274 LXl. CACTACE^. Opuntia. 



diam. Petioles downy. Flowers greeni.^h-white. Fruit mostly covered with 

 long prickles, brownish-purple, eatable. May, Jn. 



7. R. ROTUNDIFOLI0M. Mlchx. (R. triflorum. WiUd.) Wild Gooseberry. 



St. without prickles ; subaxillary spines mostly solitary, short ; Ivs. round- 

 ish, smooth, 3 — 5-lobed, incisely dentate ; pcd. smooth, 1 — 3-flowered ; cal. cyl- 

 indrical, smooth; pcL spatulate, unguiculate; sta. exserted, smooth, much 

 longer than the petals; s/;/. hairy, exserted, deeply 2-^3-cleft ; berries smoo\X\. — 

 In woods, N. H. to N. Car. aird Mo. Shrub 3 — 4f high. Stems with a whit- 

 ish bark. Leaves 1 — 2' diam. mostly truncate at base, shining above. Pe- 

 tioles ciliate, 1 — 3' long. Petals white. Fruit purple, delicious, resembling 

 the garden gooseberry. May. 



8. R. LACusTRE. Poir. Sii'avip Gooseberry. 



St. covered with prickles; subaxillary spiiies several ; Zi's. deeply 3 — 5-lobed, 

 cordate at base, lobes deeply incised ; rac. 5 — 8-flowered, pilose ; cal. rotate ; 

 berries small, hispid. — In swamps, Northern States, and British Am. Shrub 

 3 — 4f high. Stems reddish from the numerous prickles, which differ from the 

 spines only in size. Leaves shining above, li — 2i' diam. Petioles ciliate, 

 hispid, longer than the leaves. Flowers green. Fruit covered with long prickles, 

 dark-purple, disagreeable. May. — The older stems are unarmed, save with a 

 few spines. 



9. R. HiRTELLDM. Michx. (R. triflorum. Biv. R. saxosum. Hook.) 



St. unarmed, rarely prickly ; subaxillary spines short, solitary, or nearly 

 so; Ivs. roundish, cordate, 3 — 5-lobed, toothed, pubescent beneath; pcd. short, 

 1 — 2-flowered ; cahix tube smooth, campanulate ; segments twice longer than 

 the petals ; sta. longer than either ; sty. hairy, 2-cleft ; //•. smooth. — In rocky- 

 woods, N. H. and Mass. to Wisconsin, N. to Hudson's Bay. Leaves 9 — 18" 

 diam., generally cleft half way to the middle. Flowers nodding, greenish. 

 Fruit purple. May, Jn. 



10. R. UvA-CRispA. (R. Grossularia. Willd. and Isl edit.) English or Gar- 

 den Gc'jseberry . — St. prickly ; Ivs. roundish, 3 — 5-lobed, hairy beneath, on short, 

 hairy petioles ; ped. hairy, 1-flowered ; cal. campanulate; sly. and ova. hairy; 

 fr. smooth or hairy, globose. — Native in England, and long cultivated until 

 there are several hundred varieties, with red, white, green and amber fruit, 

 often weighing an ounce or more each. Apr. 



Order LXI. CACTACE^.— Indian Figs. 



St. succulent and shrubby, usually angular or 2 edged. 



Lvs. almost always wanting, when present, fleshy, smooth and entire. 



Fls. sessile, usually showy and of siiort duration. 



Ca?.— 4 Sepals and petals niunerous, often indefinite and confounded with each other, the sepals from 



Cor.— \ the surface, and the petals from the summit of ovary. 



Sta. indefinite. Fil. long and filiform. Antli. ovate, versatile. 



Ova. inferior, fleshy, 1-celled, with parietal placenta'. 



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



Fr. succulent, l-celled, many-.'seeded. 



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



Genera 16, species about 800, all peculiarly American, no one having ever been found in any other 

 quarter of the globe. They are chiefly confined within the tropics, only two or three species having been 

 found beyond them. The prickly Pear (Opuntia vulgaris) is the only species found native as far north 

 as New York. ,■ ,, „ 



Conspectus oj the Genera. 



<> Axis cylindric Cereus. 2 



^tubular-campanulate, rose-colored, &c. {Axis globose Melocactus. 'i 



Flowers (somewhat rotate, yellow Opuntia. \ 



1. OPUNTIA. Tourn. 



Opuntiana was a country nearPhocis, where this was said to be naturalized. 



Sepals and petals numerous, adnate to the ovary, not produced 

 into a tube above it ; stamens 00, shorter than the petals ; style with 

 numerous, thick, erect stigmas ; berry umbilicate at apex, tubercu- 

 late ; cotyledons semiterete. — Shriihhy plants.^ with arliculuicd branches^ 

 the joints usually broad andflatteved^ vith fascicles of priclies o-egularhj 

 arravgcd upon the surface. 



