File:The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest (1904) (14781701225).jpg

Identifier: mysticmidregiond00burd (find matches)
Title: The mystic mid-region, the deserts of the Southwest
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Burdick, Arthur J. (Arthur Jerome), 1858-
Subjects: Deserts Southwest, New -- Description and travel
Publisher: New York, London, G.P. Putnam's Sons
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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the cactusand the palm. It is found nowhere save inthe Mojave Desert. It attains a height ofthirty or forty feet, and the trunk, often two orthree feet in diameter, supports half a dozenirregular branches, each tipped with a clusterof spine-like leaves. The flowers, which areof a dingy white color, come out in March andlast till May, giving off a disagreeable odor.The fruit, however, which is two or threeinches long, is pulpy and agreeable, resemblinga date in flavor. From the base of the plant radiate countlessroots. These lie near the surface and extenda lone distance, absorbing such moisture asthey find with avidity. One of the peculiari-ties of the yucca wood is its ability to storemoisture. The fiber of the wood is cellular,and it is almost equal to a sponge in its ca-pacity for storing and retaining water. Fullysixty per cent, of its weight is sap. The trunk and branches of the tree arecovered, a portion of the time, with bristlingreflex leaves, which finally fall, showing that
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From photoRraph liy • C. rifrre iV €. A DESERT CACTUS IN BLOSSOM-ONE OF MANY VARIETIES 47 Curious Desert Plants 49 bark lias been added to the tree. A sectionalview of this bark shows concentric rings suchas characterize exogenous stems. As the yuccais an endogen, this peculiarity is a remarkableone. Like its cousin, the sahuaro, the Mojaveyucca is a friend to the Indians, who eat of thefruit when fresh, and dry it to be used when itis out of season. They also utilize the flower-buds and blossoms in preparing a stew, which,if not tempting to the appetite, is at leastnourishing, and with them that is the mainobject of food. The seeds, when dried, are(ground in rude mortars and used for mushand in making a sort of bread. In the middle and northern desert, wherethe cacti are not so plentiful, there grows theAllenrolpca occidentalism or greasewood. Thisshrub grows to the height of four or five feet,and is a leafless, jointed-branched plant, whichappears to be too succulent to

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