658 LXVIII. CACTEJE. (C. B. Clarke.) [ETiipsalis. 



is nearly or quite the same species as that on which cochineal is tended in Teneriffe ; 

 see Lowe Fl. Madeira, 313-319 ; Brand. For. Fl. 245-247. Koxburgh states that the 

 cochineal " insects " brought from America throve and multiplied abundantly on 

 his Cactus indicus. 



1. RHIPSALIS, Gaertn. 



Small fleshy shrubs; branches long, terete, or flattened and leaf-like. 

 Leaves represented by small scales. Flowers lateral, small. Calyx-tube not 

 produced above the ovary, lobes 3-oo . Petals 6-10, spreading, oblong: Ovary 

 smooth; style filiform, stigma 3-oo -rayed. Berry globose, smooth; the pla- 

 centas projecting inwards nearly to the axis. Seeds obovoid ; albumen 0. 

 DISTKIB. Species 30, confined to Tropical America, except the one species 

 below. 



1. It. Cassytha, Gaertn. Fruct. 137, t. 28. fig. 1 ; branches round pen- 

 dulous whorled, petals 5-6. DC. Prodr. iii. 476 ; Lodd. Sot. Cab. t. 865 ; Hook. 

 Exot. Fl. t. 2; Sot. Mag. t. 3080; Thwaites Enum. 129. 



CEYLON; upon rocks and trees throughout the Central Province and certainly 

 indigenous, Walker-, Thwaites. DISTEIB. Mauritius, South and Central Africa, 

 Tropical America. 



Calyx-segments 4-5, acute, very unequal, tinged with red at the apex. Corolla 

 white. Stamens about 20. Placentas 3-4 ; stigma 3-4-rayed. Berry size of a pea, 

 transparent, white. Seeds oblong, shining, black, obscurely striate. 



ORDER LXIX. FICGIDEJE. (By C. B. Clarke.) 



Herbs. Leaves simple, often fleshy, usually opposite or whorled : stipules 

 or scarious. Flowers usually in cymes or clusters, rarely solitary, regular, her- 

 maphrodite rarely polygamous. Calyx of 4-5 segments, united into a tube or 

 nearly distinct, free from the ovary in the Indian genera, often persistent. Pe- 

 tals usually wanting, when present small. Stamens perigynous or hypogynous, 

 definite or indefinite; staminodes sometimes present. Ovary free " (except in 

 Mesembryanthemum), 2-5-celled, syncarpous (except in Gisehia) styles as many 

 as the carpels ; ovules many in each carpel and axile, or solitary basal. Fruit 

 usually capsular, splitting dorsally or circumsciss, more rarely the carpels sepa- 

 rate into cocci. Seeds many or 1 in each carpel, usually reniform, compressed ; 

 embryo curved or annular, surrounding the farinaceous albumen, radicle next the 

 hilum. DISTRIB. Species 450, chiefly African, a few are scattered through most 

 tropical and subtropical regions. 



TRIBE I. Aizoideee. Calyx-tube elongate. Stamens inserted on the 

 calyx-tube. 



* Carpels dehiscing dorsatty. 

 Hairy woody small herbs 1. AIZOON. 



** Capsule circumsciss. 



Ovary (and capsule) 3-5-celled 2. SESTJVITJM. 



Ovary (and capsule) 1-2-celled 3. TBIANTHEMA. 



