NAT. ORDER. 



Cactece. 



CACTUS FLAGELLIFORMIS. CREEPING CACTUS 



Class XII. IcosANDRiA. Order I. Monogynia. 



Ge7i. Char. Calyx, superior, many-cleft. Segments, imbricate. 

 Petals, numerous, inserted in several series ; the interior ones 

 larger. Stig?na, many-cleft. Berry, one-celled, many- 

 seeded. 



Sj)e. Char. Leaves, fleshy and spine-like. Stem, angular, two 

 edged-like. 



The sejjals of this plant are numerous, usually indefinite, and 

 confounded with the petals, either crowning the ovarium, or cover- 

 ing its whole surface ; the petals are numerous and indefinite, 

 arising from the orifice of the calyx, sometimes irregular ; the sta- 

 mens are indefinite, more or less cohering with the sepals and 

 petals ; the^laments are long and filiform ; anthers ovate, versatile ; 

 ovarium fleshy, inferior, one-celled, with numerous ovula arranged 

 upon parietal placentae, equal to the lobes of the stigma; the style 

 is filiform ; the stigmas are numerous, collected in a cluster ; fruit 

 succulent, one-celled, many-seeded, either smooth or covered with 

 scales, scars, or tubercles ; seeds parietal, or, having lost their adhe- 

 sion, nestling in the pulp ; ovate or obovate, without albumen : 

 embryo either straight, curved, or spiral, with a short, thick radicle ; 

 cotyledons flat, thick, foliaceous, sometimes almost obsolete (in the 

 leafless species), succulent shrubs, very variable inform; stems 

 usually angular, or two-edged, or foliaceous ; leaves almost always 

 wanting : when present, fleshy, smooth, and entire, or spine-like ; 



Vol iii. — 35. 



