54 MENTZELIA ORDER—CACTUS ORDER 
are visited frequently by the pink night moth in search of nectar. The 
plants grow 1-3 ft. high and are found in valleys and on plains at 
4000-10000 ft. They were formerly cultivated in kitchen gardens in 
England for their edible roots. When boiled these are very nutritious 
and wholesome, but they have been eaten very little as a table vege- 
table since the use of the potato became general. They are sweet to 
the taste, somewhat resembling parsnips. A drug made from the 
Evening Primrose is used for coughs, colds and asthmatic troubles, 
and an ointment for skin affections is also obtained. 
MENTZELIA FAMILY 
EVENING STAR MENTZELIA MULTIFLORA 
Plate 32, eo 
As the name indicates, the yellow flowers of the Evening Star open 
in the evening and close in the morning, They bloom all summer and 
are found on branching plants 8 in.-2 ft. -high. These occur on 1 dry 
plains and gravel-slides at 7000-9000 ft. 
CACTUS FAMILY 
PRICKLY PEAR OPUNTIA HUMIFUSA 
Plate 32, fig. 6 
The Prickly Pear bears yellow flowers on low branching spiny 
stems. <As in all the members of the cactus family, the plants are 
leafless, the stems having been modified into food-making and water- 
storing organs that take the place of foliage. The flowers bloom in 
midsummer on prairies and plains at 4000-7000 ft. The fruit of the 
Prickly Pear is sometimes used as food, being collected and sold in 
the markets in some localities. The juice is used for coloring con- 
fectionery, and in Mexico a drink called “Colinche” is prepared 
from it. The old, fibrous parts of the joints are made into commercial 
articles when hard and firm. Opuntia cochinellifera is extensively 
cultivated in Mexico for the purpose of breeding the cochineal insect 
from which the finest crimson dye is produced. 
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