_Northern Mexico, New Mexico, and Southern Arizona_ We go south into the rocky foothills and _bajadas_ of Northern Mexico, then up to altitudes from three to five thousand feet to find this brilliant and beautiful cactus, the Spiny Cholla, called also Tasajo by the natives; and given the specific title of _spinosior_, meaning “more spiny.” Six to fifteen feet, _spinosior_ towers into the air, crowned by a brilliant rainbow of color, the large lovely blooms, almost three inches long and nearly as wide, clustering around the tips of his thorny arms, bright harmonies of white, orange, red, copper color, maroon, and shadings of purple, brown, pink, with tints of lavender and brownish purple, a glorious color combination among these largest of the Cholla blossoms, blooming all through May and occasionally a month earlier; and replaced in July by the light yellow fruit, which remains on the trees for a year or even longer. [Illustration: THORNBER’S CHOLLA (Opuntia Thornberi)] [Illustration: MANY COLORED TREE CHOLLA (Opuntia versicolor)] Jumping Cholla (_Opuntia fulgida_) _Northern Mexico and Southern Arizona_ Along the highway in Northern Mexico here and there dwarf trees appear, five to fifteen feet high, with stout woody trunks branching quite near their bases into many spreading candelabralike arms, covered with striking rose-purple bloom. A handsome tree Cholla, _Opuntia fulgida_ is called also the “Jumping Cholla” from the sharp spiny joints which are very loosely attached, so that one can scarcely walk among the plants without some of the joints “jumping forth” as it were and becoming attached to the clothing; a strong wind will carry them, too, for some distance or the least disturbance will dislodge them, and woe to the human or animal caught by these cruel thorns; difficulty and extreme pain are experienced in extracting a spine from the flesh, and it leaves its mark behind, a wound which turns blackish and later a sickly greenish hue. The pear-shaped young fruit and also flowers grow from the tips of old fruit! thus forming broomlike growths or chains of ten to fifteen fruit which remain on the plants for several years unchanged, sometimes weighing two or three hundred pounds. Fruit that fall to the ground grow into new plants, as do the spiny joints.