| cactus wren | large harsh-voiced American wren of arid regions of the United States southwest and Mexico |
cactus mouse
Peromyscus eremicus | burrowing mouse of desert areas of southwestern United States |
| erecting prism | a right-angled optical prism used to turn an inverted image upright |
| Nicol prism | optical device that produces plane-polarized light |
prism
optical prism | optical device having a triangular shape and made of glass or quartz, used to deviate a beam or invert an image |
Rochon prism
Wollaston prism | optical device that produces plane-polarized ultraviolet light |
spectroscope
prism spectroscope | an optical instrument for spectrographic analysis |
Russian thistle
Russian tumbleweed
Russian cactus
tumbleweed Salsola kali tenuifolia | prickly bushy Eurasian plant, a troublesome weed in central and western United States |
Cactaceae
family Cactaceae
cactus family | constituting the order Opuntiales |
| cactus | any succulent plant of the family Cactaceae native chiefly to arid regions of the New World and usually having spines |
pitahaya cactus
pitahaya Acanthocereus tetragonus
Acanthocereus pentagonus | cactus of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico having edible juicy fruit |
rattail cactus
rat's-tail cactus
Aporocactus flagelliformis | commonly cultivated tropical American cactus having slender creeping stems and very large showy crimson flowers that bloom for several days |
echinocactus
barrel cactus | any cactus of the genus Echinocactus, strongly ribbed and very spiny, southwestern United States to Brazil |
| hedgehog cactus | cactus of the genus Echinocactus having stout sharp spines |
golden barrel cactus
Echinocactus grusonii | large cactus of east central Mexico having golden to pale yellow flowers and spines |
| rainbow cactus | a stout cylindrical cactus of the southwest United States and adjacent Mexico |
epiphyllum
orchid cactus | any cactus of the genus Epiphyllum having flattened jointed irregularly branching stems and showy tubular flowers |
| barrel cactus | a cactus of the genus Ferocactus: unbranched barrel-shaped cactus having deep ribs with numerous spines and usually large funnel-shaped flowers followed by dry fruits |
Easter cactus
Hatiora gaertneri
Schlumbergera gaertneri | spring-blooming South American cactus with oblong joints and coraled flowers, sometimes placed in genus Schlumbergera |
garambulla
garambulla cactus
Myrtillocactus geometrizans | arborescent cactus of western Mexico bearing a small oblong edible berrylike fruit |
Knowlton's cactus
Pediocactus knowltonii | small clustering cactus of southwestern United States, a threatened species |
| prickly pear prickly pear cactus | cacti having spiny flat joints and oval fruit that is edible in some species, often used as food for stock |
| mistletoe cactus | a plant of the genus Rhipsalis |
Christmas cactus
Schlumbergera buckleyi
Schlumbergera baridgesii | epiphytic cactus of Brazilian ancestry widely cultivated as a houseplant having jointed flat segments and usually rose-purple flowers that bloom in winter |
crab cactus
Thanksgiving cactus
Zygocactus truncatus
Schlumbergera truncatus | South American jointed cactus with usually red flowers, often cultivated as a houseplant, sometimes classified as genus Schlumbergera |
ocotillo
coachwhip
Jacob's staff
vine cactus
Fouquieria splendens | desert shrub of southwestern United States and Mexico having slender naked spiny branches that after the rainy season put forth foliage and clusters of red flowers |
Agavaceae
family Agavaceae
agave family
sisal family | chiefly tropical and xerophytic plants: includes Dracenaceae (Dracaenaceae), comprises plants that in some classifications are divided between the Amaryllidaceae and the Liliaceae |
agave
century plant
American aloe | tropical American plants with basal rosettes of fibrous sword-shaped leaves and flowers in tall spikes, some cultivated for ornament or for fiber |
| genus Agave | type genus of the Agavaceae, in some classifications considered a genus of Amaryllidaceae |
American agave
Agave americana | widely cultivated American monocarpic plant with greenish-white flowers on a tall stalk, blooms only after ten to twenty years and then dies |
sisal
Agave sisalana | Mexican or West Indian plant with large fleshy leaves yielding a stiff fiber used in e.g. rope |
| maguey cantala Agave cantala | Philippine plant yielding a hard fibre used in making coarse twine |
| maguey Agave atrovirens | Mexican plant used especially for making pulque which is the source of the colorless Mexican liquor, mescal |
| Agave tequilana | Mexican plant used especially for making tequila |
naboom
cactus euphorbia
Euphorbia ingens | small tree of dry open parts of southern Africa having erect angled branches suggesting candelabra |
Jewbush
Jew-bush
Jew bush
redbird cactus
redbird flower
Pedilanthus tithymaloides | low tropical American shrub having powerful emetic properties |
| prism | a polyhedron with two congruent and parallel faces (the bases) and whose lateral faces are parallelograms |
| quadrangular prism | a prism whose bases are quadrangles |
| triangular prism | a prism whose bases are triangles |