CACTUS

SOME BOOKS RECOMMENDED FOR LOVERS OF CACTUS PLANTS AND THE DESERT

THE CACTI OF ARIZONA by Lyman Benson, with drawings by Lucretia Breazeale Hamilton. Published jointly by the University of Arizona Press and the University of New Mexico Press. Copyright, 1950, by the University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.

Dr. Benson, Professor of Botany at Pomona College and formerly assistant Professor of Botany at the University of Arizona, has in this book prepared a semipopular or semitechnical manual for the identification of native cacti growing in Arizona. Technical terms are reduced to a minimum but the arrangement is formal. Keys are provided for determination of the scientific or popular name of any cactus, and each plant is described in considerable detail. Most of the species are illustrated by either photographs, line drawings or both, making recognition of the more common cacti easy. Distributional maps are provided for sixty of the most important plants.

THE GIANT CACTUS FOREST AND ITS WORLD

by Paul Griswold Howes, published by Duell, Sloan and Pearce in conjunction with Little, Brown Company. 258 pages with 168 photographs, field sketches, diagrams and one color plate.

Dr. Howes, curator of the Bruce Museum of Natural History, History and Art, Bruce Park, Greenwich, Connecticut subtitles his book "A Brief Biology of the Giant Cactus Forest of the Southwest." It is a masterful presentation of an interesting subject and serves admirably to guide the reader into the very heart of the desert and to acquaint him with the plant life and animal life found in such unique surroundings. All living things in the desert come under the scrutiny of the author. The book approaches the subject as it has never been approached before in print. That Dr. Howes is in love with the desert and that he finds all things therein of consuming interest is revealed on every page. His enthusiasm will be shared by the readers.

THE FLOWERING CACTUS, edited by Raymond

Carlson, photographs and technical data by R. C. and Claire Meyer Proctor, with sketches and design by George M. Avey. Published by McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. 96 pages with numerous pen and ink sketches, many black and white photographs, and 81 color plates.

The book is a handy reference volume for the visitor to the land of the flowering cactus and is notable for its extravagant display of cactus flowers in bloom. The Proctors, amateur cactophiles, have specialized for years in photographing cactus plants in blossom and their work has appeared frequently in the pages of ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. Text describes the main families of cacti and serves as an adequate directional finder for the newcomer venturing forth into the desert lands where the flowering cactus is always something of beauty and discovery.

The story of Cactus is literally spiked with thought-provoking points of fact and revelation. From Webster's newest dictionary is extracted the first point that the noun Cactus designates a singular plant and the plural form is either Cacti (kak-tie) or Cactuses (kak-tuss-es). What is a Cactus? Why are the Cacti and other desert plants so extremely different from other forms of vegetation? How do they survive in the desert?

Physically Cacti are a distinct family of plants directly related to the general order known as Succulents. All Cacti are succulents of varying forms; how ever, every succulent is not a cactus. Succulent means "juicy"; and in botany it means plants having juicy tissues capable of storing storing moisture, making them generally drought resistant.

There are jungle cacti and desert cacti.

Socially, the desert branch of the Cactus family represents the most advanced form of a highly specialized group of desert plants called Xerophites (zero-fites), meaning "dry plants." Xerophitic plants are able to survive many months to several years of great heat and severe drought. This remarkable adjustment is the result of millions of years of evolutionary discipline and adaptation.

Cacti and other desert plants survive the desert because they are extremely different. The reasons are easy to understand once you have thought upon some basic facts of simple knowledge.

All plant life on this earth develops according to the ratio of moisture intake versus an exhaust process called transpiration. If this system of moisture control is in balance almost any plant will grow on the desert. This is illustrated by the fact that the world's finest roses and the nation's top cotton yields are grown on Arizona d desert acres through controlled irrigation. Golfing greens

** by Joseph Stacey

The word "cactus" suggests Arizona and, vice versa, the name Arizona brings to mind desert cactus.

It's not by reason of any odd coincidence that these two words so often occur in common association. The fact is, they are as naturally synonymous as "hen" and "egg."

As to which came first-the origin of the Cactus preceded the other by several epochs.

Arizona suggests "dry place." The Greeks had a word, KAKTOS, for "a kind of thorny plant"...

