Features
Sports
i
Medford
Tribune
SECTION B MEDFORD, OREGON, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1963 PAGES I to 8
Desert Flowers
In the Home
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, Like most collectors and gardeners, Mrs. Arnold (Betty) Roy can never resist the temptation
. ! to add just one more plant. She has 500 cacti and succulents. The plants shown here are one type
5 of prickly pear (far left), a corncob plant (front), a variety of the jade plant and the night bloom-
ing cereus, which she is examining in this photo, taken at the Roy home, 4179 Cedar Lane.
Why do people collect the things they do, for instance
cacti?
When there are roses, violates, and chrysanthemums to
be had in abundance in Oregon, it seems most strange' to some
enthusiastic gardeners that anyone should want to import
desert flowers into a state known for its generous rainfall.
Perhaps it is the challenge encountered in producing
anything in an unnatural habitat. The same urge that impels
men to nurse trees into growing on the plains; to dislodging
heavy rocks from mountain precipices to place them in
verdant gardens; or to carrying driftwood and shells home
from the seashore.
A look into Rogue River valley gardens reveals a kinship
shared by cactus growers, rockhounds and collectors of
driftwood.
Fondness for Rocks
It was because of her fondness for rocks that Mrs. Arnold
Roy, who probably has the largest collection of cacti in the
valley, started collecting the desert flowers.
She was making an extended stay in one of the south
western states and was gathering rocks for her collection
when she suddenly became really aware of cacti for the first
time. Now, she has about 300 cacti and 200 succulents at her
home, 2179 Cedar Lane.
Arncl P. Butler, 2B Norlh Barneburg Road, another col
lector of cacti and succulents, also collects driftwood and old
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This south window in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Arnel P. Butler, 28 N. Barneburg Road, offers a favorable setting for the col
lection of old glass, which Butler arranges as a complimentary background for cacti and succulents. The camphor bottle on the
left, which has a darker replica, is at least 75 years old and was used by Butler's grandmother. Also on the glass shelf are Japa
nese floats and giant marbles, childhood toys.
glass. It was during a vacation In Death Valley, Calif., where
he had placed old glass treasures to color in the sunlight,
that he developed his interest in cacti.
"Stone Face", a succulent he has nurtured for seven
years, is blooming for the first time. Perhaps this is part
of the plants' appeal, succulents and cacti are not predictable,
at least when they are transplanted into unnatural environ
ments. Growers wait and wait for flowjrs to appear and then
when hope is abandoned and the watchful waiting discon
tinued a flash of sunlight suddenly reveals petals opening
from the areolcs, that part of the cacti from which the new
branches and the flowers grow.
While cacti are unpredictable here they are dependable in
the desert. Twelve different times in 15 years Butler has gone
to Death Valley for his winter vacation. Just twice he has
seen the desert blooming with the tiny annuals that make
it unforgettable. The seeds of some of these little plants re
main dormant because of drought for 10 years. Then, coaxed
by moisture, spring into a galaxy of color, characteristic
of desert blossoms only.
But the cacti he has seen every year. The drought does
not stay the realization of their destiny.
Several Jades Listed
Mrs. Roy's "Jade Tree", also, is in bloom. There are sev
eral Jades listed in the catalog of succulents and cacti, among
mem iricoiorea jane ana green jade.
She has arranged her plants with unusual rocks, petrified
wood and driftwood in her garden. But in recent weeks she
has been bringing many into winter quarters. Some can re
main outdoors and others must be taken into protected areas.
One room of the Roy home has been converted into a plant
room by her husband who cooperates in her hobby.
When the Roys moved from Forest Grove to Medford, they
brought along all of her plants; the strawberry and flame
cactus, a hardy hedgehog, a rainbow, a pink nymph, a devil's
club, eagle claws and a violet sea urchin. There are many
other exotic and unusual names for cacti and succulents found
in the local garden and in the catalog of the Johnson Cactus
Gardens of Paramount, Calif., which both the local collectors
give high rating. Some of these are calico ox tongue, African
living rock, Mexican firecracker, burro tail, pink stars, Cras
sula Hummel's sunset and Euphorbia canadensis or Her
cules Club.
Many collectors find the barrel or echinocactus of particu
lar interest. Mrs. Roy claims no favorites. In its natural
habitat the barrel cactus Is more than an ornamental growth.
11 contains a generous supply of sticky juice, which accord
ing to the Huntington Botanical Gardens has saved the lives
of thirsty travelers lost in the desert.
