The Cow’s Tongue is an oddly formed Prickly Pear which grows tongue-shaped joints a foot to thirty inches long. These flattened, tongue-shaped joints are about as wide as a man’s hand and a little thinner, covered with well spaced spicules and spines. The edges of the joints are also fringed with needlelike thorns which are dangerous to handle. These light greenish stems or joints form into thickets growing from three to five feet high and creating a very good hedge. The spicules are a light yellowish; some of the spines are a straw color, and it is to be noted that about half of them are a pale purple and brown, not more than two inches long, the spicules about half as long. The flowers are about the diameter of a large cup and are very showy, of a beautiful satiny yellowish hue. The fruit is light purple, the flesh greenish, ripening in July. This odd-looking cactus may be easily recognized among all other Prickly Pears by its characteristic tongue-shaped joints. How to grow Plants are not injured in outdoor zero temperatures, but for colder weather they should be covered or grown indoors. They grow readily from cuttings set about six inches deep in moist soil and watered lightly bi-weekly during the growing season. Cuttings should remain out of the ground for two weeks in shade before planting, to callus over the cut ends. Almost any kind of soil will answer. Discus Prickly Pear (_Opuntia discata_) (The names refer to the disk-shaped joints) How to identify and how it grows The Discus Prickly Pear, or _discata_, also grows in clumps from three to five feet high and as much as ten feet across, and has numerous ascending and spreading branches. This plant, too, will make an excellent cactus hedge. Its spreading branches are the disk-shaped joints of the stems, nearly a foot in diameter and circular and platelike, of a pale blue-green which in some lights is changeable. These disks are covered with fringes of yellow and brown spicules, needlelike and tough, and the edges also are fringed with them. Placed among the spicules are three or four twisted stout spines, white with yellow tips, and awl-shaped. The large flowers are three or four inches long, and are very showy and conspicuous with their bright satiny yellow tints. They bloom in April and May, and the pear-shaped deep purple fruit, three inches or so long, comes in July. How to grow Plants grow outside and indoors, enduring zero temperatures without injury. Plant mature cuttings of one joint six inches deep in moist soil early in spring and water about once a month to keep the soil lightly moist. They will grow in almost any soil, but best in sandy loam. Plants also grow from seed, but these are slow to germinate. Engelmann’s Prickly Pear (_Opuntia Engelmannii_) (Named in honor of Dr. George Engelmann, an early and outstanding student of cacti) How to identify and how it grows