Vor. IL] CACTUS FAMILY. 465 
7. Opuntia arboréscens Engelm. North- 
ern Tree-like Cactus. (Fig. 2533.) 
Opuntia arborescens Engelm. Wisliz. Rep. 6. 1848. 
Erect, tree-like, 4°-25° high, 4/-8’ in diameter at 
the base, verticillately branched, the spiny branches 
spreading or drooping. Joints verticillate, mostly 
in 3’s or 4’s, cylindric, 2’-6’ long, less than 1/ in di- 
ameter, the prominent tubercles 7/”-10’ long; leaves 
terete, spreading, 6’/-10’’ long; spines 8-30, terete, 
in yellowish sheaths, diverging, the interior ones the 
longer, often 1’ long or more; flowers purple, 214/— 
3 broad; fruit subglobose, crested-tuberculate, dry, 
or nearly so, yellow, unarmed, about 1/ in diameter; 
seeds smooth, 114//-2/’ wide. 
—, 
SY 
Western Kansas (according to B. B. Smyth), Colo- 
rado to Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. 
Family 83. THYMELEACEAE Reichenb. Consp. 82. 1828. 
MEZEREON FAMILY. 
Shrubs or trees (rarely herbaceous), with tough fibrous or reticulated inner 
bark, and simple entire exstipulate leaves. Flowers fascicled, capitate, racemose, 
or rarely solitary, regular, mostly perfect. Calyx inferior, its tube cylindric 
or urn-shaped, 4-5-lobed or entire. Petals none in our genera, present in many 
exotic ones. Stamens borne on the calyx, twice as many as its lobes, or rarely 
fewer, often in two series; filaments long or short; anthers erect, 2-celled, the 
sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary 1-celled, 1-ovuled (2-celled and 2-ovuled 
in some Asiatic and Australasian genera); ovule anatropous, pendulous; style 
short or elongated; stigma terminal, mostly capitate. Fruit a berry-like drupe 
in our plants. Seed-coat mostly crustaceous; embryo straight; cotyledons 
fleshy; endosperm little or none, or copious in some exotic genera. 
About 37 genera and 425 species, widely distributed, most abundant in Australia and South Africa. 
Calyx-lobes 4, large; stamens included; style very short. 1. Daphne. 
Calyx-limb almost wanting; stamens and style long, exserted. 2. Dirca. 
1. DAPHNE L. Sp. PlyZ565 1753: 
Erect or spreading shrubs, with alternate deciduous or evergreen leaves, and small pur- 
ple pink or white flowers in fascicles, heads or racemes, borne in the following species at the 
leafless nodes of twigs of the preceding season. Perianth tubular, its 4 lobes spreading. 
Stamens §, in 2 series on the perianth-tube, included, or the upper 4 slightly exserted; fila- 
ments veryshort. Disk none. Ovary sessile or nearly so, 1-celled; style very short; stigma 
large, capitate. Drupe ovoid, or oblong, the calyx deciduous or persistent. 
About 4o species, natives of Europe and Asia. 
1. Daphne Mezéereum L. Spurge Laurel. 
Lady Laurel. Mezereon. (Fig. 2534.) 
Daphne Mezereum I,. Sp. Pl. 356. 1753. 
A shrub 1°-4° high, the young twigs somewhat 
pubescent. Leaves thin, deciduous, oblong-lanceolate 
or oblanceolate, acute or obtusish at the apex, 3/-5’ 
long, 4’/-10’’ wide, narrowed into short petioles; 
flowers in sessile fascicles of 2-5 at the nodes of twigs 
of the preceding season, very fragrant; perianth-tube 
appressed-pubescent, rose-purple or white, 6’” long or 
less, the ovate acute lobes nearly as long; drupe red, 
oval-ovoid, 3//-4’’ long. 
Escaped from cultivation, Quebec to Massachusetts and 
New York. Native of Europe and Asia. Called also 
Spurge Olive, Dwarf Bay, Paradise Plant. April-May. 
30 
