This Cholla in southern Arizona is considered very valuable as stock feed in time of drought. _Arbuscula_ (the name means “a small tree”) will produce from sixty to seventy pounds of fruit in a season from one single tree, this fruit remaining on the plant in good condition for over two years; in fact if the trees are not grazed annually they break down under their enormous loads of fruit. Like others of this fantastic genus, the fruit upon falling to the ground develop roots and grow into new plants; almost like the earthworm in this habit, which if cut in two reproduces itself again and again. Blossoms, also, are produced from the ends of this prolific fruit of last season’s growth, and the green and yellow and red blooms grow, too, in dense clusters at the tips of the gray-green joints. There is another color combination to be seen in April or May when these glossy flowers come forth into bloom, red-brown and orange-brown sepals and petals appearing on bright green joints. The Papago Indians prepare a most palatable salad from the young flower-buds of this Cane Cactus. The unopened buds are gathered and plunged into hot water for a few minutes, allowed to dry in the sun and stored in ollas until winter; then they are shaken in a sack or stirred briskly in a pan to dislodge the fine spicules, cooked, and served with dressing, a tasty dish served to the many tourists who travel across the desert during vacation and pleasure time, in search of the various new and interesting plant creations to be found in this fantastic cactus land. Thornber’s Cholla (_Opuntia Thornberi_) _Southern Arizona_ _Opuntia Thornberi_ is quite distinct among Cane Cacti in having long tubercles and long angular joints, the latter a foot to two feet in length. Two to four feet tall, this Cholla covers the arid, sandy, or gravelly and rocky soils along the foothills and broad desert mesas in south central Arizona, a striking characteristic shrub, his fantastic arms irregularly whorled and appearing angular because of the long, prominent tubercles; the tri-colored flowers, yellow and green and purple-red, nearly three inches in length, receive boundless protection from the sharp sheathed thorns encircled with bright bands of yellow-brown and tan. Though so beautifully mottled, these are spines of which to beware. For so cruel are the spikes of Cholla and so painful the process of removing them from the flesh, if one is unfortunate enough to become entangled in their meshes, that medical advice is to leave the thorns in hand or body and allow them gradually to work their way out, rather than to risk laceration by extraction. _Opuntia Thornberi_ has been described only very recently; it is named in honor of Professor J. J. Thornber, botanist of the University of Arizona and one of the authors of this book, for his outstanding work on desert plants and flowers. Spiny Tree Cholla (_Opuntia spinosior_)