144 CACTACE/E. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



ones pinnatitid; fruit slightly roughened. — Ponds and ditches, Florida, and 

 northward. July. 



•4. M. scabratum, Michx. Stem short (6'- 12'); leaves 4 -5 in a whorl, 

 the divisions few and capillary, the floral ones linear, peetinately toothed ; fruit 

 strongly ridged and roughened. — Shallow ponds, South Carolina, and north- 

 ward. Juue and July. 



Order 56. CACTACEJE. (Cactus Family.) 



Succulent, shrubby, and commonly leafless and prickly plants, with 

 globular, or columnar and angular, or flattened and jointed stems, and 

 solitary sessile flowers. — Sepals and petals similar, imbricated in several 

 rows, and adherent to the 1-celled ovary. Stamens indefinite, with long 

 filaments, inserted on the base of the petals. Style single: stigmas nu- 

 merous. Fruit baccate. Seeds numerous, campylotropous, borne on 

 several parietal placentae. Albumen scanty or none. 



1. CERETJS, Haw. 



Sepals and petals united into an elongated tube ahove the ovary. Stamens 

 inserted on the tube. Style filiform. Stigma many-lobed. Seeds without al- 

 bumen. — Stems elongated, ribbed or angled; the angles bearing tufts of spines 

 and showy flowers. 



1. C. monoclonos, DC ? Stem tall, columnar, 6-8-angled, green; 

 angles obtuse; spines short, brownish. — Key West. — Stem 4° -10° high. 

 Flowers 6' long, the inner petals lanceolate, acuminate, white j the onter ones 

 linear, greenish, and gradually diminishing into the scales of the tube. Stigmas 

 10 or more, filiform, exserted. Stamens included. 



2. C. triangularis, How. ? Stem elongated, jointed, 8*Sided, rdoting at 

 the joints; flowers greenish externally, white within, very large; fruit huge, 

 naked. — Key West. — Stem climbing over bashes* Joints 1° long. 



2. OPUNTIA, Tonrn. Pricklt Peak. 



Sepalfl and petals not united into a tube. Stamens Inserted into the base of 



the petals. Style cylindrical. Stigma 8- 8-lobod. Seed-; with thin albumen. 



— Stilus with flat OT rarely cylindrical joints. Leaves fleshy, fl ith tufts of bristly 

 hairs and commonly strong spines in their axils, deciduous. Flowers large, 

 yellow. 



1. O. Ficus-Indicus, Haw. Stem erect, spreading ; joints oval and 

 obovate; leaves tabulate, bristly in the axils, without spines; fruit bristly, ob- 

 ovate, red within, edible. — South Florida. May. — .Joints l°)ong. 



2. O. vulgaris, Mill. Btem prostrate; joints obovate, pale; spines few 



and short ; fruit nearlv smooth. — 1 >ry sandy soil, Florida and northward, near 

 the eoast. .lime and July. 



