Rhipsalis.]  CACTEH (Harv.) 479 
opposite, lanceolate-linear, as well as the calyx hispid ; flowers sessile, 
disposed in dense cymose panicles, 
Has. Cape (station not given), Drege. ! 7055. (Herb. Vind. Sd.) 
A very distinct species. Stem 1 foot or more long ; branches ascending short. 
Leaves of the branches 4-6 lines long, $-1 line wide, hispid, at_ length subglabrous, 
arr Calyx nearly 1 line long, white, with spreading white setule on the 
ou e. 
é VII. PLINTHUS, Fenzl. 
Calyx tubulose, 5-parted, lobes erect, subequal, coloured within. 
Petals none. Stamens 5, inserted in the lower part of the calyx, alternate 
with the lobes ; filaments exserted. Ovary 3-celled, cells with 1 pen- 
dulous ovule. Style 3-partite. Capsule ovoid, densely papillose, rotun- 
date, not depressed, 3-celled, loculicidal, 3-valved, cells one-seeded. 
Seeds pyriform, shining, striate. Embryo uncinate. Fenal. in nov, 
stirp. decad. n. 60. Endl. Gen. 5167. 
Small shrub, humifuse. branched, imbricated-leafy. Leaves very minute, ovate- 
triquetrous, opposite and alternate, without stipulz. Flowers sessile, alternate, 
hidden in the axil of the leaves, with 1 or 2 equal, leafy, bracteoles. Name from 
aw6os, a tile ; so called in reference to the imbricated leaves. 
1. P. eryptocarpus (Fenzl. 1. c.) 
Has. Near Rietpoort, Nieuweveld, 3000-3500 ft., Nov., Drege. (Herb. Vind. Sd.) 
Stems 1-3 inches long. Branches subunilateral, 3-4 lines long, as well as the 
leaves covered with appressed, silky hairs. Leaves densely 3-5-farious, imbricated, 
acutish, 3-13 line long. Flowers 4-} line long. Calyx puberous on the outside, 
yellowish inside. Stamens nearly hypogynous. 
Orper LVI. CACTEA, DC. 
(By W. H. Harvey.) 
Flowers perfect, regular. Calysx and corolla confounded together, in 
a many-leaved perianth. Calya-tube attached to the ovary, sometimes 
much produced beyond it ; sepals numerous, in few or many rows, the 
innermost petaloid. Petals also usually in several rows, of delicate tex- 
ture, the outer ones confounded with the inner sepals, marcescent or 
deciduous. Stamens indefinite ; filaments filiform ; anthers 2-celled, 
versatile. Ovary inferior, unilocular, with numerous ovules on 3 or 
more parietal placente ; style terminal, filiform ; stigmas as many as 
the placent. Fruit succulent, one celled, many-seeded ; seeds lying 
in pulp, usually without albumen ; embryo straight, curved, or spiral, 
with the radicle next the hilum. 
Succulent shrubs, very varied in form, almost exclusively natives of the American 
continent, though several species (chiefly of the genus Opuntia) are now naturalized 
in the warmer parts of the old world. Leaves very generally wanting, or reduced 
to minute scales or spines ; the functions of a leaf being discharged a the green 
bark of the succulent stems. The genus Pereskia, however, possesses large, petioled, 
deciduous leaves of ordinary structure. The flowers are solitary, terminal, or axil- 
lary, and of large or small size, often very showy. 
I. RHIPSALIS, Gaerin. 
Tube of the perianth not produced beyond the ovary, the limb rotate, 
of 12-18 short, scale-like parts, the outer sepaloid, the inner petaloid. 
