CHAP. LIV. CACTA CER, 967 
% N.S. 2 caspica; N. caspica Pall. Fl. Ross., t. 50. f. B.; and our 
Jig. 714. — Fruit red. Leaves longer. Native by the Caspian Sea. 
By Steven’s written observations in Willdenow’s Herbarium, it 
differs from N. S. 1 sibirica in its young branches being pubescent, 
and in its fruit bemg larger, and much more acute. The flowers of 
this variety, and also those of the species, are white, and produced 
freely. The berries black, rather larger than peas, and they render 
the bush very ornamental. 
« 2. N. rripenta‘’ra Desf. The 3-toothed-leaved Nitraria. 
Identification. Desf. Fl. Atl, 1, p.372.; Dec. Prod., 3. p.456.; Don’s Mill., 3. p. 155, 
Synonyme, Péganum retisum Forsk., according to Delil. in his Idd. Fl. Agypt. 
Spec. Char., §c. Branches spiny. Leaves wedge-shaped, retuse, toothed with about 3 teeth. Fruit 
ovate. (Dec. Prod., iii. p. 456.) A native of sandy fields of Barbary and Egypt; growing to the 
height of from 1ft. to2ft. Introduced in 1820; but not frequent in collections. 
CHAP. LIV. 
OF THE HALF-HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER CACTA‘CER. 
Opuntia vulgaris Mill.; Cactus Optintia L., Mill. Icon., t. 191.; the common Indian Fig, 
or Prickly Pear; isa native of North America, in the southern states, and is found abundantly 
in gardens in the neighbourhood of New York. It is also very common in Italy, and various 
parts of the south of Europe. In Virginia, it is valued for its refreshing fruit; and it has been cul- 
tivated for the same purpose on dry rockwork, in the neighbourhood of London. (See Encyc. of 
Gard., edit. 1835, p. 979.) It will live many years, with little or no protection, at the bottom of a 
dry warm wall; and, though usually prostrate, yet, if the shoots are nailed to the wail, it will grow 
to the height of several feet. It deserves a place in a collection of half-hardy ligneous succulent 
plants, for the sake of its singular appearance; and various other genera and species belonging to 
the same order are, probably, nearly as hardy. 

CHAP. LV. 
OF THE HARDY LIGNEOUS PLANTS OF THE ORDER GROSSULA‘CES. 
Tuts order consists of the genus Ribes only; and the following charac- 
teristics of that genus are the chief of those of the order : — 
Rises L. Calyx superior, having 4—5 coloured lobes ; and bearing from its 
throat 5, 4, or ?0, small petals ; and 5, very rarely 6, stamens. The lobes 
of the calyx, the petals, and the stamens, are, in most instances, 5 each ; 
and, in such, are alternate with one another. The two sexes are present, in 
most kinds, in the same flower; in a few diccious, at least in result. 
Ovary with 1 cell, and 2 parietal placentas. The ovules numerous. Style 1. 
Fruit a subglobose berry, tipped with the remains of the part of the flower 
that is distinct from the ovary. The seeds many, oblong, subcompressed ; 
each suspended in the pulp by a long, slender, funiculus ; and having an 
aril, horny albumen, and an embryo that is minute, dicotyledonous, and 
situate at the smaller end of the seed, contiguous to the hilum, but with 
the radicle pointing to one side. — Shrubs, unarmed or prickly. Leaves 
alternate, lobed or cut, plaited when folded in the bud, deciduous. A bractea 
is at the base of every pedicel, and two smaller are upon it below the ovary. 
Flowers greenish, whitish, yellow, or red. (Dec. Prod., iil. p.477., and 
Lindl. Introd. to N. S.) M. Spach, in the Annales des Sciences Naturelles 
for 1835, has subdivided the genus itibes into the genera authenticated as 
his among.our synonymes. 
