_Opuntia laevis_ is three to six feet tall with erect wide-spreading branches ascending from the base. A very few needlelike spicules develop along the stem, crowned by the large striking lemon-colored flowers with orange-red centers, nearly three inches long and as broad, opening in the morning and folding up in late afternoon. [Illustration: SMOOTH PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia laevis)] Foothill Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Toumeyi_) _Southern Arizona and Sonora_ _Opuntia Toumeyi_ is a most attractive species and a distinctive type among cacti, covering the foothills of southern Arizona mountains with its waxy green joints and pink spines, sometimes brownish white thorns, and bright golden satiny blooms shading into red and orange at their bases and yellow-green toward the margins, suffused with purple-brown, a lovely harmony of color splashing across the painted canvas of brilliant desert flowers. Appearing in loose golden clumps, one and one-half to three feet tall, with the spicules forming a dense pinkish gray fringe about the upper half of the areolas, this prickly pear roams the rocky, gravelly foothills and mountains here in southern Arizona and in Sonora. [Illustration: FOOTHILL PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia Toumeyi)] Cow’s Tongue (_Opuntia linguiformis_) _Southern Texas_ We leave the foothills and _bajadas_ of southern Arizona and cross the Rio Grande into the prairie lands of southern Texas in search of a peculiar Prickly Pear growing in the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas; this _Opuntia_ is widely cultivated now in cactus gardens, and one should not miss it even though it takes several hours to reach the destination. A striking plant on account of its long lance-shaped joints, Cow’s Tongue grows three to five feet tall with a spread of three to six feet, in spring covered with great satiny yellow blossoms nearly four inches long, tinted in green and golden shades, and forming in numerous patches, great splashes of gold against the dull brown and grays of desert prairie lands in southern Texas. The fruit is quite tasty (it is commercialized by Mexicans), eaten raw and made into spicy jam or syrup. We note the characteristic tongue-shaped joints, a foot or two long, which give the plant its specific name _linguiformis_ (tongue-shaped), and also its common name Cow’s Tongue. The late afternoon shadows begin to creep over the rolling prairies and the sun is sinking low on the horizon in one last attempt to linger here awhile, ere it sweeps our no man’s land in a vast flood of glory and is no more. Many tourists prefer to travel at this hour and while the desert moon is shining, for the cool and alluring night breezes render motoring delightful over the arid sands during the latter part of May. Discus Prickly Pear (_Opuntia discata_) _Northern Sonora and Southern Arizona_ [Illustration: DISCUS PRICKLY PEAR (Opuntia discata)]