CACTUS. CACTUS. 
shape, by putting a wire frame of 75° of latitude, some being found 
the desired form over the tree, and near the boundary of the United 
| States, and some near the town of 
clipping the branches to it. | 
C. 
Laca\u1a, L.—Composite.— C. 
afeareines, L., Emilia coccinea, Cass., 
isa half-hardy annual, with a bright 
scarlet flower, somewhat resem- 
bling that of the common Ground- 
sel. It is cultivated for the bril- 
liancy of the colour of its flowers, 
though it is scarcely worth the 
trouble it requires ; as it must not 
only be raised on a hotbed, but its 
long slender stalks must be staked 
and tied up, to make it look at all 
neat. There are several perennial 
species of Cacalia, but they are 
very seldom seen in British gardens. 
Ca’ctus, L.— Cactacee.— The 
very remarkable succulent plants, 
arranged by Linneus under the 
name of Cactus, have been distri- 
buted by modern botanists over 
numerous genera, which they are 
still continually changing and re- 
arranging. At first a few plants 
were left in the genus Cactus, but 
now that genus is annihilated, and 
seven or eight new genera substi- 
tuted for it; still, as all the plants 
that once composed it, and the 
new ones of the same nature that 
collectors are continually sending 
home, are known by the general 
name of Cacti, it has been thought 
advisable to give here a slight 
sketch of the whole family. 
In the time of Linneus, very 
few Cacti were known; and even 
in the year 1807, Persoon enume- 
rated only thirty-two, but now 
above five hundred living species 
are to be found in a single collec- 
tion; and numbers of new species 
are being sent home by collectors 
every year. 
Conception in Chil. By far the 
greater number, however, grow in 
the dry burning plains of Mexico 
and Brazil, where they are sub- 
jected to the alternate seasons of 
extreme moisture and extreme 
drought. In these arid plains, 
where all nature seems parched 
up for six months in every year, 
the Cacti have been mercifully pro- 
vided to serve as reservoirs of moist- 
ure; and not only the natives, by 
wounding the fleshy stems with 
their long forest-knives, supply 
themselves with a cool and refresh- 
ing juice, but even the cattle con- 
trive to break through the skin 
with their hoofs, and then to suck 
the liquid they contain—instinct 
teaching them to avoid wounding 
themselves with the spines. 
The Cacti are arranged by nature 
in several distinct groups ; the first 
of which consists of the tree Cacti, 
or those kinds of Cereus, which 
have long, slender stems, and which 
usually grow on the summits of 
the mountains of Brazil, forming 
a singular kind of crest. These 
are generally thirty or forty feet 
high, and sometimes are branched 
like candelabra, and sometimes 
consist of only one naked stem, not 
thicker than a man’s arm, though 
of such enormous height. The 
Mammalarias, and Echinocacti, or 
Porcupine Cacti, which form anoth- 
er group, grow in the valleys of 
the temperate regions, genérally in 
loamy soils, and low grass; and 
the Opuntias and Pereskias, which 
form two others, are also princi- 
pally found in the temperate lati- 
tudes. The Melocacti, or Melon- 
Cacti, and the Rhipsalis, which has 
narrow jointed stems, are two other 
These new species are| groups which are only found in 
chiefly found in the tropical regions | the hottest parts of the . tropics. 
of America, but they extend over! Among the many peculiarities of 
