PAINTED CANVAS OF THE DESERT 117 



are erect, forming a rounded head which is quite attractive. 

 The upper joints look very much like "flapjacks" from six to 

 ten inches long and about as wide. The color of the plant is 

 light yellow-green with sometimes a blue-green cast. The 

 spicules are very conspicuous and are slender and very sharp, 

 about one-quarter inch long, of a translucent yellow and ar- 

 ranged in a crescent form. The four or five spines are a 

 little longer than the spicules, sharp, slender, and bristlelike, 

 yellow and brown. The flowers are nearly three inches in 

 length and width, are light lemon-yellow with orange-red 

 centers, and blossom in May and June. 



Hozv to grow 



This Prickly Pear grows Indoors or outside and Is not In- 

 jured by temperatures twenty or twenty-five degrees below 

 freezing. It can be transplanted at any season. If mature 

 plants are transplanted early in spring they blossom the same 

 season. Cuttings do not root readily and sometimes remain 

 In the ground a year without growing. They should be 

 planted early In spring In sandy or gravelly clay loam; the 

 plants should be watered about once a month to Insure good 

 growth. 



Porcupine Prickly Pear (Opuntia hystricina) 



(Named from its long reddish or brownish spines) 



How to identify and how it grows 



The Porcupine Prickly Pear is formed of stems a foot or 

 so high covered with finely grooved spines, long and slender 

 and needlelike, up to four inches long, white and brownish 

 red. The spicules occur in a crescent-shaped mass of 

 light brown or yellowish colorings. The flowers are two 

 to three Inches long and as broad. They are very showy 

 and bright purple or yellowish; they appear In April and 



