We are nearing the beautiful Pinal Mountains in southeastern Arizona, nearing also the end of our journey over the broad expanse of the Arizona-California desert. After all it is one desert; California, Arizona—what are mere geographical lines or names in the desert land of plants and flowers, in that vast natural amphitheater of the great Southwest? Here in the long low rays of the afternoon sun we see at a distance the purple haze gathering over the mountain peaks, and we know that our day’s work is nearing completion with the coming of the beautiful sunset hour. And here it is, four thousand feet up in the rocky foothills, that we espy the rare little beauty _Echinocereus Bonkeræ_, named for Frances Bonker, one of the authors of this book. It is a new Strawberry Cactus, growing in the foothills and low mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona, and was discovered only last year in the Pinal Mountains and also near Oracle, Arizona. It differs from all other species of its kind in that all the spines are very short, and its fruit is sweet and more nearly the size of a strawberry than any of the others; also the spines do not suggest the Hedgehog Cactus, so that the common name of Short Spined Strawberry Cactus is given to _Bonkeræ_, as more nearly resembling a strawberry in its fruit than any other of the Strawberry Cactus clan. The juicy, luscious berries, less than an inch long, are delicious as jam or served cold with cream; they are always the first to appear in the spring. Often but two inches tall, sometimes reaching six or eight inches, this little Strawberry Cactus grows in clumps of two or three to ten stems which are densely ridged and tubercled. The flowers, nearly three inches long and about the same in width, are a deep rose-purple, and appear in April, the first of the purple-flowered species to bloom. It is easily recognized by its many ridges and very short spines, all less than a half-inch long, which are whitish or yellowish when young and reddish brown when mature, and by its bright purple blossoms, borne well up on the stems, which open in the forenoon and close in late afternoon, lasting for several days. Under cultivation the larger plants grow as much as three inches in a season. [Illustration: SHORT SPINED STRAWBERRY CACTUS (Echinocereus Bonkeræ)] A new Cactus species named in honor of Frances Bonker. [Illustration: SALMON FLOWERED HEDGEHOG CACTUS (Echinocereus Leeanus)] A lustrous mass of flame colored blossoms. The species was named in honor of James Lee of England who presented the type specimen to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew about 1842, and is well known to cactus connoisseurs and in gardens in Europe. [Illustration: CREAM PINCUSHION CACTUS (Mammillaria Johnstonii)] [Illustration: SHOWY PINCUSHION CACTUS (Coryphantha aggregata)] [Illustration: SNOWBALL PINCUSHION (Mammillaria Oliviæ)] [Illustration: CALIFORNIA PINCUSHION (Mammillaria tetrancistera)]