CACTACE^. 144 



8. R. LACU'STRIS. 



Sub-axillary spines ; stems aculeate, hispid ; leaves lobed beyond the middle; 

 petioles villous; berries racemose, hispid. A handsome shrub, 4 feet high, 

 found in woods. The younger stems are rough all over with bristles ; the 

 older ones smooth, with a fevsr spines near the axils of the leaves. Flowers 

 green, 6 — 10 in each raceme. Fruit covered with long prickles. May. 



Swamp Goosebcrrij. 



9. R. HIRTE'LLUM. Mx. R. triflorum. B. 



Sub-axillary spines solitary or nearly so, short; leaves pubescent beneath, 

 roundish, cordate at base, 3 — 5-lobed ; ^y?cers generally solitary, nodding; 

 calyx longer than the petals; stamens longer than either; style hairy, 2-cletl; 

 fruit smootli. In rocky woods. Flowers greenish. Fruit purple. Leaves 

 small, generally 3-cleft to the middle. May. 



10. R. Grossu'laria. 



Petioles hairy ; peduucles 1-flowered ; bracts 2 ; fruit hairy. The common 

 garden Gooseberry is native of England, where it is cultivated to such a de- 

 gree of perfection that a single berry often weighs an ounce. The variety 

 Uva-crispa, has connate-tubular bracts, and fruit without hairs. Apr. 



English Gooseberry. 



ORDER LXII. CACTACE^. The Cactus Tribe. 



Cat — f Sepals and petals numerous, often indefinite and confounded with each otlier, the 



Cor. — ( sepals from the surface and tne petals from the summit of ovary. 



Sta. — Indefinite. Fit. long and filiform. Anlh. ovate, versatile. 



Ora.— Inferior, fleshy, 1-oelled, with parietal placentie. 



Sty. — Single, filiform, with several anthers in a star-like cluster. 



Fr. — Succulent, I -celled, many-seeded. 



Sds. — Without albumen, with thick foliaceous cotyledons, or often, with scarcely any. 



An order of succulent plants, verj' variable in form and aspect, usually of a shrubby hab- 

 it, with spinose buds, and leafless. The stems are either globular masses, or columnar 

 with angles, or flattened into a leafy form with articulations. Flowers solitary, sessile, 

 generally large and showy, but of brief duration. 



All the genera are peculiarly American, no one having ever been found in any other 

 quarter of the globe. They are chiefly confined wilhni the tropics, only two or three spe- 

 cies having been found beyond them. The Prickly Pear (Opuntia vulgaris) is the only 

 species found native as far'north as New York. 



OPU'NTIA. 



Sepals and petal? numerous, adnate to the ovary; stamens 

 numerous; style with numerous, thick, erect stigmas; berry 

 tuberculate. 



Named from Opuntiani, a country near Phocis, where this plant appears to 

 have been naturalized. Shrubby plants, with articulated branches, the joints 

 usually broad and flattened, with fascicles of prickles regularly arranged upon 

 the surface. 



1. 0. VULGA'RIS. Dc. Cactus Opuntia. L. 



Proliferous; articulations compressed, ovate; spines fasciculate. A well 

 known, succulent plant, found w'ild in rocky mountains and sandy fields, N. 

 y. and Conn. It is often cultivated, as well for the singularity of its form, 

 as the elegance of its llowcrs. Like the other species of Uie genus, it appears 

 like a series of thick, fleshy leaves, growing from the tip or sides of each oth- 



