446 PLANTS AND MAN 



regions; of our forty native species the majority are found in the 

 West. Their name comes from the fact that each compound leaf is 

 made up of five leaflets spreading out like the fingers of a hand. 

 The flowers are usually yellow. Meadowswteet and steeplebush 

 are two common shrubby species found in fields of our eastern 

 states, and to a lesser extent in the West. The rose-pink or white 

 flower clusters of meadowsweet are spreading; while steeplebush 

 has more compact spikes of rose-purple flowers. Dewtdrop or 

 FALSE VIOLET is ouc of the fcw members of the Rose Family with 

 simple leaves, which in this case are broadly heart-shaped. It is a 

 white flowered creeping plant of our northeastern woods. Like- 

 wise characterized by simple leaves is the thimbleberry, a 

 shrubby wild flower of the eastern and central states with con- 

 spicuous white, pink or purple flowers. Roses are shrubby or 

 vine-like plants of open sunny places, particularly abundant in 

 the prairie states although there are numerous eastern and far 

 western members of the genus. The common prairie rose has 

 thorny stems, pink or white flowers and compound leaves with 

 three to five leaflets. Wild straw^berry is a low growing member 

 of the family with white flowers, found from coast to coast in 

 sunny habitats. 



The Cactus Family 



The most fantastic of our native plants are found in the Cactus 

 Family (Cactaceae) . These leafless plants have adapted themselves 

 to the arid wastes of western United States, being found from 

 California to Texas, and northward and eastward in diminish- 

 ing numbers. The cacti native to the United States number 

 somewhat over two hundred species most of which occur in 

 Arizona, California and New Mexico. 



The PRICKLY PEAR CACTI — the most widely distributed mem- 

 bers of the family — are characterized by jointed stems divided 

 into green flattened sections or "pads" and protected by rosettes 

 of spines which are an efficient defense against herbivorous ani- 

 mals (fig. 270). The flowers, large and unusually beautiful, consist 

 of eight or more petals which vary in color from red and purple 

 to yellow. The cane cactus and the cholla are close relatives of 



