More than a listing of plant types and general facts, Guild to Wild Foods and Useful Plants, Second Edition (Chicago Review Press, 2014) is full of fascinating folklore, personal anecdotes, and tasty ...

I didn't want to be a plant snob. So I told myself I at least appreciated some merits of the homely cactus. The prickly pear, after all, is a role model for water conservation. The flowers are pretty ...

It is harvest time for cactus pears and that is one thorny opportunity. It is possible, however, to be a novice picker of that bulbous fruit that crowns the prickly pear cactus paddles this time of ...

Question: I see menu items at Arizona restaurants toting "prickly pear" in some items such as jelly, margaritas and other drinks. Is this just a flavor that they are adding, or is it from the actual ...

Some summer foods beg to be eaten: fresh tomatoes, sweet corn on the cob. But one virtually screams, "Leave me alone!" Nopalitos are the pads of the prickly pear cactus. In Mexico and the American ...

Ever walked past a cactus with broad, flat, ovoid pads with colorful spiky balls growing from them? You just walked past a source of food. While you can eat prickly pear pads (Opuntia spp.), it's the ...

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Fairyslipper and coral root orchids bloom on moist, north-facing slopes in the foothills. In March, we mistakenly wrote that yellow lady’s-slipper orchids occur in Boulder County. If anyone does know ...

Covered in menacing needlelike spines, the prickly pear cactus demands to be treated with care. In return, it will reward you with a juicy neon fruit and fleshy green pads that have nourished people ...

Summer is a good time to reflect on one of our common West Texas native plants, the prickly pear cactus. The name cactus is derived from the Greek word kaktos, which means “prickly plant.” Like all ...