The definitive exposition on the Arizona Cactus must start beyond that point of convergence, the place where the longer line representing the racial antiquity of the cactus as we know it, meets the line designating the origin of the arid zones-Arizona.

Although the lines are generally straight direction-wise a more comprehensive definition can be rendered and understood only by occasional diversion into the side-roads off the main-line, for establishing points of connection resulting in a complete definitive story.

and lush lawns are evidence that it's not the heat but the aridity that's the life and death factor on the desert. When any plant receives too little water, it usually drops its leaves because the leaves have become useless as a means of allowing the sun to absorb the plant's excess moisture. Inversely, when a plant continues to receive more water than it requires, it chokes, rots, suffocates and dies.

In most cases when the necessary moisture is short or normal, a plant's growing processes are suspended and it goes into a stage of coma prior to dormancy, retaining just enough moisture to sustain it through the period of hibernation. Later, as the plant prepares for another cycle of new growth and foliage, the moisture ratio must again be equalized; otherwise death results from complete dehydration. Logically, then, the Cactus grows and survives because it is not affected by the problems faced by other plant forms. It has no leaves because it doesn't require them. Leaves are not essential to the Cactus because there is no problem of excess moisture.

The desert Cacti cannot afford to transpire; so having disciplined themselves to make the best of the worst, they live by hoarding the available and very limited water ration. Then by Nature's most efficient processes, its moisture is frugally budgeted for long-term survival, a remarkable case of self-discipline, maintaining life and budget in balance in spite of hard times and adversity.

The amount of moisture necessary to keep a cactus alive is next to nothing compared to tropical plant forms. An average cactus receives as much water in a year as a simple jungle fern transpires in a day. Grass transpires its own weight in water daily; a multi-leafed stalk of corn, more than a gallon a day; while an average productive tree, from one to two thousand gallons a year. By comparison, a fifty-foot giant cactus transpires no more than a child's thimbleful a day as its vast reservoir holds enough moisture to survive for several years of extreme drought.

This fact is even more exciting by the revelation that during those dry years the cactus continues to grow, propagate, flower and fruit without interrupting its regular cycles of development, a feat unsurpassed in punctuality by even the most pampered plants whose processes are regulated by fastidious horticulturists aided by costly gadgets, thermostatic controls and miracle food supplements.

The outer walls of most desert cacti are round shapes carved into concave or convex curves and oblique angles to deflect incident light from a different angle every second of the day, thus exposing only a minimal fraction of surface at one time. In addition, the green surfaces are further screened by the network of spines and bristles which effectively reduce the body temperature as much as twenty degrees, cutting humidity loss. Cacti which display unbroken or comparatively smooth outer texture rely on the shade of trees and shrubs for protection. Every inch of the cactus anatomy works to achieve the most efficient system of water conservation found in plant forms. No wonder there is no greater plant phenomenon than the desert cacti.

Lesser wonders, perhaps, but equally remarkable, are the facts behind the triumph of survival achieved by the other desert plants and the desert animals. Other desert plants have modified their leaves so that moisture Evaporation is minimal. Some turn or twist their leaves during the hottest part of the day, exposing only the thin edges to the sun. Others may curl or roll up their leaves, then unroll them during cooler hours. Many desert plants have hairy stems and leaves which, in addition to catching and retaining atmospheric moisture, help to shield the leaf and stem surfaces from sun and wind burn. Waxy-leaf plants like the Creosote bush (grease-wood) have a varnish-like, shiny coating which reflects heat, while its amazing root systems probe the subsoil to depths of up to thirty feet for moisture. In many cases the breathing pores (stomata) of the leaves are normally on the under side and are equipped with valves that close during the day. A number of desert plants such as the Smoketree and the Crucifixion thorn have given up their leaves almost entirely and, like the cacti, function through their stems.

The desert animals, too, have solved the main problems concerned with moisture and heat resistance, each in various degrees of self-sufficiency. For some animals and insects, nature has developed through the same evolutionary necessities an invention called “metabolic water,” a highly complex system of extracting or manufacturing moisture from dry materials, including obviously impossible materials such as charred pieces of burt wood. It's no wonder, then, that some desert creatures survive without ever taking a drop of water.

