, HOLYCROSS. Arizona and Texas deserts: (_Opuntia leptocaulis_). Green-yellow. May-June. California desert: (_Opuntia ramosissima_). Green-yellow. May-September. Cactus family. Size: Much branched, shrubby, 2 to 4 feet tall. Flowers of these small, slender-stemmed, shrubby chollas (CHOH-yahs) are small, sparse, and so inconspicuous as to be rarely noticed. However, the fruits, particularly those of _O. Leptocaulis_, are scarlet, egg-shaped, about 1 inch in length, and occur in such profusion that they immediately attract attention to the plants during the late fall and winter months, giving these plants the appropriate name of Christmas Cholla. A large Cholla, _O. bigelovi_, also has greenish to pale yellow flowers but inconspicuous fruits and short, heavy joints so densely covered with silvery spines as to give it the name Teddybear Cholla. Found in south central and southwestern Arizona and westward into southern California, southern Nevada, and south into Sonora and Lower California, the Silver Cholla is noticeable at any season. Propagation is chiefly by joints which drop from the plant and take root, the new plants forming dense thickets on desert hillsides. Because the joints are so easily detached, they actually seem to jump at a passerby, this characteristic giving the plant the name Jumping Cactus. YELLOW [Illustration: Phoradendron californicum] Common Names: MISTLETOE, DESERT MISTLETOE Arizona and California deserts: (_Phoradendron californicum_). Yellow-green. March. Texas-New Mexico deserts: (_Phoradendron cockerelli_). Yellow-green. Spring. Mistletoe family. Size: Pendant, vine-like strands several feet long. Because they form conspicuous, dense, shapeless masses in Mesquite, Ironwood, Acacia, Cottonwood, or other trees (depending upon the species of Mistletoe), these parasitic plants attract the attention and arouse the curiosity of persons unfamiliar with the desert. _P. macrophyllum_, which parasitizes Cottonwood trees, is widespread throughout the Southwest, and, because of its large gray-green leaves and glistening white berries is much in demand as a Christmas green. The Mistletoe is the state flower of Oklahoma.