_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_