Strawberry Cactus
Californian Fish-Hook Cactus. Llavina
Mamillaria Goodridgii, Scheer. Cactus Family
Oval, fleshy, leafless plants; mostly single, though sometimes clustered; three to five inches long; covered with prominences or tubercles. Tubercles.—Each bearing a flat rosette of short, whitish spines, with an erect, dark, fish-hook-like central one. Flowers.—Small; greenish-white. Outer Sepals.—Fringed. Petals.—About eight; awned. Stamens.—Numerous. Ovary.—One-celled. Stigmas five or six. Fruit.—Scarlet; an inch long. Hab.—San Diego and neighboring islands, and southward.
The dry hill-slopes about San Diego afford the most interesting field accessible to civilization, i.e. within our boundaries, for the gathering and study of the cacti.
Nestling close to the ground, usually under some shrub or vine, you will find the little fish-hook cactus, one of the prettiest and most interesting of them all. Its oval form bristles with the little dark hooks, each of which emanates from a flat star of whitish spines.
The flowers may be found in April or May, but it is more noticeable when in fruit. The handsome scarlet berries, like old-fashioned coral eardrops, protruding from among the thorns, are easily picked out, and they very naturally find their way to one’s mouth. Nor is one disappointed in the expectation raised by their brilliant exterior—for the flavor is delicious, though I cannot say it resembles that of the strawberry, as some aver. To me it is more like a fine tart apple.