The cactus, a torture instrument and water reservoir, Biedermeier dust catcher and flowery exotic, has long been one of the most popular indoor plants in Europe. Judith Zander portrays 26 species of this extraordinary plant, from Astrophytum asterias (star plant) to Zygocactus truncatus (Schlumbergera), from the tree-high Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro) to the button-sized Blossfeldia liliputana. In her prose miniatures, she composes a powerful-voiced chorus of cacti in dense poetic-botanical investigations, spanning wide arcs of associations between natural history facts, gloomy legends, and brilliant observations. She not only explores the prickly nature of cacti but also the complicated relationship between nature and culture. After all, the sight of every flowerpot cactus raises the painful question: How could it have come so far?.