428 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



SOME ATTRACTIVE CACTI -I. 



GREAT many people deprecate the 

 ^^^ entire cactus family because, they 

 Ip say, "they are such ugly-looking 

 ^^sST" things." Many of these speak only 

 from having seen a few specimens of those 

 varieties commonly met with, such as some 

 of the Opuntias, or prickly pear family ; or 

 Echinopsis, which goes by numerous names, 

 from "policeman's club" to "devil's pin- 

 cushion." Admitting that, when not in 

 bloom, these varieties are not specially at- 

 tractive, yet that is not enough to support 

 the sweeping assertion that all cacti are 

 ugly. First, taking the Opuntia class, we 

 find some particularly attractive plants 

 among them, and a bed, having a large 

 variety oi different members of the species 

 grouped together, makes a splendid show. 

 The variation in form is very great, from the 

 slender, much-branched stem of O. frutescens 

 to the large oval joints of O. monocantha. 

 A few ot the specially attractive Opuntias are 

 the very slender-growing varieties, O. 

 frutescens, O. fulvispina and O. arolescens. 

 O. fulvispina grows rapidly, and the 

 matured growth is covered with long, bright 

 yellow spines, each of the spines having a 

 sheath of the same color that can be drawn 

 off quite easily; O. vaganta, O. tesselata 

 and O. tesselata var denudata, have stems 

 one grade larger than those first mentioned, 

 and are also very pretty plants when well 

 grown. A most beautiful and odd sort is a 

 cristate form of O. tesselata, which grows 

 in fan shaped branches of very many differ- 

 ent styles. Among the larger cylindrical 

 forms of Opuntias, there are many fine look- 

 ing varieties. O. Bicolor has long variegat- 

 ed spines and sheaths, and makes a good 

 contrast amongst others. O. Fulgida is a 

 many branched plant with long white spines, 

 and glistening white sheaths which show 



well on the green branches, while O. ber- 

 nardino, has long yellow sheathed spines to 

 make still another shade in the collection. 

 Some of the large round-jointed varieties 

 are really beautiful, the palm being taken by 

 O. monacantha variegata, whose joints are 

 irregularly mottled with white, and the new 

 growth is usually white with a pink shade. 

 The different Basilaris classes are all fine, 

 and show many shades of color. A. basi- 

 laris grows in cabbage form and the joints 

 are purple; O. basilaris cordata has joints of 

 a beautiful light green with a purple cast 

 over it; O. basilaris coerulescens has fine 

 blue colored joints and O. basilaris alba 

 flora has a pea green color. These are only 

 a ver}' few of the most attractive Opuntias, 

 and only their appearance as a plant not in 

 bloom has been mentioned, but when cover- 

 ed with their splendid flowers, they are 

 able to take their place amongst the best 

 decorative plants. The flowers are of 

 different colors, white, all shades of yel- 

 low, rose and crimson. Some of the yel- 

 low flowers have crimson centers and are 

 very showy. The flowers of O. lurida or 

 candle cactus are a fine crimson and as 

 double as a rose. 



When a collection of cacti is being made, 

 most fanciers prefer the globular sorts, with 

 the long, heavy, horn-like spines, that have 

 so many fine variations of form and color. 

 This is the Echino-cactus class, and it in- 

 cludes some real gems that do not need 

 flowers to make them extremely ornamental. 

 Perhaps the finest of all, and a very rare 

 sort, is E. grusoni or Golden cactus, which 

 is so completely covered with its bright, 

 clear yellow, almost transparent spines, as 

 to deserve the name Golden cactus. In Mr. 

 McDowell's exhibit at the Pan-American 

 there are a number of these in very large 



