THE MELON-THISTLE. 387 



apple, which, in the inside, is divided into ten cells, 

 each containing a black seed, surrounded by a gela- 

 tinous pulp. The West Indian damson plum has 

 small fruit, and is chiefly found in the woods. The 

 milky juice of the star apple, both of the tree and 

 the fruit, before it is ripe is remarkably astringent; 

 but, when the fruit ripens, it is gweet and very agree- 

 able to the taste. 



MELON THISTLE, TORCH THISTLE, CREEPING CEREUS, 

 INDIAN FIG, OR PRICKLY PEAR. Cactus. 



The cactus is a very numerous and very singular 

 genus of vegetables. With the exception of, perhaps, 

 one species, the common prickly pear, which is found 

 in the south of Europe, in Barbary,* and in some 

 parts of North America, they are all natives of the 

 West Indies. In the warmer parts of the American 

 continent they are found growing upon the bare 

 rocks, without soil, and apparently, in many instances, 

 without humidity. The leaf-like stems are thick, 

 succulent, generally covered with spines; and the 

 individual masses, which are often fantastically joined 

 together by narrow necks, have some resemblance to 

 the fruit of the cucumber. These stems or leaves 

 are, in all their singular varieties, perennial; and, 

 from their succulent nature, they can live almost 

 without water. The stems are jointed, and generally 

 armed with bunches of sharp spines intermixed with 

 bristles; they produce flowers on proper foot-stalks, 

 or adhering to the stem; some of these flowers are 

 of great beauty; and the fruit by which they are fol- 

 lowed is, in several of the species edible. 



The small melon thistles are covered with tubercles 

 or warts all over, and the flowers come out between 

 them; while on the great melon thistles, which are 

 of an oval or globular form, the spines are arranged 



* Sea Shaw's Travels, vol. i. p. 266. 