To conserve the inner moisture many desert animals cannot afford to urinate or perspire, so that all body wastes are excreted in solid form. If the desert seems lifeless during the day, it's because most desert animals don't leave their cool undercover homes till the cooler evening and nighttime hours.

Such is the way of life in the desert of the cacti. Where did the Cactus come from? How did it get to the desert? The fact is, the cactus didn't come from anywhere else in the world. Despite their presence in the scattered areas of the world, all cacti regardless of present naturalization are of native all-American origin. The only thing about the cactus that came from anywhere else is the derivation of its name from the Greek word "Kaktos," designating "a prickly plant."

The history of Cacti is as amazing and exciting as that of Time and the Earth, having had its beginning 50,000,000 years ago in the Eocene epoch. At that time, what is now The Great American Desert was a vast sea-bed whose waters covered an area extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic. Along its shores stretched deep, lush, green tropical forests where the first cactus thrived in the moist abundant climate.

In the epochs that followed, represented by millions of years, the surface of the earth changed in unrelenting gradual stages. Great upheavals thrust up the great mountains. The waters receded, then the sea-bed dried out. This was the prelude to the deserts and the dramatic erosion patterns.

The climate changed, too, after the mountains cut off the moisture-laden clouds. Now the Great Drought worked with erosion to shape the earth as we know it. For the land and its plant life it was "Change or Perish." Thus the Grand Canyon, the salt lakes, the great deserts and the Cacti were made by the great drought and erosion.

Of all the plants only the Cacti and the other Xerophites survived the changes. What a triumphant revelation is this miracle called evolutionary adaptation. Nature's processes demanded the strongest discipline from the Xerophites which resulted in the odd shapes and the beautifully bizarre forms familiar to us as the Joshua Trees and other Yuccas, the Century Plant, Ocotillo, the Palo Verde, Mesquite, the Creosote bush, sagebrush and other succulents.

Viewing the colonies of Cacti on the desert land-scape, it seems out of the limits of imagination to realize that those forms and shapes represent an uninterrupted movement of change from the epochs of the steaming jungles to the present dry, hot deserts; yet to botanists it is an exciting adventure to discover that every grada-tion in the evolutionary history of Cacti is alive and growing on the earth today. There are no missing links and no fossil-hunting expeditions necessary to prove the ancestry of the cacti. A fortunate coincidence reveals that in the West Indian jungles a cactus vine called Perskia grows unchanged from its original form, an exact image of the first cactus of 50,000,000 years ago.

This is but the prologue to the story of Cacti. Now as you meet the characters you can better understand the Who, Why, How, When and Where of their back-ground and devices for existence, their unsurpassed engineering, the flowers and fruit, the bristles and spines, and the world's most efficient air-conditioning systems.

Botanically the Cactus Family forms the order of Cactaceae (kak-TAY-cee-ee). From this point at the apex of its classification pyramid, over 1,700 species and varieties represent the Tribes, sub-tribes and generic sub-divisions. The three major divisions are classified as Tribes, each one singularly different from the other two by one or more features occuring only within the tribe, which in turn contribute to the identification pattern establishing a distinctive form that is readily recognized.

The Tribe names are: The Pereskieae (Pear-ES-kee-ee), the leafy Cacti; The Opuntieae (oh-POON-shee-ee), derived from the Greek describing "a plant with points"; The Cereeae (SEE-ree-ee), the Cereus Cacti . . . cereus meaning "waxy" as applied to a torch-candle or cande-labra.

The Pereskieae, being entirely jungle-acclimated, are not to be found in the Great American Desert. This being an exposition concerning native cacti, no further reference will be made to the Pereskieae other than pointing out the fact that the distinctive feature of that Tribe is its leafy characteristics.

Important note: Due to the unusual and unconventional construction of Cacti, nomenclature commonly used for botanical definitions is confusing and difficult to interpret for unfamiliar readers who associate a word with familiar local objects. The word stem, in Connecticut, brings a tree or violet to mind, while to those along the Mississippi the slender cat-tails present a visual illustration. Long-stemmed roses are universally understood.

