Word: cacti
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...mugs (at least five varieties), salt and pepper shakers, toothpicks and holders, sun visors, jugs, shirts (uncountable selection), measuring cups, placemats, letter holders, desk organizers, soap dishes, "Pedro's paddles", baby pants, baby bibs, back scratcher, coasters, pencil sharpeners, x-rated viewing cameras, jumping beans, figurines of pedro and cacti, pencils key rings, combs, six-color magic markers, donkey toothbrush holders, puppets, letter openers, napkin rings, wind-up Pedros, frisbees, New Years noise makers, wallets, scarves, candles, fake rocks ("get your rocks off," $5.95), toy pinball machines, tambourines, slippers, sweatshirts, string ties, playing cards, punching bags, toy binoculars, pin cushions...
...week. They wind up in plastic pots at supermarkets or in the homes and gardens of the well-to-do, from Nagasaki to New York to Nuremberg. The trouble is that many of the plants are taken and transported illegally. Says California Botanist Lyman Benson, a leading authority on cacti of the Southwest: "The cactus family may be the most endangered species of all major groups of plants." Cactologists list 90 native kinds as endangered or threatened. Even the commonest specimens, like the rainbow, rattail and small-barrel cacti, are swiftly disappearing from some areas...
...result, nearly 30 kinds are considered virtually extinct in Mexico, and 250 more are imperiled. Some choice species that sell for a few dollars each south of the border may fetch $50 or $60 at a Los Angeles nursery. Texas has no state law prohibiting the harvesting of cacti. While national preserves like the huge (1,100 sq. mi.) Big Bend National Park are protected by federal law, they are nonetheless havens for botanical bootleggers. "We don't know the numbers of cacti that are coming out of the state," sighs Dennie Miller, executive director of the Chihuahuan Desert...
...California desert adjoining Arizona has been picked almost clean of saguaro, red-barrel cacti and other species. It takes a cactus-naper 15 min. to uproot a plant that may have taken more than a century to develop. And the frail root systems of most big cacti seldom survive the shock of transplanting. Plant experts in Arizona estimate that their cactus population, a major part of the flora, will virtually have disappeared in three or four decades. Though scientists do not entirely understand the full role of Cactaceae in the delicate ecology of the desert, they do know that...
...surprise birthday party for my blue-eyed cowboy." Cary Grant, the Fred Astaires, the Gregory Pecks, Spiro Agnew, the Johnny Carsons and 200 others were on hand to greet the guest of honor at his own spread in Rancho Mirage, Calif., under a tent rigged with saloon-style bars, cacti, a bandstand and spittoons. Old Blue Eyes was delighted: "I'm gushing with happiness," said he. Guess when a man turns 65, it's time to hoe down...