Popular to destruction would the cool juices of the
cacti be in thirsty lands, if only they might be obtained without
painful and often poisonous scratches. Given moist soil and
greater humidity of atmosphere to grow in, spiny plants at once
show a tendency to grow taller, to branch and become leafy. A
covering of hairs which reflect the light, thus diminishing the
amount that might reach the juicy interior area, has likewise
been employed by many cacti, among other denizens of dry soil.
In this common prickly pear cactus of the Atlantic seaboard,
where the air is laden with moisture from the ocean, few or no
spines are produced; and dotted over the surface of its
branching, fleshy, flattened joints we find tiny, awl-shaped
leaves, whereas foliage is entirely wanting in the densely
prickly, rounded, solid, unbranched, hairy cacti of the
southwestern deserts, and the arid plains of Mexico.
In sunshine the beautiful yellow blossom of our prickly pear
expands to welcome the bees, folding up its petals again for
several successive nights.
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