With Cactus nomenclature, the form and meaning of the word "stem" is the same as defined in the dictionary, but the visual picture changes. Definitively, a stem is a plant unit which produces buds and flowers. Remembering this, its application to Cacti is easy to interpret. Now you can understand why the entire barrel of the Barrel Cactus is referred to as a stem. Since the Saguaro is a one-piece structure, any portion of the body, exclusive of the spines, is referred to as the stem, stems, or stem part. In a clump of Hedgehog or Pincushion

Cacti each flower-producing Hedgehog or Pincushion is a stem.

The stems of the Opuntiese are the sections which make up the jointed branches. Thus each Prickly Pear pad or section is a stem, as are the sausage-shaped units of the Cholla. New plants can be started from each stem.

Jointed stems distinguish the Opuntiese from the other Tribes. Prickly Pear Cactus and Cholia (CHOY-ah) are the common names for the only two sub-tribe divisions. The Prickly Pear is listed botanically as Pictyopuntia. If you remember "flattyopuntia" you have the key to its distinctive shape, for all Prickly Pears are compressed, flat-surfaced pads which are oval, pancake, or tear-drop shaped stems joined together making plants of varying silhouettes, colors and sizes. Cylindropuntia describes the characteristic feature of the second Opuntieae sub-tribe. Cholla stems are always cylindrical in form, varying from pencil and cane-shaped stems to the more common plump, sometimes almost spherical, sausage-shaped outlines.

Both Opuntias are profusely and dangerously armed. In addition to the Cactus Family's standard armament of spines, only the Opuntias display a lesser tuft of sharp, stiff bristles called Glochids, from the Greek word "Glochis" meaning "point of an arrow," which in many cases are more aggravating to humans than the spines. Due to their small size they are difficult to handle even with tweezers, in which case depilatory wax, usually sold in most cosmetic departments, is the more painless method of extraction. Just apply the wax to the area, wait till it dries, then remove.

For the Cereus Tribe, remember the shortest word designates the largest and most complex of the three Tribes. In its eight sub-tribes are the largest and the smallest native cacti. There are no leaves, no joints, and no glochids in the Cereus Tribe. Regardless of the size and shape of the sub-tribes' species and varieties, the main distinctive tribal feature is the ribbed construction which is not found in the other two Tribes. Cereus stems are round, intact, and unjointed after they leave the root-base, You cannot detach a Saguaro stem-arm without breaking the main part of the stern.

The stems or arms of the Organ Pipe Cactus grow upward in a radical pattern from the root-base. The Barzel Cactus and the Hedgehogs bell out from an individual ground-level foundation. The direction of growth in the Cereus Tribe is parallel to the main body. Only one sub-tribe of the Cereus lacks the outer rib feature. Instead, it shows a regular pattern of nubs from whose points develop the areoles and spines. These are the Mammillaria, a genus of Pincushion Cacti, How does a cactus qualify its position as a true member of the Cactus Family? Why is this point so important?

A cactus is a cactus on five distinct points; otherwise it's one of the countless plants which are universally confused with the true cacti.

First, all cacti have areoles (areolae) from which grow the spines and everything else which keeps the order in existence. Each areole is a vital organ and a nerve center. Out of the areole develop two sets of buds, one for flowers, the other for spines or glochids in the case of the. Opuntias. Developing from under the skin surface and attached to the tissues, the areole is not easily removed. If all the aréoles were removed from the plant at one time, it would die. A close-up shows the fuzzy center from which the spines seem to protrude like needles through the holes in a button. The absorbent buttonlike pad provides efficient insulation for the sensitive area, for moisture must be kept in and the heat kept out. Nature doesn't miss a trick.

Second, all cacti are perennial, requiring more than one season to mature.

Third, all cacti usually have wheel or funnelshaped flowers with sepals and petals growing from an inverted bell-shaped tube. In the narrow part of the tube the fruit-producing ovary develops below the flower.

Fourth, all cacti fruit is single celled with the seeds distributed throughout the pulp, like watermelon, instead of in a separate compartment as with apples or oranges.

Fifth, all cacti have a feature you won't be apt to see unless you're engaged in cactus culture from seed. Their seeds produce two embryo leaves on germination which are quickly lost in the manner in which a frog drops his tail as soon as he's no longer a tadpole.

