NOPAL. PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Lindheimeri, Engelm.). 

 Flanis with broad, flat joints and usually forming thickets, 

 from 3 to 10 feet high, joints from 6 inches to a foot long, 

 spiny and bristly. Flowers sessile, yellow or reddish, about 

 three inches in diameter. Llooming in spring or summer 

 in the dry valleys and on the foothills and mesas even along 

 the sea, throughout Southern California. The dark red fruits 

 "prickly pears" are edible, though seedy; but should be 

 handled with great care until the bristles are rubbed off, as 

 these fasten themselves prcrrptly in one's fingers and are very 

 annoying. 



This Opuntia is somewhat variable and botanists dis- 

 tinguish two varieties, littoralis of the seacoast, and occidentalis, 

 found farther inland. The fruits are called tunas by the Mexi- 

 cans and Indians, who use them to some extent for food; the 

 plant itself is nopal. 



About old dwellings and particularly the Franciscan Mis- 

 sions, two larger-fruited species are found, brought up from 

 Mexico a century or more ago and planted for hedges and for 

 the superior fruit. One of these 0. Ficus-Indica, bears "pears" 

 of a pale straw color; the other 0. Tuna, has a fruit that is red. 



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