Covered With Fine Hairs
In this same family are the "old man" and "old woman"
varieties, so named because they are covered with what ap
pears to be fine white hairs.
"Christ Thorn", also called "Crown of Thorns", Is one of
Butler's favorites. It is cverblooming. It is of the Euphorbia
family lo which the Christmas poinsetlia also belongs, as
do many of the succulents, distinguished by the white milk,
which the stems exude. ,
The only true cactus that has leaves Is one from Cuba,
Butler said. .
In most plants, the food for the plant Is made in the
leaves, and the leaves also give off water. In the cactus,
however, there are no leaves in order that the plant may
better hold its moisture. The fleshy stems of the plant make
the food for the cactus. These same stems store the water.
The barrel cactus is a good example of this process.
There Is also a reason for the spines with which nature
has festooned the cactus. iThey protect the plants from the
This plant, in full bloom in this photo, has a mate in the
Butler collection on the shelf in the window. The smaller plant has
a large bud distinguishable on the far right. The blossom on this
giant starfish, also called carion flower because of its unpleasant
odor, measured 15'i inches in diameter. An .odorless Black
Starfish has been developed. It has purple-black flowers. This
particular flower is yellow and maroon striped.
little animals of the desert which would otherwise devour the
cactus to extinction.
There are 1,000 different kinds in the family commonly
called cactus and most of them live on the American conti
nent, half of them in Mexico. The largest belong to the genus
cereus and the best known in this family are the saguaro or
giant cacti of Arizona. The blossom of these stately desert
giants is the Arizona slate flower. The cactus wren is the
Arizona state bird.
Cacti are not viewed as purely ornamental by the Indians
tor whom they provide a way of life. They use the dried woody
ribs of the saguaro stems for fuel and for making the frames
of their houses. They cat the fruit raw and In preserves.
Many of the house plant cacti also are members of tills
family, one of the most admired being the night-blooming
cereus, which has large white flowers that open at night.
lias Powerful Narcotic .
A very small cactus, called peyote, contains a powerful
narcotic which has been used by Indians for many years
In religious ceremonies. '
There are many other uses for cacti, known to the people
who live where the bristly plants grow. The joints of the
opuntia are boiled and fried. Its flowers are made into salads
and its fruits are eaten raw and cooked.
The seeds of many cacti are ground Into meal and the
meal is made into cakes. , ; i .
So it is that the natives of the cactus country often eat
or drink their cacti while their wetland neighbors treasure
them in rock gardens, window boxes and porch baskets wait
ing, many years sometimes, for the smallest one to bloom
for just an hour. i
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Onlv an expert is able to identify the hundreds of varieties of cactus and succulents obtain
able in this country. Collectors such as Mrs. Rov obtain some from their natural settings, buy
some through commercial dealers and swap with other collectors. Pictured here are cacti and
succulents. The latter have fewer blossoms than do the cacti, and in many cases the flowers are
more strange than beautiful. All cacti are succulents but all succulents are not cacti. The succu
lent on the right, second from the bottom, is an echeveria, type of which there are manv varia
tions. The Mexican Gam, the Chenille Plant and the Painted Lady are few of them. The Che
nille Plant from Mexico, flowers in midwinter with crimson and yellow bells.
l i.
Two of the plants in this threesome, the one on the left, and the one on the right, are of island
origin. They are in Butler's collection. The Hercules Club (left) is a native of the Canary Islands.
The Hawaiian Air Leaf (right) is from Honolulu. When the Butlers loured the Islands, he picked
a leaf from a plant to test the story that one leaf would produce a plant and that It could live with
only air as food. He carried the leaf In his suitcase for two weeks. When he laid it on wel sand, It
did jus! as the Hawaiian! said it would. The Iwo stalks he laler broke off Ihe plant continued lo
grow with only air for sustenance. In Ihe center of this picture is the Christ Thorn.
.
This is the Jade Tree in Mrs. Roy's collection. It was photographed last week when It was In
full bloom. The flowers are white. Light plays an important role in the colorings of the jade
plants. Green jnde has very smooth, yellowish Rrccn to dark green leaves, depending upon the
light. The flowers form large roseltes sometimes four lo six Inches across. The tri-colorcd jade, a
long time favorite of easy culture, according lo the catalog, has cream colored variegated leaves
tinged Willi pink when Ihe plant receives sufficient light to produce this shading. Mrs. Roy also
has an orchid caclus Hint blooms about Easter. Rocks and petrified wood from Arijnna, New
Mexico and Oregon blend with the desert flowers In her garden.
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