The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus FamilyThornber, J. J. (John James)
Science
The Fantastic Clan: The Cactus Family
Thornber, J. J. (John James)
Cactus -- Southwest, New
The Spiny Tree Cholla grows to a height of fifteen feet and has a woody
trunk several feet long with ascending branches forming into a broad
irregular open head, and with tubercled joints three to nine inches long,
which are set in spiral rows. They are gray-green suffused with yellow
and purple. The straw-colored spicules are formed in bundles, while the
six to fifteen spines are gray suffused with pink or brown; this produces
a characteristic grayish pink coloring. These thorns are covered with
thin yellowish sheaths. The flowers are very showy and appear in
abundance at the tips of the joints, which are three to nine inches in
length. The fruit is light yellow, broadly elliptical, tubercled and
firm, with thick walls, and it remains on the plant for a year or longer.
This Cholla grows in the rocky foothills and _bajadas_ and in the sandy
desert areas of the southern part of New Mexico and Arizona at fifteen
hundred to five thousand feet.
How to grow
Set out young plants at any season or plant cuttings in spring in sandy
or gravelly clay soil and water once a month to keep the soil slightly
moist until the plants are well established. They grow very easily from
cuttings. This Cholla is not injured by zero temperature and grows well
outdoors or in the house; but with temperatures below zero it requires
protection.
Jumping Cholla (_Opuntia fulgida_)
(Named _fulgida_ from the silvery sheathed spines, which glisten in the
strong desert sunlight)
How to identify and how it grows
The Jumping Cholla is a handsome dwarf tree growing as high as fifteen
feet, deeply fissured, with a stout woody trunk as much as four feet
long, and with candelabralike branches of blackish or brownish bark.
These branches form the broadly rounded head of the tree. The joints are
three to six inches long, succulent and easily broken off, and covered
with tubercles in a spiral arrangement. The spicules are white and are
formed in tufts, while the spines, seven to thirteen, are usually bent
and less than two inches long. They are slender and needlelike with loose
papery sheaths, silvery-white and glistening, giving the species its
specific name. The flowers are of a bright rose-purple with yellow and
pinkish tinges. The fruit is pear-shaped and green. It will be noted that
both the fruit and the flowers grow out from the tips of old fruit, thus
forming chains of ten to fifteen fruit. The Jumping Cholla grows well in
sandy or gravelly clay soils in the low rocky foothills of southern
Arizona and Northern Mexico.
How to grow
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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