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
Plants may be grown from seed in sandy soil in flats or pots; young
plants may be transplanted in spring in sandy, gravelly, or rocky soil.
Water during dry weather enough to moisten the soil well. The plants can
be grown out of doors only where the coldest winter temperatures are but
a few degrees below freezing. In other parts of the country, grow in hot,
dry conservatories or greenhouses.
Prohibition Cactus (_Cereus Emoryi_)
(Named in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Emory, who was in charge of the
Mexican Boundary Survey)
How to identify and how it grows
This is a low-branched plant a foot or two high, growing prostrate with
erect branches in thick impenetrable masses ten to twenty feet across.
Numerous stiff, needlelike thorns form a dense spiny yellowish coating
over the entire mass. There are many pale yellow to yellow-brown flowers
an inch and a half long which cluster near the tips of the stems. The
fruit is globose and densely spiny, an inch or so in diameter. The plant
is not attractive nor very cereus-like.
How to grow
This species can be transplanted in the spring by digging rooted stems,
planting in gravelly clay soil, and irrigating sufficiently to moisten
the soil in dry periods; or by digging a shallow hole and partly covering
the stems with soil kept moist but not wet. The plants will grow out of
doors and endure only a few degrees of frost; where the temperature drops
more than fifteen degrees below freezing they must be protected outside,
or grown indoors or in a warm, sunny greenhouse.
Old Man Cactus; White Persian Cat Cactus; Bunny Cactus (_Cereus senilis_)
(Named from the long white hairs or beards found on young plants)
How to identify and how it grows
This cactus is columnar, and some mature plants reach a height of
forty-five feet. It is native to Mexico and not easily accessible. The
trunk is usually unbranched, cylindrical in young plants, two or three
inches in diameter, yellow-green with a scurfy waxy coating; and it is
not tough. A large tree can be cut down with a small pocketknife in some
instances. The twenty or twenty-five radial spines are changed over into
long coarse white hairs, four to twelve inches long or even longer, and
form a dense covering; hence the common and specific names, Old Man
Cactus and _senilis_. These radials are crooked, flattened, and twisted,
while the one to four central thorns are easily pulled out, all spines
very fragile. In maturity a dense mass of tawny wool appears around the
head of the plant. The rose-colored blossoms are two inches long, shaped
like a bell or funnel, and appear only on the older cacti. They open at
night and close in the early morning. The fruit is about the size of a
large strawberry; it, too, is rose-colored and covered with scales and
tufts of wool.
How to grow
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