Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
across. Flowers are mostly bright yellow, but sometimes pink or magenta. The
plains and Engelmann prickly pear you see at Zion are similar to the types usually
encountered throughout the Southwest, with dull green pads and rigid spines an
inch or so long. A bit unusual is the grizzly bear prickly pear that grows at Bryce
Canyon. Although its pads are similar to other prickly pears, you can hardly see
them because of what looks like long hair but are actually spines, which are flex-
ible, white, and sometimes up to a foot long.
Prickly Pear Cactus
SACREDDATURA
Dubbed the “Zion Lily” because of its abundance in the park, the
sacred datura has large, funnel-shaped white flowers that open in the cool of night
and are often closed by noon the next day. You'll see them frequently along road-
sides and other areas where the soil has been disturbed, generally in dry, sandy
soil below 7,000 feet of elevation. Also called the Southwestern thorn apple, the
sacred datura's flowers are 5 to 8 inches long and just as wide—the largest blos-
soms of any plant in southern Utah—and bloom from early spring to fall. Because
it blossoms at night, it is also sometimes called the moon lily.
Warning:
The sacred
