The Many Colored Tree Cholla, or _Opuntia versicolor_, grows as a main trunk two or three feet high, with many ascending intricate branches which form a broad rounded head from five to ten feet across at the widest part and six to twelve feet high. The bark is coarse and fissured, gray or tan, latterly scaling off. The joints or branches are from two to ten inches long, are green or brown and tubercled. The spicules form in a flattened mass and are yellow or brown. The spines, five to fifteen, are awl-shaped and about three-fourths of an inch long with brownish bases. The body is of gray-brown or purplish hues covered with close-fitting thin light yellowish sheaths. The flowers form in clusters at the tips of the joints and are a yellow-green suffused with red, pink, orange, or sometimes a deep maroon. The fruit is also yellowish green suffused with purple and is pear-shaped. Sometimes one fruit is found growing out from the end of another on this fantastic growth, all fruit remaining on the plant for a year or longer. How to grow Plants may be transplanted at any season, or joints may be planted in gravelly rocky soils. The plants should be watered once a month during the growing season until well established, after that less frequently. They will grow indoors and out and are not injured by a temperature of twenty degrees below freezing. With colder temperatures they require protection. Popular Cholla (_Opuntia tetracantha_) (Named _tetracantha_ from the four spines commonly present) How to identify and how it grows The Popular Cholla is a loose irregular growth about four feet tall with several stems coming from the base, but not jointed. The brownish spicules are formed in bundles. There are from one to four spines, all less than an inch long, slender and stiff and brownish or light brownish gray, with one spine longer and stouter than the others, and covered with thin straw-colored sheaths. The flowers are of a pale yellow-green suffused with purplish tints, and open in the afternoon. The fruit is about one inch long and smooth, elliptical, and orange-red. How to grow This species may be transplanted at any season, or cuttings may be planted early in spring, in sandy or gravelly soil and watered monthly with light irrigation. The cuttings are less certain to grow. Plants grow also quite readily from seed. They are not injured by twenty-five degrees of frost and grow outdoors or in; in colder weather than this they should be given protection outside. Prolific Tree Cholla (_Opuntia arbuscula_) (The name _arbuscula_ means “a small tree”) How to identify and how it grows