36 NAT. ORDER. CACTE^. 



fcwers either showy or minute, usually lasting only one day or 

 night, always sessile. 



America is the station of the order ; no species appearing to 

 be natives of any other part of the world. In this country they 

 are abundant, especially in the tropics, extending a short distance 

 beyond them, both to the north and the south. Decandolle states 

 that 32° or 33° lat. is the northern limit of the order; but it is 

 certain that a species is either wild or naturalized on Long Island, 

 in lat. 42° north ; and that there is another, somewhere about 

 49° in the Rocky Mountains. 



Propagation and Culture. Hot, dry, exposed places, are the 

 favorite stations of this genus of plants, for which they are pecu- 

 liarly adapted, in consequence of the small quantity of evapora- 

 ting pores which they possess, as compared with other plants ; a 

 circumstance which, as Decandolle has satisfactorily shown, will 

 account for the excessively succulent state of their tissue. No 

 plant is more easily propagated by cuttings, than the Cactus and 

 its varieties. Those who are familiar with its cultivation recom- 

 mend that the cuttings be laid in a dry place, for the space of two 

 or three weeks ; then to be planted in pots, filled with a mixture 

 of loam and lime rubbish, having some stones laid in the bottom 

 of the pot, to drain off the moisture ; and afterwards plunged into 

 a gentle hot-bed of tanner's bark, to facilitate their rooting ; and 

 giving them once a week a gentle watering : this should be done 

 about the first of July. We are informed that this plant has never 

 been known to perfect its seed in Europe. 



Medical Properties and Uses. The juice of the Cactus Jlagel- 

 liformis has been considered valuable as an alterative, and, conse- 

 quently, has been administered in various disorders arising from 

 an impure state of the blood. It has also been favorably noticed 

 as a medicine to correct and restore the tone of the stomach. The 

 most improved mode of administration is in jjills made from the 

 extract. Dose, from one to three five-grain pills, twice a day. 



