152 CACTUS FAMILY. 



M. Lindleyi. Cultivated, from .California, usually under the name of 

 BAKTOXIA A tit*: A. Plant l-2 high, with leaves lance-ovate in outline 

 and deeply pinnatifid, their lol>es linear ; flowers with 5 obovate and pointed 

 bright yellow petals opening in sunshine, and the very numerous filaments all 

 slender 



M. orn&ta, the BAKT6xiA ORNATA of Nuttall, a very large-flowered 

 species, of the plains of Nebraska and S. : 2 - 4 high, with oblong-lanceolate 

 sinuate-pinnatifid leaves, and white fragrant flowers opening at sunset or on a 

 cloudy afternoon, leafy-braeted under the ovary, and with 10 lance-ovate or 

 spatulate acute petals, about 2' long, the 5 inner narrower, and the 200 - 300 

 filaments all slender ; seeds very many and flat. Rarely cult, for ornament, 

 but well worthy of it. ^ ? 



M. nilda, the BARTONIA NUDA of Nuttall, of the same district and further 

 south, and less rare in cultivation than M. ornata, resembles it, but has flowers 

 of half the size and often without leafy bracts under the ovary ; outer fila- 

 ments mostly broadened ; seeds wing-margined. ^ ? 



3. EUCNIDI: of Zuccarini Pod short, containing very many minute roundish 

 orobloiuj seeds : flowers showy, yellow, openiny in brlyht sunshine. 



M. 16ngipes. Cult, from Mexico and Texas under the name of EUCXIDK 

 BARTON IOIDES ; a tender succulent plant, branching and usually spreading on 

 the ground, bristly, with ovate cut-toothed or slightly lobed leaves on slender 

 petioles, and flowers mostly on still longer simple peduncles (3' -6' long), the 

 5 ovate petals and very many slender filaments fully 1' long. 



2. BLUMENBACHIA. (Named for the distinguished German physiol- 

 ogist, Blumenbuch. Includes CAIOPIIORA. Fl. all summer. 

 B. insignis. Cult, from Chili ; rather curious than ornamental, with 

 p:\lmatelv about 5-parted leaves, small flowers with white petals and yellow 

 red-tipped inner appendages ; the pod obovate, slightly twisted, with 5 strongly 

 projecting placentae. i 



B. lateritia. Cult, from South America, under the name of LO\SA or 

 CAIOPHORA LAXERfxiA ; climbing freely ; with pinnatifid or pinnate leaves of 

 5 or more lance-ovate divisions or leaflets, which are cut-toothed or some of 

 them again pinnatifid ; flowers almost 2' across, with brick-red petals ; the long 

 pod at length much twisted. 



49. CACTACE^E, CACTUS FAMILY. 



Fleshy plants of peculiar aspect, mostly persistent, destitute of 

 foliage (with exception of the rare Pereskia), its place supplied by 

 the green rind of the flattened, columnar, globular, or various-shaped 

 stem ; the perfect solitary and sessile flower with calyx adherent to 

 the ovary, its lobes or sepals, the petals, and the stamens numerous, 

 usually in several ranks, the latter mostly very numerous ; ovary 

 1-celled with several parietal placentae ; style single, with several 

 stigmas ; the fruit a 1-celled and generally many-seeded pulpy berry. 

 (See Lessons, p. 48, fig. 76, and p. 96, fig. 197.) 



We have three or four wild species, several others in common 

 house-cultivation, and a larger number in choice collections, some 

 of which are hybrids. 



1. No tube to thefloiver above the ovary : stem jointed. 



1. OPUNTIA. Stem branching, formed of successive joints, which are mostly 

 flat, bearing at first some minute awl-shaped bodies answering to leaves, 

 which soon fall off, and tufts of barbed bristles and often prickles also in their 

 axils. Flowers from the edge or side of a joint, opening m sunshine anu 

 for more than one day. 



