1928 



* PERESKIA acule6ta. 

 West Indian Gooseberry. 



ICOSANDRIA MONOGYNIA. 



Nat. ord. Cactace^. 



PERESKIA. Suprd, vol. 17. fol. 1473. 



P. aculeata ; folils elliptlcis, aculeis in axilla solitariis demilm in caule fascicu- 

 latis, floribus subpaniculatis, fructu globoso sepala foliacea gerente. De 

 Cand. Prodr. 3. 474. 



Grossularia americana. Plum. gen. t. 26. 



Cactus Pereskia. Linn, sp.pl. Ql\. 



I do not find a figure of this common plant in any of our 

 English books ; a circumstance that is perhaps to be ac- 

 counted for by its seldom flowering. In fact it is usually 

 cultivated as a stock on which other species of Cactaceous 

 plants may be grafted, rather than for the sake of its own 

 flowers and fruit. 



And yet the latter are not without their beauty. The 

 flowers have not indeed the deep brilliant colours of the 

 more popular plants of the order ; but they form fine clus- 

 ters of white and green cups, and the fruit is like a rich 

 mellow gooseberry ; whence the colonial name of West 

 Indian Gooseberry. 



In the whole genus Pereskia, and in this species in par- 

 ticular, the leaves are as large, and fully organised as in 

 any plants whatever ; and tlie woody matter of the stem is 

 one of the best illustrations that physiologists are acquainted 



* .See fnlio 147:1 

 VOL. X.XIfl. 



