One of the most delicately beautiful of the flowers for which the desert is famous, “Queen of the Night” is waxy-white with thread-like stamens that give it the appearance of wearing a halo. The night on which the Cereus blooms is eagerly awaited by desert dwellers of long residence. All of the buds on a single plant, from two to six or seven in number, may open on the same night or may time their opening over a period of a week or more, usually in late June or early July, depending upon the season and other factors. It is not unusual for nearly all of the plants in one locality to blossom on the same night. Buds unfold in the early evening, the flowers wilting permanently soon after sunrise the following morning. Fragrant, with a heavy, cloying perfume, they attract large numbers of night-flying insects. The long, slender, fluted, lead-colored stems of the Nightblooming Cereus are inconspicuous and unattractive. Usually growing upward from beneath a Creosotebush or other desert shrub, they are partially supported and almost entirely hidden by the larger plant. The beet-like root, which serves as a moisture-storage organ, may weigh from 5 to 85 pounds and is reportedly eaten by desert Indians. Fruits are podlike, pointed at the ends, and the size of a large pickle. They turn dull red when mature. WHITE [Illustration: Datura meteloides] Common Names: WESTERN-JIMSON, THORNAPPLE, GIANT-JIMSON, SACRED DATURA Arizona, California, and Texas deserts. (_Datura meteloides_). White. May-October. Potato family. Size: Up to 3 feet tall, and spreading over as much as 50 square feet of ground. All portions of this coarse, vine-like herb are poisonous, and are used by some Indians as a narcotic to induce visions. Seeds are sometimes administered to prevent miscarriage. The plants with their large, gray-green leaves and showy, white, sometimes lavender-tinted flowers which open at night and close soon after contact by rays of the morning sun, are a common and arresting sight along roadsides and washes at elevations from 1,000 to 6,500 feet in Texas, New Mexico, southern Utah, southern California, and Mexico. WHITE [Illustration: Argemone] Common Names: PRICKLYPOPPY, THISTLEPOPPY, (_CHICALOTE_) Arizona, California, and Texas deserts. (Argemone platyceras). White. Blooms all year. Poppy family. Size: Up to 30 inches in height. One of the commonest and most noticeable perennials of the Southwest, the Pricklypoppy ranges from South Dakota and Wyoming to Texas, Arizona, southern California, and northern Mexico. A coarse, prickly plant with large flowers and yellowish sap, it is easily recognized. It is sometimes facetiously called “cowboys’ fried egg.”