Man comes and goes through life, dancing in and out of the Great Scheme, but he has missed much of the picture and the skein of life if he has not gone out to see the desert. For it is there on the broad high mesas of these vast arid stretches that life begins and ends; it is this desert land of plants and flowers, the great dry region of the earth, that haunts us, fascinates us, beckons us, allures us, just as it did the ancient pueblo and cave dweller, in ages long gone by. We have finished our long trip into the mysterious realm of the Fantastic Clan, and we hope that you have gone with us in fancy along all the devious and rocky paths into the habitats of the cactus plants, and sensed something of their strange and matchless growth, and much of their beauty and charm. For you have not seen Life in all its many and varied forms till you have viewed at least once the wondrous parade of the brilliant cactus flowers, and surveyed the gorgeous painted canvas flung far out over the burning mesas on the Great American Desert. And remember, too, the words of the poet: “If you have not, then I could not tell, For you could not understand.” (Madge Morris: “Lure of the Desert”) GLOSSARY OF TERMS _acute_—ending in a point less than a right angle. _Adiós, señor_—(Spanish) Good day, sir. _anther_—the pollen-bearing body at the tip of the stamen. _areola_—area or center of growth. _ascending_—growing upward at an angle of forty or fifty degrees. _ascending spreading_—growing at an angle of less than forty degrees. _awl-shaped_—sharp-pointed from a broader base. _bajadas_—mesalike mountain slopes. _Bisnaga_—Barrel Cacti. _bract_—a scale or small leaf. _Buenas noches_—(Spanish) Good night. _bulbous_—somewhat thickened or bulblike. _Cactaceæ_—the botanical name for cacti or the cactus family of plants. _calyx tube_—the tube formed by the union of the sepals. _candelabralike_—with the branches growing somewhat regularly outward and upward. _central spines, or centrals_—the inner spines of a spine cluster. _ciliate_—with a fringe of hairs. _compressed_—flattened on opposite sides. _constricted_—contracted at regular intervals. _corona_—a crownlike circle or whorl of flower parts. _creosote_—a desert shrub. _cross-ridged_—marked transversely. _deflexed_—bent downwards. _dished_—concave or sunken in the center. _divergent_—spreading. _dwarf trees_—plants smaller than trees but with a main trunk. _elliptical_—oval or oblong with the ends rounded. _filaments_—the threadlike stalks of stamens. _fissure_—a furrow caused by the bark splitting. _fluted_—grooved or channeled vertically. _Fuera_—(Spanish) Begone, get you gone. _genera_—plural of “genus.” _genus_—a group or division of a family of plants. _glochidium_ (plural, _glochidia_)—a small fine needlelike body, a spicule.