CACTUS GRANDIFLORA. 199 



liancy of colour tlian the cultivated, it is merely 

 owing to want of care. The Indians in many parts 

 where they are most abundant, entirely neglect them, 

 either because they are unable to dispose of them, 

 or from the apprehension that their labours may be 

 destroyed by sudden storms. 



The Nopal, or Cactus grandiflora, the favourite 

 resort of the cochineal insect, is one of the most 

 magnificent productions of the vegetable world. It 

 begins to open about seven in the evening, and 

 flowers through the night, shedding a delicious 

 fragrance, and offering its brimming goblet, filled 

 with nectareous juice, to such butterflies and insects 

 as are then abroad. When the moon shines bright, 

 you may see its splendid yellow calyx, at least a foot 

 in diameter, thick set with pure white petals, and 

 numerous recurved stamens surrounding the style 

 which rises in the centre, like a polished shaft, 

 thrown out in high relief from amid the deep dark 

 foliage of intermingling leaves and branches. 



This splendid flower produces an oval-shaped 

 fruit, filled with small seeds, and of a grateful acid. 

 It is somewhat larger than a full-sized egg, and is 

 covered with bright yellow scales. Light, which 

 appears so essential to plants in general, seems un- 

 necessary to the magnificent and sweetly-scented 

 cactus, both as regards the flower and the fruit; 

 the dews of night suffice to yield it moisture, and 

 the barest rock serves as a basement for its roots. 

 It belongs to a tribe of succulent plants which are 

 assigned by their Creator to the hottest portions of 

 the globe, though found occasionally towards the 

 north, and which principally derive their nourish- 



