136 CACTACE.K. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



ORDER 45. CACTACE^E. (CACTUS FAMILY.) 



Fleshy and thickened mostly leafless plants, of peculiar nspccf, alolntlar^ 

 or columnar and many-anyled, or flattened and jointed, usttalf// irifli prickles. 

 Flowers solitary, turtle ; the sepals and petal* numerous, imbrica'fd in sev- 

 eral rows, adherent to the 1-celled ovary. Stamens numerous, -with long 

 and slender filaments, inserted on the inside of the tube or cup formed by 

 the union of the sepals and petals. Style 1 : stigmas numerous. Fruit a 

 1-celled berry, with numerous campylotropous seeds on several parietal 

 placentae. Albumen little or none. Represented east of the Mississippi 

 only by 



1. OP1JNTIA, Tourn. PRICKLY PEAR. INDIAN FIG. 



Sepals and petals not united into a prolonged tube, spreading, regular, the inner 

 roundish. Berry often prickly. Seeds with albumen. Cotyledons Iarp;e, folia- 

 ceous in germination. Stem composed of joints, bearing very small awl-shaped 

 and usually deciduous leaves arranged in a spiral order, with clusters of 

 bristles and often spines also in their axils. Flowers yellow, opening in sun- 

 shine for more than one day. (A name of Theophrastus, originally belonging 

 to some different plant.) 



1. O. VlllgariS, Mill. (Cactus Opuntia, L.) Low, prostrate-spreading, 

 pale, with flat and broadly obovate joints ; the minute leaves ovate-sulmlate and 

 appressed; the axils bristly, rarely with a few small spines; flowers sulphur- 

 yellow ; berry nearly smooth, eatable. Sandy fields and dry rocks, from Nan- 

 tucket, Mass, southward, usually near the coast. June. 



Var. ? KilliiU'Sqilii. Larger, dark green, mostly spiny, with spreading 

 and awl-shaped leaves. 0. Rafinesquii, Engelm. Wisconsin to Kentucky, 

 and westward. See Addend. 



ORDER 46. GROSSULACE^E. (CURRANT FAMILY.) 



Low shrubs, sometimes prickly, with alternate and paknately-lobed leaves, 

 a 5-lobed calyx cohering with the l-celled ovary, an<l l/carint/ 5 *t<imens alter- 

 nating with as many small petals. Fruit a 1-celled berry, /.'// '2 parietal 

 placenta;, crowned with the shrivelled remains of the calyx. Seeds numer- 

 ous, anatropous, with a gelatinous outer coat, and a minute embryo at the 

 >f hard albumen. Styles 2, distinct or united Leaves mostly 

 plaited in the bud, often clustered in the axils, the small llowcrs from (lie 

 same clusters, or from separate lateral buds. Comprises only the genus 



1. HIRES, L. CURRANT. GOOSEBERRY. 



Character same as of the order. (Name of Arabic origin.) 



1 1. GROSSULARIA, Tourn. (GOOSEBERRY.). Stuns W/// Ixariwj thorn 

 at the base of the !<< if -italics ur dusters of /carts, and ofh-n tailli sw'^m/ bristly 

 prickles : berries prickly or smooth. 



