THE FLOWERING CACTUS

The Flowering Cactus A BOOK REVIEW

Two very important books pertaining to the desert and dessert ways have been published this year. They are: The Cacti of Arizona by Dr. Lyman Benson, The University of Arizona Press and the University of New Mexico Press, $4.00; and The Giant Cactus Forest and Its World by Paul Griswold Howes, published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce in conjunction with Little, Brown and Company, $7.50. Both books are learned presentations of a subject so engrossing to a growing audience interested in the great deserts of the Southwest. These books will be discussed at greater length in future issues of this publication.

This month another book appears that will fill a need long recognized by the collector of cactus literature. It is The Flowering Cactus, edited by Raymond Carlson, with photographs and technical data by R. C. and Claire Meyer Proctor, designed by George M. Avey, and published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, $7.50. Of the 128 photographs in the book, 81 are in are in full color, presenting the most complete collection of color studies of the flowering cactus ever to appear under one cover.

This book began a long time ago-in the late '30's, in fact-when the present editors of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS bought the first cactus flower pictures from the Proctors. Since then the Proctors have become treasured contributors to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, their color studies adding much sparkle and distinction to these pages. It is easy to dream a book, however, but hard to get it published. Publishers are astute businessmen-and rightly so. A book with as much color as is contained in The Flowering Cactus is an expensive proposition, and perhaps the subject would have a limited appeal. It so happened that the president of McGraw-Hill, Mr. Curtis Benjamin, a graduate of the University of Arizona and one of America's distinguished bookmen, thought otherwise. He recognized the high publishing cost of such a book, but he thought it would have a great appeal. Mr. Benjamin, as you can readily see, is a desert and cactus enthusiast. He would have to be, as who wouldn't after spending four years at the University in Tucson. Hence, a book is born.

The Flowering Cactus reveals, in natural color, all the main species of the more than three hundred varieties of cac-tus found in the United States, from the towering saguaro, which often rises over fifty feet, to the tiny yet flamboyant pincushion, which adds such color to the desert floor. The Proctors have chosen only the most outstandingly beautiful pictures from their vast files of photographs to illustrate this vivid story. Both are expert photographers and authorities on cactus in their own right; these pictures represent the climax of fifteen years of study and thousands of miles of travel throughout the vast Southwest.

The commentary is a veritable storehouse of information on the cactus and on our amazing Southwest where it is found. Here is a guide to the cactus and to the best time of the year to see the plants in bloom-the dazzling beavertail; the Arizona barrel wearing its crowns of yellow, orange, pink, and red; the bristling cholla. these and an infinite variety of others. For the specialist there is an invaluable annotated list of the cacti described in the book which includes common and botanical names and their growing range. Included also is a detailed map-covering Texas, New Mexico, northern Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and California-showing just where each species of cactus is to be found.

For everyone interested in collecting and growing cacti, there is a special section on cactus culture. Here is information on transplanting, soil mixtures, watering, the orchid hybrids-full instructions on growing cacti in gardens. The amateur photographer will find a complete chapter on the techniques of photographing the cactus. Lighting problems, proper exposures, lenses and lens openings-all these and more are discussed in order to help anyone catch the full beauty of the flowering cactus on film.

The book is a treasured gift that will be prized by every visitor to America's Southwest, every lover of flowers, gardener, artist, photographer.

The Flowering Cactus is available at book stores throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain. If book store facilities are not available to readers of this magazine living in remote places, further information can be had by writing to ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, Phoenix, Arizona.

Barrel TRAVELER'S FRIEND

If

Queens of the Night NIGHT-BLOOMING CACTI

There are nearly 300 kinds of night-blooming cacti. They differ in size, shape and color of the plant and flowers, but nearly all have flowers or white. flowers faintly tinged with other colors. They are mostly natives of the West Indies, Florida, and the extreme southern regions of the United States to southern California. thin; others are upright and trailing. Some attain a length of 20 feet or more. The white flowers appear during May and June, and are justly popular because of their size and beauty. Most celebrated of the entire group is the West Indies "Queen of the Night" (Selenicereus grandiflorus). Its

Prickly Pear GYPSY OF THE CLAN

Nearly everyone is familiar with at least one of the 150 od species of prickly pears. They have spread from coast to coast and from coast to coast, and from Maine to state in the United States except Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. They resemble for a day only, except when they are found upon a detached leaf or stem pad where they will last for two or three days. As a matter of fact, all their flowering cacti will bloom only under exactly the same conditions. Under those conditions, Cactus flowers appear in quantity, and spring is not far behind for the desert dweller. It is the best of all sights that awaits with delight the poor desert

Hedgehog DESERT SURPRISE

The term "hedgehog" is a common name for all the members of the Echinocereus genus; a name derived from the Greek echinos, meaning hedgehog, and the Latin cereus, meaning candle. However, the name hedgehog is not entirely appropriate for any one genus. Generally speaking plant because of its charming, needlelike spines, 1 to 3 inches long, that closely cover the stems. Flowers, either rose or pink, appear in late March and April, growing from the sides and near the top of the stems, which occur in clusters

Land of THE FLOWERING CACTUS

Southwestern United States is comparatively empty and lonely area that receives no attention from the tourist. So few can now map out into the sage and sandy reaches of New Mexico and western Texas, and ends in California where the rising slopes of the high coastal range border the blue horizons of California. Roughly, this range lies beyond the blue Pacific almost upon

Saguaro DESERT MONARCH

In the dry world of rainfall, few members of the family Cactaceae stand out more strikingly or dramatically than the saguaro. Other members of the family may be more widely abundant over the Western Hemisphere but none is more closely associated with they go. The saguaro (suh-gwah'-ro) has set up its kingdom in the southern part of Arizona. With goodly acceptance of a climate, the saguaro has set up its kingdom that the saguaro could not have made them. These are the saguaros, the giant candle proved for repositories of designs. Saguaro is not the largest of all things, despite the fact that it is the largest of all cacti. It merely excels in so many things; it excels in its prodigious growth, its picturesque growth, and longest of all, in its prodigious life. When the Peyote appears colored candlehood. When the saguaro appears, the desert has a feeling of having rejoined all age and world imparts the kind of creation whose lines, bold and strong, are the counterpoints of nature in modern museums. These are the saguaros, the giant candle fixtures. In the province of this monarch of the direct sun has a feeling of integrity with limbs extending in all directions. with limbs extending in all directions. possessing the first line of the Constitution of the United States. It is a brand new world. The magpie pulls, not yet aware of the fact that Abraham Lincoln was entering the interior world of Get tysburg, Pennsylvania. A few more mobile capture will work on top of a brand new world. The saguaros are the dominant features of the desert landscape. They are sculpturesque forms tower from 40 to 50 feet in height. Large forests of these plants 1,000 and 4,000 feet. One such forest of saguaros has been set aside and is now made in the Saguaro National Monument. The saguaro is destined to live and endure forever against men and insects and the climate. The plant is a marvel of design with a structural framework incorporated in the supporting a colossal mass of cells as well as outside of the tree there thrives a

OPPOSITE PAGE "FISHHOOK CACTUS" BY R. C. AND CLAIRE MEYER PROCTOR. A reproduction from the pages of The Flowering Cactus. This cactus, Mammillaria microcarpa, is found in Arizona, Texas and northern Mexico and in bloom is one of the most handsome of the smaller cacti. Its common name is given to it because of its fishhook-shaped spines. Camera data same as for the Claret-cup cactus, preceding page.