M A G A Z •: - Desert Magazine of the Southwest

. . - • • .
Echinocereus mojave
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By ROY MILLER
THROUGHOUT most of the California
J desert country and in western Arizona and
southern Nevada Ecbinocereus mojavensis
will be found in full bloom during April. Desert
visitors, however, will not see its beautiful
carmine flowers if they stay on the paved highways
in the more level country, as it grows only
in high altitudes—usually 3000 feet or above—
and is rather sparsely scattered throughout its
territory. Probably the finest specimens to be
found in California can be seen in the Joshua
Tree national monument south of Twentynine
Palms. In western Arizona plants of large size
may be found in most of the high altitudes,
particularly in the northwest. In central and
southern Arizona it merges with a closely related
species, Echinocereus polyacanthus. Fine
plants can be seen in the mountains near Good
Springs, Nevada, and back in the hills along
the St. George highway, but in Utah slight
botanical changes have caused another species
to be named E. coccineus although the plants
appear much the same to the casual observer.
Its manner of growth is distinctive. The plant
occurs in large clumps or mounds of closely
crowded heads which are two to three inches
in diameter, covered with long, curved and
twisted spines. Sometimes these clumps grow to
an immense size with literally hundreds of
heads. It is not unusual to find plants of 75 to
trowing near the Keys ranch in Joshua Tree national
monument, California.
100 heads and mounds have been reported with
over 500 heads.
The flowers are unusual, both in color and
texture. The rich crimson of the petals shades
to yellow near the base and with the green
pistil and orange stamens makes a striking color
arrangement. This is further enhanced by the
velvety texture of the flower and by the broad
petals which are stiff and thick—almost succulent.
The flowers usually start to open about
the middle of April and continue until well
into the end of May varying some in different
localities. Each individual flower stays open
three to five days and is soon followed by the
fruit which is covered with white spines and
bristles.
The fruit undoubtedly was used by the Indians
for food as it is sweet and cooling to the
taste, but due to its comparative scarcity it
must have been considered more as a delicacy
than a staple item of diet.
Individual heads cut off are very difficult to
root but small plants of three or four heads
can be successfully grown in cultivation. They
are hardy but do not flower as freely as plants
in the wild. Remember though, all cactus is
protected by law, and, unless collected on private
property with the owner's permission,
must not be disturbed. I mention this again at
the risk of becoming obnoxious but let's leave
our desert as it is, so we can all enjoy it—always.
After all, nursery grown plants from seed
really do make the best appearing specimens
for our garden.
NEVER HAD A RICH GOLD
MINE, ADMITS SCOTTY
Death Valley Scotty never owned any rich
mining property, has no mine now and
never sold any gold. The old prospector himself
swore to these statements during trial
of a suit Julian M. Gerard, New York investment
banker brought against him for accounting
on a grubstake agreement made 35
years ago. Actually the money Scotty has
scattered around through the years in which
he built a reputation based on mystery was
furnished by fun-loving A. M. Johnson,
wealthy Chicago insurance broker, who felt
that he owed a great deal to Scotty because
the prospector had persuaded him to go to
Death Valley in 1905 when the insurance
man was sick. "Scotty has a great appetite
for money and I like to give it to him," Johnson
told Federal Judge Benjamin Harrison.
The judge speaking from the bench, said
Scotty "stands here a confessed cheat. When
a man from the desert goes to the city, they
sell him the Woolworth building. All he gets
out of it is a laugh." In this case the judge
asserted, "It looks like a man from the desert
took the city man down the line." Johnson
testified he had advanced half a million
dollars to Scotty during the past 30 years,
added that Scotty is getting rather old and he
does not hold much hope of collecting.
COL. WHITE TO REPORT
ON ANZA PARK PROJECT
Conservation groups in the Southwest have
been trying to have 365,000 acres in the Vallecitos
area of Southern California set aside as
the Anza Desert State park. Certain private
groups in the city of San Diego have vigorously
opposed the program on the ground that the
region has great agricultural and mineral
wealth.
In order to arrive at an unprejudiced decision,
the California Park commission invited
Col. John R. White, regional director of the
National park service to make a personal investigation
of the lands with a recommendation
as to their desirability for park purposes. Col.
White's report is scheduled to be made at the
April 22 meeting of the park commission.
In the meantime the Anza Memorial Conservation
association is continuing its campaign
to raise $2618 by private subscription to pay
government filing fees on the park lands if
the desert park program is approved by the
commission. Under a special act of congress,
the state must exercise its option on the public
lands before June 29, or the present opportunity
to create this park will be lost.
Oklahoma City ...
1941 officers of Cactus and Succulent society
of Oklahoma are Harry T. Johnson, president;
Jas. H. Hyde, vice president and parliamentarian
; Mrs. S. P. Seela, secretary-treasurer; Mrs.
C. L. Wiese, historian-librarian; Mrs. Myrtle
Conn, representative to Garden Clubs council.
J. B. Lankford, at the March 6 meeting, discussed
the Plains cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii,
described in the October 1940 issue of Desert
Magazine. A continuation of the year's feature
cactus group — Coryphanthanae — was the
subject of J. R. Orrell at the March 20 meeting.
S E E D S
PLANTS
Surprise packet mixed seed 25c
with growing directions and illustrated
catalog of hundreds of rare
cacti and succulent plants, seeds.
R. W. KELLY, Box 235D
Temple City, California
The DESERT MAGAZINE