To most people spines, more than anything else, suggest cactus. This has always been a point point calling for a public relations exposition on behalf of the Cactus Family; for in most cases people's attitude toward the cactus has been too sharply influenced by personal contacts with the cacti, which in most instances encourage no further association with "those thorny things."

There is much misunderstanding concerning the spines of the cactus; so before introducing you to the main characters of this story, I feel it's not only fair but wise that you get the point of the cacti's spines, Learning about spines this way will be painlessly easy. Spines are the easiest to recognize of the cacti's features. Dead or alive all desert cacti have spines. All cactus thorns are impregnated with a resinous substance which so coats and preserves the hard core that thorns will persist long after the stem is dead. This is the rule but there may be exceptions. However, on the desert the wise live by rule, while to risk proving the exception invites danger.

Without thorns the cactus would be almost un dressed, for they constitute a year-round dress. Cactus thorns develop and progress from their bases under the skin. On other thorny plants they develop from the tips. Test the young thorn on a rose bush and feel the soft young tip yield to the pressure of your finger. Don't try this with a cactus, for even on very young plants the tip will be hard and sharp, while the thorn may be soft and yielding from the base.

The number of spines to an areole may be two or twenty: Some cacti have as many as three kinds of spines of various sizes smooth, curved, or hooked. Most thorns appear opaque, while others are translucent, showing beautiful coloring. Several cacti spines are gray-haired over their true color base.

Most Cholla spines are barbed and sheathed, affording an added insulation against wind and heat. Hotter temperatures and extreme drought induce thornier growth, suggesting that the prime purpose and function of the spine system is more that of protection against the elements than against man or beast. If it were not for the thorns and sheaths the cacti would be scalded by the burning heat of one summer day. With its builton lath-house screen, the cactus air-conditions itself,

the spines changing the temperature by at least twenty degrees by day and retaining warmth at night.

In the same environment man could not survive a day without special preparation and equipment, for the amount of solar radiation such as is reflected from the desert surface is killing at temperatures of up to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Since very little daytime heat is retained in the soil, the hot days are followed by cool-tocold nights with a temperature difference of as much as seventy to eighty degrees. Thus a strong man exposed to the daytime solar radiation would dehydrate within fifteen hours and perish, while temperature differences of over forty degrees could result in fatal shock. These are strong points for the spine of the cacti.

Remember that resin is highly flammable. Cactus spines ignite easily. One ignited spine will quickly set the entire plant aflame. In a thicket of cacti, fire can spread quicker than you can move. Be careful!

Watch your step on the desert, especially after a rain. If the ground suddenly gives way underfoot, don't press down. You may have caved in the roof of some desert creature's house or tunnel. Desert rodents line their runways and tunnels with the sharp-spiked Cholla stems, and the average leather shoe is scant protection. Use your head; keep your shoes on; and don't put your hands to anything dead or alive, animal, vegetable, or mineral, unless you know what it is and how it reacts to your curiosity. Use a stick for probing. This rule applies to any pieces of interesting looking deadwood you may want to study or take with you. Desert debris affords ideal hiding and breeding places for insects and reptiles. Lesser bugs are a scorpion's pleasure and he wouldn't like your intrusion.

These have been the background notes, biographical sketches, and illuminating highlights. Now on-stage for the featured characters “in person.” This is Arizona, the premier cactus state. It's a revelation to learn that of the world's millions of cacti represented by the more than 1,700 recognized species, over one-tenth of the cacti of the entire earth's surface are growing in Arizona, thus qualifying its unofficial designation as “the Cactus State.” The largest and most conspicuous of the Arizona cacti is the symbolic Saguaro (sah-wAH-roh), Cereus gigantea or giant Cereus. Identification is easy by the long, ribbed, columnar stems. The greater specimens with several upreaching arms are the older Saguaros, whose age may range from 100 to 250 years. The smaller singlestem plants are the younger ones. They usually won't branch until they are seventy-five years old. Close observation shows the light-colored, straight spikes which grow from the areoles on the humps of the ridges. Every spike and every inch of the giant cactus is part of a complex system of water storage and conservation mechanics. The fluted stems, trunk, and arms which often rise to heights of fifty feet, contain a huge reservoir of water.From the exposed skeleton of fallen Saguaros we note the framework which withstands the strongest winds, holding a steadfast, upright position while the thick, resin-covered layers of the outer walls expand and shrink accordion-like in adjusting to the inner quantity of water.No man-made tank structure in existence can parallel the Saguaro's engineering feat. Although the storage area must be readily flexible, that upper structure is dependent on the most amazing anchor... a root system which consists of a strong vertical taproot and a radial pipeline network of long roots and lesser rootlets which seek and absorb the moisture from the ground. The Saguaro can store enough moisture to live for several dry years without once interrupting the cycle schedule of its flowers and fruits which grow from the tips of the stems.

