360 Order 55.— GROSSULACE^E. 



4 C. grandifldrus DC. Creeping, rooting ; st. with about 5 angles ; fla. 

 terminal and lateral, very large, nocturnal ; petals spreading, shorter than the 

 linear-lanceolate sepals. — From the W. Indies. Sts. cyliudric or prismatic, 

 branching, the angles not very promineut. Fls. expanding by night, and endur- 

 ing but a few hours, 8 to 12' diam. Sepals brown without, yellow within. Pet- 

 als white. A magnificent flower, of difficult culture, f 



5 C. flagelliformis DC. Snake Cactus. St. creeping, with about 10 

 angles, hispid; fls. lateral, diurnal; tube slender, longer than the limb of the pet- 

 als. — From S. Am. St. about the size of the little finger, cylindric, indistinctly* 

 articulated, 2 to 5f long. Fls. of a lively pink color, smaller than those of the 

 last, and continuing in bloom several days, f 



3. MELOCACTUS, Bauh. Melon Thistle. Turk's Cap. (Com- 

 pounded of melon and cactus, from its form.) Calyx tube adherent to 

 the ovary, lobes 5 to 6, petaloid ; petals as many as sepals, united with 

 them into a long, cylindric tube ; stamens and style filiform ; stigma 5- 

 rayed ; berry smooth, crowned with the withered calyx and corolla. — 

 Suftruticous, fleshy, leafless. Spadix simple, crowning the globular, 

 deeply-furrowed axis. Fls. terminal. 



M. communis Link. Axis ovate-subglobous, dark green, 12 to 18-angled ; 

 ribs straight; spines fasciculate, subequal. — Native of the Caribbean Islands. 

 This remarkable plant appears like a large, green melon, with deep furrows and 

 prominent ribs, and is full of juice. It is surmounted with a spadix, which 

 is cylindric, tuberculate, densely tomentous, bearing the red flowers at the 

 summit, f 



4. MAMMILA^RIA, Hawarth. (Lat. mamma, the breasts ; alluding 

 to the tubercles.) Flowers and fruit similar to the preceding genus. — 

 Stock roundish or cylindrical, covered with conical or mammseform 

 tubercles, spirally arranged and tipped with a cluster of spines in wool. 

 Fls. sessile among the tubercles. 



M. macromeriB Engelm. Bright green, with large, pear-shaped tubercles, 

 each surmounted by a cluster of straight, slender spines, and large (near 3' diam.) 

 carmine-roseate flowers, f From New Mexico. — Other species are cultivated io 

 the green-house. 



Order LV. GROSSULACEvE. Currants. 



Low shrubs, often prickly with alternate, palmately lobed leaves. Calyx 5-lobed, 

 adherent to the 1-celled ovary, bearing at top the corolla of 5 petals alternating with 

 the 5 short stamens. Anth. introrse. Fruit a 1-celled, inferior '»erry with 2 parietal 

 placentae. Styles 2. Seeds oo, embryo minute, in abundant horny albumen. (Figs. 

 67, 309.) 



Genera 1, species 95. The gooseberries and currants aro natives of the N. temperate zone of 

 both continents, but unknown in the tropics or S. hemisphere, except S. America. 



Properties. The berries contain a sweet, mucilaginous pulp, together with malic or citric 

 acid. They are always wholesome, and usually esculent. 



1. RTBES, L. Currants. (Named from the Arabic.) Character 

 the same as that of the Order. 



| Currants. Stems unarmed. Lvs. convolute In bud. Fls. yellow No. 1 



J Currants. Stems unarmed. Lvs. plicate in bud. — Fruit hairy Nos. 2 — I 



— Fruit'smooth Nos. 5— T 



< Gooseberries. Stems spinescent. Lvs. plicate. — Fruit hispid Nos. 8. 9 



—Fruit smooth.— Ped. very short.Nos. 10,1 1 

 — Ped. long. ...Nos. 12— 14 



1 R. aureum Ph. Missouri, or Golden Currant. Plant smooth; lvs. 

 3-lobed, lobe3 divaricate, entire or with a few large teeth ; petioles longer than 

 the leaves ; bracts linear, as long as the pedicels ; rac. lax, with many bright yel- 

 low fls. ; caL tubular, longer than the pedicels, segm. oblong, obtuse ; petals 



