pursuing the pale woman , zigzagging through the dense , towering saguaros and the smaller desert plants , this rumpled rock avoided a jungle of cholla cactus , what we then called jumping cactus , and lime-green and yellow palo verde trees , which were leafing out with tiny oval shaped leaves and blooming , pale yellow star-shaped blossoms , their branches humming with black bumble bees , wasps and ordinary honey bees .