Beginner's Guide to Desert Cacti. by Erik Jonssofl october 1989.

This will not teach you everything, just all you need to know to enjoy the cacti of our desert. *** Plant much taller than you. SAHUARO. carnegia gigantea. Common on postcards and in Arizona. In California only along the Colorado river by Yuma. *** No visible spines. BEAVER-TAIL. Opuntia basilaris. Beautiful red flowers. *** Curved, stout spines (1/8" thick). 1. Single plants up to 5 feet tall. BARREL CACTUS. Ferocactus acanthodes. Ring of yellow flowers on top. Common. 2. Mound of many "heads". MOHAVE MOUND CACTUS. Echinocactus polycephalus. Flowers yellow enveloped in abundant wool. Rare. *** Slender spines, curved like a fishhook. 1. Flowers yellow. YELLOW FISHOOK. Mammillaria dioica. Common. 2. Flowers red. RED FISHOOK. Mammillaria tetrancistra. Uncommon. *** Straight, slender spines. 1. Joints flat. DESERT PRICKLY PEARS. (2 Species) 2. Joints round. 2a. Joints bunched in a rounded mound, over 2 feet wide and 1 foot tall. HEDGEHOG CACTUS. Echinocereus engelmannii. Attractive red flowers. 2b. Joints smooth, slim as a finger. A dense mess of branches. Flowers seldom seen. PENCIL CHOLLA. Opuntia ramosissima. 2c. Joints bumpy, mostly one inch thick.

1. One single stem, 3 feet or more tall. Silvery spines. Base of plant black. Lots of loose joints on ground breneath. Vicious spines! Hikers beware! JUMPING CHOLLA. Opuntia bigelovii. (a form with reddish-brown spines and more branches growing from Box Canyon to Mountain Palm Springs is Opuntia bigelovii variety hoffmannii. CANEBRAKE CHOLLA would be a fitting name.) 2. Usually many stems. Spines less dense. Flowers greenish, yellowish to redbrown. Several species looking very much alike, giving even experienced botanists trouble. Just call them DESERT CHOLLA and be done with it.

If you think this is too simple you can buy Benson's book The Native Cacti of California. That one will tell you everything YOU want to know and a lot more.

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