PRICKLY-PEAR CACTUS 



Opuntia rafinesquii Engelm. 



June - July Where the fine sands of old Illinois dunes and sand fields 

 Sands in the river reg^ions bake under the summer sunshine, the 



silken yellow petals of prickly-pear cacti bloom briefly and 

 are done. They are plants of the sand, natives of that sparse and typical 

 vegetation which is able to exist here. Long traveling roots serve to hold 

 the sands in place and draw up moisture, and the structure of the plant 

 makes it possible for it to survive in an exacting habitat. 



A cactus is vi'ell suited to far more arid regions than this. The plant 

 has IK) leaves to wilt in the heat. Instead, the stems are enlarged as fleshy 

 pads in which much water is contained. True leaves come forth on the 

 young plants and appear as tiny sprouts which fall off almost at once. 

 The clusters of thorns and bristles on the cactus developed from leaf 

 buds which, through a response to dryness, became thorns. The broad 

 fleshy gTeen stems or "pads'' of the ])rickly-p('ar carry on the leaves' 

 function of manufacturing food. 



In winter the cactus plants look shrunken and dead, but ])y June 

 the shriveled old plants take on now life. Buds jut from the top curve 

 of the pads, beautiful. scul])tured, conical buds whose lower receptacle 

 is studded with ])ricklc's. 'J'he flowers open into one of the most beautiful 

 of all blossoms, a shining, shimmerijig, buttcr-yellov,', silken flower with 

 an orange-brown patch at the base of each petal. In the. center is the 

 quivering, lightly set mass of bright yellow stamens. The fruits are 

 the ripened receptacles of the flowers, turned dull red and edible in late 

 sununer. Indians long ago learned how to pick the ])rickly-pears and rub 

 off the stinging hairs and thorns before eating the fniit. 



18r 



