PLANTS CARRY LIFE INSURANCE 137 



they are well prepared to exist where weaker plants 

 would soon perish. Some cacti are small and creep 

 along the ground ; others are giants that grow to a 

 height of ninety feet in their native soils. The 

 largest of the entire family is known as Cereus 

 giganteus, a native of Mexico. Small specimens 

 of it may be seen in hot-houses, but it can be seen 

 to advantage only on the deserts of Mexico or 

 Arizona. 



The sea-urchin cacti are noted for their fantas- 

 tical shapes, and exquisitely coloured flowers. Sec- 

 ond only to the orchids for beauty and form are 

 they to be numbered. If it were not for their 

 spiny daggers, their flowers would stand little 

 chance of being undisturbed. 



The old-man cactus is a species which makes 

 a striking appearance in a flower garden. It is 

 covered with long, silken, white hair, resembling the 

 white locks of an old man. It is easily grown 

 from the smallest cutting, or from seeds. 



Perhaps the best known of all these desert plants 

 is the Cereus grandiflorus, commonly known as the 

 night-blooming cereus, or "Queen of the night." 

 It yields very readily to cultivation; and owing to 

 its exquisite white flowers and its delightful per- 

 fume it is always a welcome guest where grown. 

 It blossoms only at night, and each blossom lasts 



