CACTUS FAMILY. Cactaceae. 



A common and useful kind, the shape 

 and often the size of a barrel, covered with 

 *Echinocactus spines. The Indians cut off the top of the 

 Wislizlni plant and pound the pulp with a stick 



Yellow, reddish into a soft mass, which they squeeze with 



Summer their hands, extracting a large amount of 



Southwest . . -.,.,, 



watery juice, which is wholesome and not 



unpalatable and has often saved lives in the desert. Indians 

 use the spines for fish-hooks, hence a common name, Fish- 

 hook Cactus, and the celebrated cactus candy is made 

 from it. The flowers are large. 



There are many kinds of Echinocereus, oblong or cylin- 

 drical, spiny plants, generally a few inches tall, usually 

 growing in clumps; stems ridged, or with spiny ribs; fruits 

 spiny. 



This forms a clump of several stems, 



Hedgehog Cactus each about the gh and gize of a cucum ; 

 tLcntnocereus , . , , . , . 



polyac&nthus ber > and armed Wltn bunches ot long, st 

 Red spines. The flowers are two or three 



Spring inches long, with deep red petals, dul 



Ariz., New Mex. p{ n fc anthers, and a bright green pistil. 

 This grows in the Grand Canyon. 



There are many kinds of Opuntia, with jointed stems, 

 cylindrical or flattened, armed with bristles, usually witl 

 spines. The fruits and fleshy joints are good for fodder, ii 

 the spines are removed, and hence there has been muct 

 inquiry into the economic value of these plants. It has 

 been found that the spiny species are the most valuable 

 for fodder, under extremely arid conditions, as the spines 

 can be burned off, while the unarmed forms are subject te 

 the attacks of so many animals that a crop cannot be 

 secured without the protection of fences. The spines an 

 removed either by singeing the growing plant with a torch 

 or the upper parts are cut off and thrown into a fire 

 or sometimes the plants are made into fodder by beii 

 chopped up, spines and all, in a machine. The Prick 

 Pears in Sicily and the Orient came from America. 



, . From three to six feet tall, resembli 



acanthocdrpa Cholla, with long, cylindrical joints ar 

 Yellow whitish spines. The pretty flowers a 



Spring about two inches long, with orange-yello 



Southwest petals and an i vory _ wn ite pistil. T 



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