Don't feel sorry for the Saguaro that appears to be when the sun is low, morning or evening, crosslighting the sides, thus accentuating the ribs, while the frontal silhouettes present a provocative study in pantomimes with the older Saguaros portraying solemn yet majestically stately characters contrasting the whimsical moods and poses of the younger plants.

If at night you are in the midst of Saguaros and think you hear a sound like the wind singing through the pines, you're not just hearing things that remind you of a far-away place. It's the night-wind singing through the spines. By this time if you're contemplating as to how you can acquire a Saguaro for your landscape, forget it. Saguaros, like most cactuses, look their best at home on the desert. And besides, as bearers of Arizona's state shot with holes. It's not sick nor suffering from man's vandalism. Therein live the woodpeckers and the elf owl. Each year the woodpecker drills a new home, leaving the old one to less industrious tenants. Inside the hole the Saguaro has produced a sac of cork-like texture from resinous substances, which after hardening forms an air and water-tight pocket inside the stem. The Indians use these sacs for water vessels.

The Saguaro and the Indian have been co-existing friends for centuries. Shelters were constructed from the strong ribs. Fruits are still harvested for food and wine. The Papago New Year, Navaita, from the Papago word "Naiva" meaning wine, begins with the Saguaro's first fruit in June.

The Saguaros are in bloom from mid-May to the middle of July. The time for blooming is later as the elevation increases. Plants at the foot of a mountain will have ripe fruit at the same time that those at the higher levels are showing blossoms. The ripe fruit doesn't last long for the birds have waited long for this dessert.

Desert birds favor the strong, tall Saguaro as a community center. In addition to the woodpeckers and the little elf owl, the Horned Owl perches atop the stems, thinking, resting, looking. The large nests nestled in the crotch of the stem arms are the homes of desert hawks.

It's not unusual to see Saguaros growing in the embrace of a Palo Verde or Mesquite tree where undigested seeds from bird droppings have fallen to the ground and rooted. Often the cactus is on the south side of the tree.

The best time to enjoy and photograph the Saguaro flower they are protected by law.

You won't be seeing many of the Organ Pipe Cactus (Lemaireocereus Thurberii) unless you visit the Desert Gardens and aboretums, for this crown prince of the desert royal family remains steadfast in his native ground, now set aside as the Organ Pipe National Monument near Ajo (AH-hoe), Arizona. These are large column-stemmed plants up to twenty feet tall, with yellow-green stems growing as six to thirty branches curving gracefully up-ward in wide arcs from a radial pattern starting from the ground level hub. The Indians call this cactus "Pit-ahaya dulce," a name descriptive of its deliciously sweet, juicy fruit.

The Barrel Cactus, scientifically classified under the name of Echinocactus, is the simplest of the cactus shapes. Mexicans call it "Visnaga" or "Bisnaga" and the early settlers knew it as "The Traveler's Friend" and the "Compass Cactus." Stories of how the Barrel Cactus saved many a desert traveler's life by its store of water are legend. Here and there a scarred Barrel's stem now healed and grown over is mute testimony that many of the stories are true. Because the Barrel more than any other cactus inclines its growth toward the southwest, it makes a foolproof compass.

Young plants are almost sperical. Mature Barrels change their silhouette in relation to the inner moisture, usually developing into blunt-nosed, cigar-shaped, cylin-drical forms, some growing to an eight-foot height and up to two feet in diameter. Their tough skin, supported