152 CACTUS FAMILY. 



M. Lindleyi. Cultivated, from California, usually under the name of 

 Baktonia At'REA. Plant l°-2° high, with leaves lance-ovate in outline 

 and deeply pinnatiiid, their lobes linear; flowers with 5 obovate and pointed 

 bright yellow petals opening in sunshine, and the very numerous tilaments all 

 slender- (T) 



M. orn^ta, the Bart6nia ornAta of Nuttall, a very large-flowered 

 species, of the plains of Nebraska and S. : 2° -4° high, with oblong-lanceolate 

 sinuate-pinnatifld leaves, and white fragrant flowers opening at sunset or on a 

 cloudy afternoon, leafy -bracted under the ovary, and with 10 lance-ovate or 

 spatulate acute petals, about 2' long, the 5 inner narrower, and the 200-300 

 filaments all slender ; seeds very many and flat. Rarely cult, for ornament, 

 but well worthy of it. @ 2/ ■? 



M. nuda, the Bart6nia Nt'DA of Nuttall, of the same district and further 

 80uth, and less rare in cultivation than M. ornata, resembles it, but has flower!* 

 of half the size and often without leafy bracts under the ovary; outer fila- 

 ments mostly broadened ; seeds wing-margined. ® '21'' 



§ 3. EuCNiDE of Zuccarini Pod short, containinfj very many minute roundish 

 or oblomj seeds : flowers showy, yellow, openiny in briyht sunshine. 



M. longipes. Cult, from Mexico and Texas under the name of Eucnidk 

 BARTONioiDES ; a tender succulent plant, branching and usually spreading on 

 the ground, bristly, with ovate cut-toothed or slightly lobed leaves on slender 

 petioles, and flowers mostly on still longer simple peduncles (3' -6' long), the 

 5 ovate petals and very many slender filaments fully 1' long. (T) 



2. BLUMENBACHIA. (Named for the distinguished German physiol- 

 ogist, Blumenhach. Includes Caiophora. F1. all summer. 



B. insignis. Cult, from Chili ; rather curious than ornamental, with 

 palmately about .5-parted leaves, small flowers with white petals and yellow 

 red-tipped inner appendages ; the pod obovate, slightly twisted, with 5 strongly 

 projecting placcntie. ® 



B. lateritia. Cult, from South America, under the name of Lo\sa or 

 Caiofhora lateritia ; climbing freely ; Avith pinnatifid or pinnate leaves of 

 5 or more lance-ovate divisions or leaflets, which are cut-toothed or some of 

 them again pinnatifid, flowers almost 2' across, with brick-red petals; the long 

 pod at length much twisted. ® 



49. CACTACEiE, CACTUS FAMILY. 



Fleshy plants of peculiar aspect, mostly persistent, destitute of 

 foliage (with exception of the rare Pereskia), its place supplied by 

 the green rind of the flattened, columnar, globular, or various-shaped 

 stem ; the perfect solitary and sessile flower with calyx adherent to 

 the ovary, its lobes or sepals, the petals, and the stamens numerous, 

 usually in several ranks, the latter mostly very numerou.s ; ovary 

 1-celled with several parietal placentce ; style single, with several 

 Btigmas ; the fruit a 1-celled and generally many-seeded pulpy berry. 

 (See Lessons, p. 48, fig. 76, and p. 96, fig. 197.) 



We have three or four wild species, several others in common 

 house-cultivation, and a larger number in choice collections, some 

 of which are hybrids. 



(^ \. No tube to the flower above the ovary : stem jointed. 

 1. OPUNTIA. Stem branching, formed of successive joints, which are mostly 

 flat, bearing at first .some minute awl-shaped bodies an.'^wering to leaves, 

 which soon fall off, and tufts of barbed bristles and often prickles also in their 

 axils. Flowers from the edge or side of a joint, opening in sunshine and 

 for more than one day. 



