246 XLI. CACTEiE. [Opunti 



Erect, with numerous spreading branches, often 10-15 ft. high, gregar- 

 ious, forming extensive and impenetrable masses of thorny, fleshy, articu- 

 late stems ; joints obovate, flat, 6-10 in. long, glaucous-green, with minute, 

 cylindrical or conical, fleshy, caducous leaves under each tuft on the 

 youngest joints. Tufts on the surface of the joints about 1-2 in. apart, 

 nearer together on the edges, subglobose, nearly J in. diam., consisting of 

 dense woolly hairs, and numerous short, very sharp spinescent brownish 

 bristles ; one or several strong, sharp cylindrical spines from each tuft, 

 unequal in length, one much longer than the rest, 1-2 in. long. Spines 

 whitish, except the point, which is darker coloured and somewhat trans- 

 parent. Flowers from the upper edge of the joints, 2-3 in. across, yellow, 

 tinged with red, open during the day only. Stamens half the length of 

 petals. 



Indigenous in America, but naturalised in India, extending north-west to the 

 Jhelam. Ascends to 5000 ft. in the N.W. Himalaya. Often destroyed locally 

 by the multiplication of a species of coccus ; thus at Almora in 1846 (Madden 

 1. c. 585), and in 1844 in the Panjab (Stewart Panjab Plants, p. 101). Forms 

 impenetrable hedges, and was used by Tippoo Sultan to strengthen his fortifi- 

 cations. Was planted as a fence along portions of the Great India Peninsula 

 Kail way in the Dekkan ; but is too much exposed to injury from fire, the grass 

 which grows up abundantly between the stems drying up during the hot season, 

 and catching fire readily, which destroys the entire hedge. Is regarded as an 

 objectionable weed in most parts of India, as it harbours reptiles and spreads 

 rapidly, occupying ground without return. The joints strike root, but its rapid 

 extension is mainly due to the spread of the seed through birds which eat the 

 fruit. 



Three species of the genus, closely allied to the Indian species, are natural- 

 ised in the Mediterranean region ; but it is a subject for farther inquiry whether 

 they should be kept distinct as species, and whether any of them may be 

 identified with the Indian Opuntia. The history of the distribution of these 

 remarkable plants from America over such a large portion of the warmer regions 

 of the Old World merits farther study on the part of Indian and Mediterranean 

 botanists, and it may not be out of place here to state a few of the leading 

 facts. 



Boissier (Voyage Botanique dans le Midi de TEspagne, 1837, ii. 229) men- 

 tions Opuntia vulgaris, Mill, only, as growing in the Mediterranean region, but 

 adds that in Granada there are two forms, distinct by the length of their spines, 

 leaving it undecided whether they are species or varieties. Grisebach (Vegeta- 

 tion der Erde, i. 322) enumerates three species, and under these may be brought 

 all forms described by Visiani (Flora Dalmatica, 1842, iii. 143), Gussone (Florae 

 Siculae Synopsis, 1842, i. 549), Tenore (Sylloge Fl. Neapolitans, 1831, p. 239), 

 Webb (Hist. Nat. des lies Canaries, 1840, iii. i. p. 209), and Lowe (Flora of Ma- 

 deira, 1868, p. 313). 



a. O. Ficus Indica, Mill. Syn. Cactus Opuntia inermis, De Candolle Plantes 

 Grasses, t. 138. Erect, 8-12 ft. high, joints oval or obovate, 1 in. thick, and 

 more than 12 in. long, with short thick tufts of pale or yellowish bristles, with- 

 out spines, or with feeble weak spines, or with one strong sharp spine. Flowers 

 yellow ; fruit prickly outside, eatable, 3-4 in. long. Abundant in North Africa, 

 Syria, the South of Europe (Madeira and the Canaries ?). The fruit, which 

 ripens from July to Sept., forms an important article of diet for the inhabitants 

 of those countries. Indigenous in Jamaica and South Florida, where the fruit 

 is also eaten. The introduction of this sp. into India has been suggested (Royle 





